By Helle Bay,architect, Centre for Accessibility, Denmark

Museums Lack the Skills for Providing Access to Information and Experience

Accessibility to cultural life is not just about getting in and around in a building or a city. Accessibility is also about obtaining information and experiences – actually this is a condi-tion for being able to participate on equal terms.In most countries, museum exhibitions are very inaccessible, mostly because the museums simply do not know what can be done.

The idea behind the “Nordic Museums for All” project is to improve accessibility to buildings and exhibitions, among other things providing good examples of accessibility to inspire museums and decision-makers. These examples will be presented in a publication and in a travelling exhibition which will be ready later in the year.

Traditional Thinking

For a start, the project may explode the myth that accessibility is expensive. Sustained by traditional thinking, which automatically links accessibility with lifts and expensive technology, this myth blindly ignores that acces-sibility may very often be improved with simple common sense for a moderate outlay.

When new exhibitions are being planned, there is no economic reason for failing to arrange the signs in such way that they are easy to read and placed at a proper level. Information material, too, should be prepared with a view to its readability, and appropriate lighting is important in helping visitors find their way around and obtain proper information.

To persons with cognitive impairments or to blind people, all types of models – of the buildings themselves or of exhibits – which can be touched are very useful. Furthermore, orienta-tion in the museum and the museum experience itself may be enhanced by involving the sense of smell.

Accessibility can usually be improved in existing museums structures by marking the steps, applying leading lines and instructing the staff to assist visitors. But of course, experience and information are not always free of charge. On the more expensive side are the sofisticated solutions such as audio guides, Internet exhibitions, digital information and virtual reality.

Tactile guidance cards and audio guides are available at the Atheneum, in Helsinki. Tactile cards also hang on the walls.

The Wasa Museum in Stockholm includes full scale models of various interiors in the ship. Although the smell of tar makes the experience come more alive for visitores, they are unfortunately not allowed to touch the models shown in this picture.

The intensity of the light at the Hugo Simberg exhibition in Helsinki's Atheneum can be varied from 50 to 200 lux if a visually imparied person needs more light.

Published in Crisp & Clear No. 2, July 2000