If a brilliant idea is shared but it is inaccessible to visitors, can it still make a resounding impact?
Within interpretive spaces, it is often a goal to share content that stays with audiences beyond their visit. However, we run the risk of getting caught up in the content itself, neglecting to place an emphasis on who exactly we are reaching and how we are reaching them. An interpretive space that lacks physical and cultural accessibility mirrors a remote island in a tumultuous sea. Intriguing ideas and content are out there, but without equitable access, many audience members are out of reach.
To bridge this gap, we can use a variety of tools including Universal Design, Universal Design for Learning, multisensory exhibition models, and assistive technology. These techniques build an interpretive bridge between resources and audiences, helping to ensure each member has the tools they need to receive, understand, and succeed within our spaces.
The Why: Going Beyond Compliance
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was written into law over thirty years ago. This ruling prohibits the discrimination of people with disabilities and provides guidance on enforcing accessibility standards. The Disability Resource Office of North Carolina State University identifies a space as accessible when an individual with a disability can “acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and…integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.”
When weighed against this definition, the Act of 1990 has not succeeded at eliminating the active and passive exclusion that is continually engaged in at individual, institutional, and national levels. Continued issues with equitable access abound, revealed in a multitude of forms - from direct violations to microaggressions and perhaps most commonly, an overall lack of consideration and empathy for the experiences of others.
Georgina Kleege, blind professor and author of More than Meets the Eye: What Blindness Brings to Art, shares within her book that true accessibility should not be seen as “a one-sided act of generosity.” Interpretive spaces must scrutinize their treatment and accommodation of all groups, engaging in active inclusion for everyone who wishes to enter. This means facilitating both physical and cultural accessibility. In a world where content is king, the only way to champion equitable access is by ensuring that all individuals–regardless of ability level and perspective–have opportunities to engage with spaces where their presence is not only permitted but welcomed and encouraged.
The need for an interpretive bridge between resources and audiences is obvious, but creating this infrastructure is easier said than done. Luckily, there are a variety of techniques that we can use to construct the metaphorical concrete and rebar that make equitable access possible.
Installation photo of "The Senses: Design Beyond Vision." Photo by Matt Flynn © Smithsonian Institution.
Techniques for Active Inclusion: Universal Design
The foundations of accessibility in interpretive spaces are often built upon concepts related to Universal Design (UD). UD acts as a pillar of stability within the world of accessibility standards. It allows for more equitable access to resources in a variety of settings, described by Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler, Director of Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT), as “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.”
The seven basic principles of UD are as follows:
- Equitable use: The design is usable by people with a variety of ability levels.
- Flexibility in use: The design acknowledges a range of abilities and preferences.
- Simple and intuitive use: The design should be easy for anyone to understand, regardless of their prior knowledge.
- Perceptible information: The design communicates necessary information to the individual regardless of their sensory abilities.
- Tolerance for error: The design takes into account that individuals may make mistakes during its use. Employing this principle lessens negative consequences, unintended actions, or hazards during the experience.
- Low physical effort: The design can be used comfortably by anyone with minimal fatigue or difficulty.
- Effective size and space for approach and use: The design is an appropriate size for anyone who may interact with it. This might mean having adjustments for a user’s size, shape, and mobility level.
Many interpretive spaces have started to employ universal design techniques within their exhibitions, including the Museum at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. Every exhibit has an element that can be explored through touch, allowing for a unique learning experience for visitors. Large-print information cards and wheelchair-accessible spaces are also provided. The museum has plans to incorporate audio guidance for visually impaired visitors, as well as adding
American Sign Language elements to their video content. By integrating UD, the Museum has allowed their visitors to have more hands-on learning experiences while also crafting a space that is more accessible to visitors with a variety of disabilities. Each of these efforts tells visitors that they matter, they belong, and we want them to stay.
Beyond the Physical: Universal Design for Learning
A related concept, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) allows UD to transcend the physical, creating environments for learning rather than purely access. To facilitate UDL, it can be helpful to address the following principles outlined by the education research and development nonprofit CAST:
- Multiple means of engagement: A design should cater to a variety of levels of perception, languages, symbols, expressions, and comprehension.
- Multiple means of action and expression: A design can capture a learner’s interest by encouraging participation through multiple avenues.
