Creating an accessible environment goes beyond meeting American Disabilities Act (ADA) minimum legal requirements. True accessibility means that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can fully enjoy and benefit from the museum experience. Furthermore, as the Center of Science and Industry’s (COSI) manager of special education experiences and strategies Katherine Davis explained, the public also loses something when individuals with disabilities are not not welcomed in a learning institution. “When their perspectives are absent, it’s not just those individuals who are missing out.”
Language and terms to describe disability have changed and will continue to evolve. Grant Crim, Operations Coordinator at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) pointed out, the medical model still prevails in many contexts, but we are moving away from seeing the person as flawed and needing to change to awareness of our systems’ rigidity. We need to keep improving our systems. We consulted the National Center on Disability and Journalism to check our usage.
Exhibit developers have a big hand in creating accessible, welcoming experiences. In collaboration with engineers, technicians, and designers, developers can constantly remake and re-envision what could be daunting, exclusionary experiences. Denise King from the Exploratorium points out that she initially didn’t get a lot of mentorship in accessibility. She shares, “As the director of exhibit development, I am supporting accessibility through our cross-departmental Accessibility group, which meets quarterly to identify and support accessibility work institution-wide. In my own practice I’ve found increasing accessibility for disabled visitors increases learning for everyone. They are a natural fit for the Exploratorium. I’m thinking of exhibits that employ senses beyond sight. We are not afraid to make exhibits where you smell stuff good or bad.”
Working with others at the Exploratorium, like Veronica Garcia-Luis (Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and Deirdre Arauja, Manager Volunteer Services, has influenced Denise’s practice in concrete ways. Deirdre facilitates connections between staff and volunteers with science and ability/disability backgrounds. “Working with volunteers helped me to find a new niche for how to explore the microscopic world with more touchable models. That’s become my way of helping people orient to scale between organisms, and we’ve opened up the microscopic world to people with visual impairments.” Additionally, a huge, ongoing project within the museum is their refurbishment. Under the direction of Janet Petipas, they have re-designed and refurbished classic exhibits (Cloud Chamber, See Yourself on the Inside) to be accessible to visitors using wheelchairs.