FYI-On The Heels of The Presentation re Museums at BayCHI recently....

> Date: June 18, 2010 10:44:18 AM PDT
> Subject: Countdown to the 20th Anniversary of the ADA: Day 38 - The
> Accessible Museum
> Source: Disability.gov
>
> By Guest Blogger Elizabeth Merritt, Founding Director, Center for
> the Future of Museums, American Association of Museums, Washington,
> D.C.
>
> Museums confront social challenges (green design, sustainability,
> social justice) on a number of fronts. First, they usually feel an
> obligation to live up to the ideals they espouse, and second, they
> have the opportunity to have a far greater impact through the
> experience, information and example they provide to visitors.
>
> When it comes to Disability Rights, this dynamic plays out in
> particularly complicated ways. I think I can safely say museums are
> universally well-intentioned when it comes to serving a diverse
> public, but depending on their size and resources (and the majority
> of museums are very, very small) they may be somewhat clueless about
> how to do this well. You may have, for example, a museum that
> schedules accessibility training for their volunteers, only to have
> the trainer stopped on arrival by the security staff, who want to
> see credentials for her service dog (this is a true story).
>
> But as important as museum accessibility is, in some ways the most
> influential role museums can play is helping to shape the
> perceptions of society towards disability rights. There are museums
> whose mission focuses on this topic in particular, such as the
> Museum of Disability or the virtual Canadian Museum of Disability
> Rights. But many other museums tackle this goal in smaller ways as
> well.
>
> The Boston Childrens Museum was a pioneer in this approach back in
> the 1970s with its exhibit What If You Couldnt? It contained a
> number of activities through which children could experience a
> simulation of what it might be like to be blind or to have to use a
> wheelchair in order to generate a sense of understanding and empathy
> for those who live with disabilities (an accompanying book was
> written by the exhibits developer, Janet Kamien). Other museums
> integrate disability issues into their content: for example, the
> United States Holocaust Memorial Museums attention to Nazi
> persecution of people with disabilities. Other museums serve as
> venues for exhibits such as Dialogue in the Dark, a ground-
> breaking exhibition where guides who are blind or visually impaired
> take visitors on a life-changing journey, which originate outside
> the museum world.
>
> As important as accessibility and disability rights have been to
> museums in the past, they will be even more so in the future as the
> US population ages, has a higher incidence of obesity and obesity-
> related disorders and as more people are diagnosed with cognitive
> disorders. The American Association of Museums (AAM) Center for the
> Future of Museums explores these issues as part of its broader
> mandate to assist museums to help their communities to thrive in the
> coming decades.
>
> If you know of museums pioneering new ways to address accessibility
> and disability, please let us know! We can be reached at
[email protected]
> .
>
> For More Information
>
> Here are some excellent resources for addressing matters of
> accessibility and disability rights.
>
> NEAs Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrators Handbook
> - http://www.arts.gov/resources/Accessibility/pubs/DesignAccessibility.html
> Smithsonians Guidelines for Accessible Exhibit Design -
http://www.si.edu/opa/accessibility/exdesign/start.htm
> American Association of Museums (AAM) Everyones Welcome -
http://iweb.aam-us.org/Purchase/CatalogSearchResults.aspx?Option=2&Topic=ACCE
SSIBILITY&ReturnPage=
> AAMs Center for the Future of Museums Accessibility Discussion -
http://futureofmuseums.blogspot.com/2009/08/please-touch-objects-future-of-mu
seum.html
> Universal Design: Beyond Americans with Disabilities Act (2010) -
http://www.aam-us.org/getinvolved/learn/universaldesign.cfm
> The Museum of disABILITY History -
http://www.museumofdisability.org/home.asp
> Canadian Museum of Disability Rights -
http://disabilityrights.freeculture.ca
> The Boston Children's Museum - http://www.bostonkids.org/index.html
> United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Disabilities Exhibit -
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/disabilities
> Dialogue in the Dark - http://www.dialogue-in-the-dark.com
> Disability History Museum - http://www.disabilitymuseum.org
> Read more
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