- Multiple means of representation: The design should present content in more than one way, representing various groups.
These principles can be applied to a variety of settings, whether they be “conventional” learning environments, such as K-12 schools and classrooms, or more experiential environments, such as interpretive spaces. Regardless of setting, UDL promotes each means of access as equally valued and effective. An audio description or electronic guide would not only be provided to someone with blindness due to their vision impairment, but as a valuable and integrated part of the entire exhibition for all participants. Providing flexible options for display and communication is part of the active inclusion necessary to make our spaces welcoming to all people.
An intriguing example of UDL at work can be found at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where visitors can examine the artist’s paintings either visually or through audio description while feeling tactile 3D models of their subjects. Various means of engagement, action and expression, and representation are utilized to create a holistic learning experience.
An example of signage one might see in a traditional interpretive space. While these warnings might be necessary in some spaces, taking a multifaceted approach to design that includes “off-limits” experiences can benefit all visitors. Photo by Violet Rose Arma.
Deepening Connections: Multi-sensory Exhibitions and Assistive Technology
Multi-sensory exhibitions and assistive technology (AT) can also be employed as tools within the UDL framework. AT is often utilized to improve, maintain, or increase the ability for disabled individuals to do certain tasks. It allows for increased independence and functionality, promoting the autonomy of users. Examples include braille, speech to text software, audio description, and tactile elements such as models and signage. Each of these modalities encourages meaningful interaction with the space and helps to ensure that all visitors have a means of accessing the information presented. By offering appropriate AT, interpretive venues can become more universally accessible - fulfilling the goal of creating environments that are usable by all people.
Multi-sensory exhibitions often employ AT but also have an increased focus on creating experiences that require the engagement of most of our senses. An astounding example of a multi-sensory exhibition that employs AT is The Senses: Design Beyond Vision at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, New York. The 2018 exhibition utilized scent, touch, sight, and sound to explore design. This included the implementation of AT elements such as braille, audio description, and T-coil compliant audio devices. The Senses invited visitors to have a unique interpretive experience, creating a multi-dimensional relationship with the objects. This practice of sensory design has been described by the Museum as physical and inclusive, enhancing typical methods of interpretation. Principles of UD and UDL were also employed as the designers championed the needs of multiple populations simultaneously - a practice that other interpretive centers can aim to emulate.
Tactile exhibition components at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
EnChroma Color Blind Glasses are available for visitors to use at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Courtesy of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.
What Now: Building Bridges
The techniques for accessibility discussed in this article - universal design, Universal Design for Learning, multi-sensory exhibition models, and assistive technology - all have the ability to transform interpretive spaces when put into practice. While education on these concepts is the first stepping stone to furthering accessibility, they are ideas that must be activated within our spaces rather than staying within the confines of publications. To foster welcoming and rich environments where content can make a resounding impact and all individuals feel a sense of inclusion, systemic change must occur. And where does this start? With us. With you.
Someday, I hope to live in a world where active inclusion is commonplace. Ideas will be for all: not a select few who engage and learn in “typical” or “traditional” ways. Every member of every audience will be included without the need to convince others that they matter. But until that day, there is concrete to mix and posts to set. As the saying goes “many hands make light work.” Brick by brick, we can build these bridges.
For More Information
To learn more about Universal Design, please visit Sheryl Burgstahler’s 2021 article (also available as a PDF) “Universal Design: Process, Principles, and Applications,” published by the University of Washington’s DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology).
Further information on Universal Design for Learning in interpretive settings can be found in Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann and Samantha Daley’s article “Making Museums More Engaging with UDL,” published in Curator: The Museum Journal, vol. 56, no. 3, 2013, pp. 307-321. DOI: 10.1111/cura.12030.
Explore and learn more about access to arts institutions by blind individuals through the book More than Meets the Eye: What Blindness Brings to Art, by Georgina Kleege (Oxford University Press, 2018).
To investigate the multisensory nature of design, please read the exhibition book The Senses: Design Beyond Vision, edited by Andrea Lipps and Ellen Lupton (Princeton Architectural Press, 2018), available to purchase in printed form and to download for free as an accessible ePub from the Cooper Hewitt Design Store.
