Museums without obstacles: Making exhibitions and expositions accessible to special needs visitors Cover Image

Múzeá bez bariér Sprístupňovanie výstav a expozícií pre návštevníkov so špeciálnymi potrebami
Museums without obstacles: Making exhibitions and expositions accessible to special needs visitors

Author(s): Lívia Jamrichová
Subject(s): Library operations and management, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave, Filozofická fakulta
Keywords: museum; exhibition; exposition; special needs visitors; accessibility;

Summary/Abstract: itself and its activities accessible to the public which includes people with various special needs. A careful analysis of these needs and the way to address them in a person‘s day-to-day life can be an inspiration for the creation of more accessible exhibtions and expositions. This paper analyzes several types of such accessibility-improving measures by type, e.g. a guiding line through the exhibition, labels in Braille, haptic models and audio-guides for those with visual impairments, video-monitors and sign-language guides for those with auditory impairments, improved physical access for those with reduced mobility and alike. Additionally, I highlight various small changes to the overall active and passive communication with the visitors that can be improved to access the exhibition‘s accessibility - after all, a well-prepared museum guide can often do much more to increase the visitors‘ engagement with the museum than any special tools. The final section of the paper contains a report on a survey of current exhibitions and expositions which are aimed at special needs visitors.

  • Issue Year: 4/2016
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 47-66
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Slovak
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