Bridging the accessibility gaps...

Bridging the Training Gap
In order to bridge this gap, museums can work with organizations or consulting companies that specialize in the area of disabilities. These disability organizations and consultants can help create and/or implement trainings for the staff in art museums and audit the museum’s accessibility practices. For instance, in the city of Chicago, the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities provides disability awareness training for the workplace. Also, according to its website, the national organization Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) is made of 10 regional centers in the U.S. that has trainings on several disability-related subjects and can create tailored trainings for institutions as well as provide people information, referrals, and resources about the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the case of university museums, since these museums are part of a university and serve the student population, university museums should develop a relationship with and consult the department for students with disabilities to assist in obtaining accessibility resources or creating a training program for employees. Once trainings have been established and implemented to appropriate (if not all) staff members and the art museum is equipped to accommodate members of the Deaf community, a marketing plan should be developed so that all efforts and preparations do not go unused.

Bridging the Marketing Gap
A very good way to advertise towards members of the Deaf community is through websites of local Deaf people and Deaf organizations, by sending museum representatives to Deaf churches and working with Deaf organizations and local Deaf art museum goers for marketing help and advice. It would also be wise for museums to acknowledge people of varying abilities in all advertisements through the simple use of logos such as the samples shown in this image:

Acknowledging accommodations in general advertising would create awareness about these services to everyone who looks at these advertisements, thus revealing this valuable information to friends and family members of someone who is Deaf or has a different type of ability (Deafworks, 2001; NEA, NEH, NASAA & JFK Center for Performing Arts, 2003). Such marketing initiatives can help create awareness about people with varying abilities and their rights to accommodations, and spread the word to the population at large that the museum provides such services.

Bridging the ADA Enforcement Gap
There are some changes that could be made to improve the enforcement methods prescribed by the Americans with Disabilities Act in order to enhance the law’s effectiveness. One of these possible changes is to create a committee in each state that would provide assistance to cultural institutions such as museums and their level of ADA compliance. A good example of such a committee is the New York State Council on the Arts’ access advisory committee. This committee provides arts organizations in the state with resources on how to be more accessible to people with disabilities. For individual museums, access advisory committees can be formed at the local art institution, as well. (The publication titled Accessibility Planning and Resource Guide for Cultural Administrators has a section specifically about creating an access advisory committee and is available for download at http://www.nea.gov/resources/Accessibility/Planning/index.html.) An access advisory committee can be made up “of board member(s), executive director, program directors, Accessibility Coordinator, and consultants who represent and/or have disabilities. The consultants may be artists, cultural administrators, educators, accessibility experts, interested legislators, participants and audience members” (National Endowment for the Arts, 2004). Another way to bridge the ADA gap in art museums is to have museum organizations such as the American Association of Museums (AAM) create more stringent accessibility standards for physical and educational access when considering museums for accreditation or membership. Additionally, local Deaf and/or arts organizations can create an accessibility report card that grades the accessibility methods and programs of art museums in the area. (A great example of a report card can be downloaded and read using Adobe Acrobat Reader. It can be found at http://www.illinoissafeschools.org/page_attachments/0000/0030/VisibilityMatters_ReportCard.pdf. This report card evaluates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ) issues in programs that prepare educators to work in schools across Illinois.) A report card can be an effective way for Deaf organizations to evaluate websites, educational programs, and physical accessibility of a museum; it lets the institution know what is being done well and what can be improved in the area of accessibility, while empowering Deaf organizations and community members. Enforcement methods such as these would allow public and private institutions in our society as a whole to take more responsibility in providing equal educational access for members of the Deaf community.

References
Deafworks. (2001). Access for deaf people to museums and galleries: A review of good practice in London. London: Deafworks.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Nation Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), & The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (2003). Design for accessibility: A cultural administrator’s handbook. Washington, D.C.: National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) (December 14, 2004). Accessibility planning and resource guide for cultural administrators. Retrieved August 16, 2009 from http://arts.endow.gov/resources/accessibility/Planning/index.html.