I had a chance to chat with Claudia Ocello, who is President & CEO of Museum Partners Consulting, LLC about accessibility in museums today. With her 20 years’ experience consulting with museums, I thought I’d ask her a few questions about the museum accessibility landscape. Great insights!

Catharine McNally: “What do you see as the main obstacle from museums making accessibility a priority?”

Claudia Ocello: “I think museums right now are working on sustainability overall– i.e. how are we going to keep the doors open and prove our worth to the community – that accessibility may get lowered on the priority scale.  However, becoming more accessible can actually help work towards solutions for the issue of sustainability and relevance.  Increasing access – both physical and intellectual – to your museum can help draw in more audiences and in turn, change the perception of the museum as being valuable to many communities.”

CM: “Why should museums and cultural organizations go the extra mile for accessibility?”

CO: One of the lessons I learned about accessibility applies to museums of any size and type, and just makes a lot of sense overall.  Accommodations or changes you make for one audience’s needs benefits other audiences. For example, adding an interpreted or open-captioned video tour (or even photographs in a notebook) of the “inaccessible” second floor of a house museum in a spot on the first floor where visitors can view it helps people with mobility impairments, but could also benefit a pregnant woman who is too tired to climb the stairs, or the kid in the school group who broke his leg and is on crutches.

Another reason to go the extra mile is that it sends a message to your guests.  It shows that you are thinking about the audience visiting your site as well as your site. It says “come on in” and encourages everyone to feel welcome.

Beyond Brick and Mortar Accessibility

Besides issues of physical accessibility, I suggest museums also think about intellectual accessibility. This includes the words and terminology used on labels and the story being told; museum guests should feel “successful” visiting your museum, not discouraged or frustrated by words they didn’t understand or information that doesn’t tell a story to which they can relate.

1 in 5 People in US have a Disability

According to 2010 US census data, 19% – nearly 1 in 5 –  of the total population of the US has a disability.  I can’t think of any museum who wouldn’t want to increase the number of guests at their site by that number.

CM: What advice do you have for museums to “mainstream” their accessibility efforts into a more “universal” solution?

CO: There are many places around the country that do a great job making all guests feel welcome in their museums.  I think one way to accomplish this is to train all your staff – from security and front-line staff to senior positions and board members – on issues of accessibility.  This way it’s integrated into the culture of your organization and not an “extra.”  When the staff and board feel comfortable with issues of access, it can help create a seamless guest experience.

Your Turn, Readers:

Tell us about a museum or gallery that has gone the extra mile for accessibility. What did they do? What made it so great?

——

Claudia B. Ocello is President & CEO of Museum Partners Consulting, LLC, which specializes in affordable and creative consulting in accessibility issues, evaluation, exhibition research, and education.  For more information, please visit www.museumpartnersconsulting.com.

Share