Session from the 2015 Visitor Studies Association Conference
Museums everywhere are recognizing the importance of accessibility for visitors with disabilities, and there is an ever-growing body of resources. However, as evaluators, where do we start?
This session will provide concrete strategies for self-assessment, collecting and using data, and talking to high-level decision makers about accessibility.
1. Accessibility:
What’s an Evaluator to Do?
Kris Johnson, Access Indy
Elaine Klemesrud, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
Anna Lindgren-Streicher, Museum of Science, Boston
Catherine Lussenhop, Museum of Science Boston
Visitor Studies Association Conference
July 16, 2015
2. Disability & Diversity
Who are People with
Disabilities?
• 2010 Census Report—
20% of the people in
the US have a disability
• Disability doesn’t
discriminate. Anyone
can acquire a disability
at any time.
• People with disabilities
are in every community
How are Disabilities
Categorized?
• Physical
• Cognitive/Developmental
• Sensory
• Age-related
• Temporary
3. Understanding Obligations to Our
Visitors
“Equal Opportunity to
Benefit”
• Any person of any ability
level should be able to
approach and use
anything in your museum
• Any person of any ability
level should be able to
participate in any
activities and events at
your museum
Self-Assessments
• Assessing legal compliance
(Federal, state and local laws)
• Identifying barriers that
prevent equal access for visitors
with disabilities (spaces AND
programs)
4. Identifying Barriers
• Physical barriers prevent
people from entering a space
and/or using features within
a space.
• Communication barriers
prevent people from
receiving and responding to
information.
• Attitudinal/behavioral
barriers prevent people from
interacting in positive and
effective ways.
Cane Denied:
When Good Policy
Isn't Enough
5. Access vs. Inclusion
Medical Model of Disability
• Disability is a result of
medical conditions that
must be overcome by the
individual
• Requires specific
accommodations to
alleviate issues of
accessibility
• Often results in
separation/isolation of
people with disabilities
Social Model of Disability
• Disability is the result of
barriers that exist in the
environments we
create
• Requires that we
remove barriers and
reconsider our role in
designing experiences
for people on a broad
spectrum of ability
6. Levels of Assessing Access &
Inclusion
1. Self-Assessment of Your Position
• Reviewing your daily tasks/duties, and examining your own process
for incorporating access and inclusive practices into the products of
your work
2. Cross-Departmental Approach
• Establishing a network of communication and cooperation across
departments to ensure that access and inclusion don’t slip through
the cracks
3. Community Engagement of People with Disabilities
• Developing relationships with individuals or advocacy groups who
are willing to be advisors and provide consistent feedback
4. Institutional Assessments
• Examining existing systems of strategic planning and evaluation to
identify areas of operations that need improvements, and also
assign accountability and metrics for success
7. Access Indy: A Local Knowledge
Network
What We Do:
• roundtable discussions focused on
topics related to access and inclusion
• guest speakers present and lead
discussions
• sessions are free and open to the public
• encourage staff and volunteers from any
cultural arts organization to attend
• welcome people from the disability
community to share their insight and
experiences
10. Accessibility Basics:
BASELINE
Where does your institution
currently fulfill accessibility?
ADA compliance only
Universal Principles of Design
How does your senior staff view
accessibility as an institutional
priority?
What do you need to move
forward?
Research
Money
What resources to you have
available that can help you move
forward?
11. Accessibility Basics:
BUILD A TEAM WITHIN
Does your institution have an
ADA Coordinator?
Who else already advocates for
inclusion?
What departments should be
invited to the table to create an
interdisciplinary team?
Visitor / Guest Services
Exhibition Design
Facility Maintenance
A/V
IT
Volunteer Services
Marketing
Are there missed opportunities
for input?
12. Accessibility Basics:
BE REALISTIC
What are you up against?
Historic structure versus modern
facility
Where is the money coming from?
Government funding
Grant funding
How much time will it take to ensure
that it’s done right?
What if we think it works and it
doesn’t?
