Generally most museums are not regarded as beneficial for blind people, particularly because often objects are behind glass. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and museums can be a fascinating experience. However, most exhibits will need some kind of adaptation to make them enjoyable for blind people.
Why do blind people go to the museum?
May not be as obvious as it sounds, but not always to enjoy an exhibit. Other reasons can be that it is a family activity, where the rest of the family can enjoy it and they can describe as much as possible to a blind family member. It can be a school field trip when the entire class is going, and the rest of the activities can be enjoyable for blind kids, the museum not necessarily. Even if it doesn’t make sense for blind parents, it can be an enriching experience for their sighted kids.
But most importantly because the museum has something to offer that is enjoyable even without eyesight. This can be a tactile exhibit, an electronic audio description or a guided tour.
Why aren’t museums more accessible for blind people?
The fact that most objects are behind glass or fenced in have very practical implications. If they would be available for anybody to touch, it could be a major wear for the exhibited objects, if they wouldn’t be totally destroyed. It would not be feasible for thousands or millions of visitors to touch objects as they please if it was available to anyone. In other instances, touching the objects would also mean permanent damage, or the object needs to be in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. In many other cases, it simply wouldn’t make sense for blind people to touch certain artifacts, such as photos or paintings, as they would not benefit from it.
At the end of the day, the lack of accessibility is not any discrimination or carelessness, it is simply not feasible to allow all people to experience exhibits by touch, just in case blind people happen to visit the museum.
What kind of exhibits are enjoyable for blind people?
Primarily those where there is something to touch. Either because it is a special tactile exhibit made for blind people, or by nature it doesn’t matter if people touch anything. These could be old buildings, statues, or demonstrations on making things like pottery, weaving, etc. Some of the easiest things to make available are those materials which are reused and their quality doesn’t have to be maintained. Another possibility is to display replicas of originals where there is no damage when people frequently touch them.
Often museums provide electronic audio descriptions. Usually it is either a phone app, or a device with headphones where visitors can listen to information about each artifact. Though this can be interesting, it has several drawbacks. Often times there isn’t an accessible way of locating objects. I have found several times that I was standing in front of something and listening to the explanation of something else. After all, it doesn’t matter much, especially when touring the museum alone, the experience is often just standing by a glass box. For that matter, those audio descriptions could be listened to at home without having to go and stand anywhere. However, they also have a much more useful implication. When visiting a museum with other people, I don’t have to rely on somebody else to read the descriptions. They can view an object at their own pace, read what they would like to, while I can listen to my own audio description. Another advantage of audio descriptions is that they tend to contain much more than what’s just written on a display, usually they try to explain the exhibit to blind people, with more or less success.
When tactile exhibits are not available, one of the most interesting approach is a guided tour, where an individual takes a group of people through an exhibit and explains it to them. The advantage here is that when they know there is a blind person in the group, guides tend to provide more description, and of course there is a professional who knows much more about the exhibit than there would be time to talk about, and often they are the best people to ask questions.
Another approach is individually guided tours. While often these are not necessarily advertised, it is just the matter of asking. When I wanted to visit museums on my own, I wrote to the staff explained that I was totally blind, and asked if there is anything they could allow me to touch from their collection. I would say more than 90 percent of the cases I got a positive response and they made my visit very enjoyable. The rest was no response at all. I have never once heard that it will not be possible, museum staff was always very accommodating and somehow tried to make my visit enjoyable.
Conclusion
Visiting museums for blind people can be challenging, but with the right amount of preparation it can be a great experience. However, it is also worth noting that there could be many more opportunities to make museum visits more informative or more tactile.
