American museums don't consider ignoring statistics. According to the census 2010 of the year, 56,7 million American citizens (18,7 % of the population) have a degree of disability. Taking into account such factors, as an aging population and the progressive spread of certain types of diseases, associated with mental retardation, this percentage, unfortunately, will only grow, confident in the Chicago non-profit organization Open Doors (letters. "Open Doors"). That is why in the cultural organizations of the United States, inclusive programs are becoming more widespread..
IN Metropolitan Museum of Art (Metropolitan, New York) a special program for people with disabilities has been running for many years, offering more and more opportunities to visitors every year. Sometimes it seems, that in order to interact with one or another exhibit, it is necessary to have all the senses - MET successfully proves the inconsistency of this statement.
The project called "Seeing Through Drawing” (letters. "Looking Through the Drawing") - these are drawing lessons for people with partial or complete loss of vision. In October 2013 of the works of its participants, an exhibition was organized. The authors presented their own works, inspired by museum exhibits, which the organizers of the project not only described in detail to their wards, but even let me examine by touch. In one of the galleries of the museum sightseeing tour in sign language. Periodically on Fridays, "multi-sensor stations" invite all museum guests to explore the exhibits through smell, sound and music, touch, verbal descriptions. Obviously, such an experience is especially relevant to visitors with special needs. MET, perhaps, was one of the first American museums, paid attention to the integration of visitors with disabilities into their programs. The first wheelchair appeared in the museum back in 1906 year, and in 1913 the first programs for blind children started. A century later, options for people with special needs are available at MET on an ongoing basis.
The Smithsonian Institution was a pioneer in another area - the exposition principles developed by the museum specialists are still used by museums around the world today. The first steps, made on the way to overcome barriers in interaction with "special" visitors, were technically elementary, however not unimportant; such a simple innovation can serve as an example, how to place video screens and a number of exhibits at such a height, to be visible to wheelchair users.
New Program for Children with Cognitive Disabilities and Autism Allows Families to Visit Most Museums, members of the Smithsonian, even before the opening and start exploring the exposition in the absence of other visitors. Leveraging the power of crowdsourcing, Last year, the Smithsonian invited visitors to contribute to a project to create audio descriptions of their exhibit., including almost 137 million objects. Such undertakings are good not only for their effectiveness, but also, that with their help a community is formed around museum activities.
IN Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Museum of Fine Arts in Boston) recently opened Art of America wing, and specifically for it, an application for mobile devices was developed. The design of the application is built in such a way, that its content is equally accessible to all museum visitors, regardless of their health status.
Whitney Museum of American Art (Whitney, New York) recently presented a project of video tours of the museum in American Sign Language. vlogs (or, otherwise I speak, video blogs) offer users as voiced English text, and its analogue in sign language - thus, the same content is offered to visitors with different hearing abilities.
Mobile app, issued for visitors Guggenheim Museum (Guggenheim Museum), also offers verbal descriptions of exposure; its design allows for touch-only control.
Navigation systems and programs are especially in demand., which allow a disabled person to navigate the museum building and its exposition independently - for example, program called ByteLight, in which navigation is built through the interaction of a smartphone with LED lights, located indoors. The program will be tested in the coming months in Museum of Science, Boston (Museum of Science in Boston), where in test mode its use began in early January.
Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago) has recently been offering its visitors copies of exhibits, made with a 3D printer, using which you can feel their texture by touch, scale and other sensory characteristics, inaccessible by visual examination.
Options for special needs are offered not only by such giant organizations, like the MET or the Smithsonian, but also small museums. Norton Museum of Art (Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach) launched a special program last summer, intended for people with mental disorders and substance dependence. IN North Carolina Museum of Art (North Carolina Museum of Art) keep a close eye on it, to major exposure upgrades (as, eg, Rodin sculptures recently brought there) were immediately included in the sensory guide. IN Samuel P. McCarthy. Harn Museum of Art (Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida) there are programs outside the museum site - for pensioners and the disabled, who cannot afford to visit on their own.
Exhibitions and performances, who need support or advice in order to, to make your content accessible to everyone, may apply to Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (John F Performing Arts Center. Kennedy, Washington), where they provide assistance to any organizations in the field of culture, who strive to be accessible to all.
The listed programs work to include people with special needs in the life of museums, of course, not limited. We have cited only a few new initiatives in this area as examples.. Under federal law, museums are obliged to ensure access of citizens of all categories to their collections, and not to mention, that museums not only do not avoid this obligation, but often do much more, than prescribed by law.