13. Accessibility Basics:
BRING IN COMMUNITY EXPERTISE
Who better to give you
insights than those who
you want to serve?
Every community has
resources.
Utilize their expertise.
What better way to
breakdown preconceived
notions and put you on the
right track?
Greg Fehribach and The Fehribach Group: Innovative Access Solutions
AccessIndy
14. Accessibility Basics:
BECOME SUSTAINABLE
How do we remain relevant in a
quickly changing world?
Initiate institutional processes
for building inclusion into:
Programming development
Staff training
Promoting opportunities
Remaining relevant
15. Accessibility Basics:
Go BEYOND ADA
On July 26, 1990 President George
H.W. Bush signed the Americans
with Disabilities Act.
ADA compliance meets only the
minimum in accessibility
requirements.
17. • In order to meet the needs of an audience, you
need to talk to that audience
• This is especially true of a new audience you
don’t know well
• “Nothing about us without us”
• Values the voices & expertise of the audience
themselves
The need for visitor feedback
18. • Answer questions you
have about exhibits,
programs, etc.
• Help you develop
relationships
• Hear and value voices
of people with
disabilities
What you can gain
19. • Make a universal design or access plan
• Personas
• Advisors
• Visitor testing
• Focus groups
• Individual/small group user testing
Complimentary approaches
20. • Hypothetical
archetypes of real
users, based on real
data
• Allow for user-focused
design in early stages
• Inform team members
about audiences that
may not be familiar to
them
Personas
21. • Have access-related
expertise beyond
their own personal
experience
• Education, legal
code, software
development, live
performances, etc.
• Should be paid like
any expert advisor
Advisors
22. • Speak about their
own experiences as
persons with
disabilities
• Some also have
professional
experience
• Come in the social
group they’d usually
visit the museum with
• Receive free
admission & parking
User testing
23. • Internal resources (Community Outreach, etc.)
• City or state commissions on disability
• Local disability listservs, agencies, or
community groups
• SPED Child and Teen Massachusetts
• Mass Deaf Terp
• New England Handicapped Sports Association
• Schools (can present consent issues)
• Group homes or independent living centers
Connecting with communities
25. • Recruit for a range of experiences
• Use simple language. More concise = better.
• Allow multiple contact methods (phone/email)
Clarity is key! When we weren’t clear…
• Emails got forwarded too widely
• Information got distorted
Recruiting visitors
26. Minimum info for an email:
• “This involves research or evaluation”
• What they would be doing/testing
• “By appointment only”
• “We have a limited number of spots available”
• Do or do not forward this email
• ASL interpreter lead time
Also: accessibility survey and database
Recruiting visitors
27. • Learn basic
communication strategies,
but…
• …Don’t get too nervous
• Value variation in
experiences over large
numbers
• Look for physical,
cognitive, social inclusion
• Remember interest and
learning
Data collection preparation
Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts 2012, Patti Panzarino
28. • Invite other stakeholders
(but not too many)
• Prepare to reword
survey or interview
questions
• Prompt for personal
perspectives
• Consider how design
disables or enables
learning
Data collection tips
29. • Use universal design & social model of
disability as a framework
• Identify barriers to physical, cognitive, and
social inclusion
• Call out designs that work well and foster
inclusion
• Review findings with participants
Data analysis and reporting
30. “Build a Bridge Support,” June 2015
Yawkey Gallery on the Charles River
31. • Involve people with disabilities in the work of
the organization
• Embed information about inclusive practices
into communication, PD, and large projects
• Engage in ongoing experimentation and
reflection
• Promote that design strategies are better for all
Organizational change
32. Small group discussion
• Share who you are and what work you are doing
now to apply accessibility.
• What is one thing you want to change or apply in
your own work?
• Who are your resources in your museum or
community to support your work?
