The Art of Access: A Practical Guide for Museum Accessibility

by Heather Pressman, Danielle Schulz

The Art of Access: A Practical Guide for Museum Accessibility is a one-stop guide to the incremental ways your museum can build a comprehensive approach to accessibility that can be easily integrated into the fabric of your museum. Highlights include: Each chapter presents practical actions that any museum or cultural institution (regardless of the size, budget, or scope) can take to better engage and welcome visitors of all ages and abilities. This book will illuminate the incremental ways in which accessibility can be easily integrated into the fabric of museums, thus enabling institutions to better engage with audiences who would otherwise not visit the museum.

Genres: Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2021

Reviews

[Gee Rothvoss · Rating 5 out of 5]

No matter whether you work in a museum or not; you should read this book. One of its basic premises is that Universal Design should be present everywhere, in order to make all spaces more accessible for people of diverse physical and intellectual capabilities; which requires society, as a whole, to be aware of the need for more inclusive spaces, first, and to understand how to build them, second. Applied to museistic contexts, the knowledge in this book takes the reader on a tour of different aspects that need to be considered when creating a recreational space, and the different ways in which some people might be being left out by accident. A must read.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book to help start building understanding around different kinds of access. Does focus mostly on physical access but has some suggestions for different kinds of access as well.

[Tanaii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you don't work at a museum you should read this book!

This book helps provide a foundation for those who aren't familiar with, or are not very familiar with individuals or communities who have disabilities for them to understand terminology, legal progress over the past several decades, as well as provides useful insights for those who are just beginning in their journey to a more accessible space and/or program. The book goes far beyond that however. If you are looking for specifics, including suggestions on an actual measurements for spaces or exhibits, specific suggestions on where to place interactions or signs, how to perform an accessibility audit, and more - than look no further! Heather and Danielle also provide a wealth of additional resources in the book to help you actually implement these changes, or where to go should you need more information on a topic. The book is very specific to museums, but the majority of the information covered can be applied to most businesses and organizations.