33. Presenter contact information
Kris Johnson iaccess@iupui.edu
Elaine Klemesrud eklemesrud@indianamuseum.org
Anna Lindgren-Streicher alstreicher@mos.org
Catherine Lussenhop clussenhop@mos.org
Notes de l'éditeur
-In this presentation we will focus mostly on individual/small-group user testing, but much of it applies to focus groups as well.
There is a disability community in your area. Here are some possible places to look.
Make sure it is appropriate to post on a site or listserv by contacting the administrator.
SPED Child and Teen = aggregate website with listservs, events, and other resources
Mass Deaf Terp = Yahoo group with event postings of interest to the Deaf/deaf/HoH community in MA
NEHSA = Volunteer nonprofit to involve PWD in sports and recreation
School examples: Perkins School for the Blind
Story time: I had been working in the field for barely a year, working on a study on the impacts of an exhibition. The team was including PWD as an audience, so I was asked to help recruit some people. Went back to an existing listserv and got in touch with people who hadn’t been able to participate the last time we did access testing. One woman replied with something totally unexpected: “I am Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts 2012, and I would like to attend wearing my sash and crown and have photographs taken.” Now, this had never happened before (or since!), and I had a moment of (minor) panic about photography and IRB and consent and was that ok? Was this going to be a publicity event? We worked it out, her husband came and took photos, we did the testing and had a great time. Now normally we wouldn’t include names with photos of our participants due to IRB considerations, but when we asked to use the pictures her husband took, Ms. Panzarino explicitly asked us to include her name and title. Not only did I get her input on the exhibit we were studying, but I learned about the work that Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts Foundation does.
Range: as broad as you can with physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, Deaf/deaf/HoH, autism spectrum, etc.; also think about what you want with personal and professional experiences. Different ages.
Simple language: aside from being a good idea in general, esp good for people with cognitive, learning disabilities, and some people who are Deaf and use ASL for whom English is not their first language.
Methods: just like any audience, people have different levels of comfort with email. Accessibility is another layer in people’s preferences. Don’t assume for example, that people who are blind can’t use smartphones or email or that people who are Deaf don’t use telephones.
Minimum info beyond, of course, logistical info like time frame for testing and how they should get in touch with you. Give reasoning behind each one.
-R&E: I know it might make it sound scarier, but it’s important for informed consent and for the setup of your study.
-What testing: not just “general accessibility,” because they may misinterpret that. If prototype exhibits, make that very clear.
-By appointment: without that, people might just show up expecting that they could test whenever
-Limited spots: if you have to turn people away for any reason, it helps if they’ve been told in advance that spots were limited. Always offer to keep their info for next time.
-Do or do not forward: be clear about which is ok. Forwarding can be like a game of telephone. Even if we thought it was ok to forward, it got overwhelming.
-ASL: at MOS we say minimum 2 weeks are needed for an interpreter.
-To address focus groups as well: focus groups can be enjoyable for participants and feel like a community setting. Facilitating a focus group for participants with disabilities means you should practice effective facilitation skills, just even more so. Facilitators may direct the flow of conversation more and verbally describe situations in the room (e.g. “I see 7 people have their hands up…” or “One of our participants will be using ASL, so please allow a moment for the interpreter.”)
Story time: A recent example and success story. For a new exhibit about the local river in Boston (Yawkey Gallery on the Charles River), we are developing some hands-on building activities. In this one, the visitor places bridge supports in flowing water and then uses metal pieces to complete the roads in 1-3 different places. Seems accessible, right? Multisensory, hands on? What the team didn’t know was if visitors who are blind would have difficult perceiving the effects of different bridge designs (input vs. output). They could feel the water flowing, but how would this translate into building the bridge? We invited a few groups that included people who are blind, and had them use this activity. These visitors used their hands to feel the tactile dashes on the roads, and built bridge supports by placing different pieces in the flowing water and using their hands to feel if they moved or not. They also used their hands to gently feel their bridge designs. We learned that we needed to make the road sections clearer by creating more of a tactile difference between road and “ground.” Visitors who are blind also wanted sets of building pieces instead of our random assortment so they could be more systematic in trying things out.