Friday, August 14, 2009

Overview of future posts...

Chuck Baird
Art No. 2
Acrylic, 24"x30"
1994

This painting by Chuck Baird encompasses my ideas, beliefs, and interests in relation to my research. In this work of art, the hand motion represents the American Sign Language (ASL) sign for art. Since this blog focuses on art museums, I will integrate works of art from Deaf artists throughout my posts. Most of this art focuses on the experience of being Deaf through the eyes of these artists.

Since members of the Deaf community are very visual individuals and art museums provide plenty of objects for analysis and visual stimulation, I believe Deaf people can have enjoyable and meaningful experiences in art museums.
However, many art institutions in our country are not prepared to provide the accommodations that Deaf visitors require to have a fully enjoyable and educational experience.

Here is a list of the topics I will discuss in future posts:
  • Information about Deaf culture.
  • Gaps in museum accessibility.
  • Various examples of exemplary accommodations for Deaf audiences from cultural institutions in England and the U.S.
  • Governmental policies in both the U.S. and England regarding people with disabilities and cultural institutions in order to find out why England's museums have come a bit further in providing museum accessibility for the Deaf community despite the fact that England's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was enacted 5 years later than the United States' laws (Americans with Disabilities Act aka ADA).
  • Resources and recommendations for museum professionals interested in increasing accessibility for Deaf audiences.
  • Resources and information for the Deaf community about how to make museums more aware of their accessibility needs.


My interest in this topic...

Despite my lifelong interest in the visual arts, I grew up without the luxury of attending art museums and receiving proper art education in the public schools I attended. After completing my BFA in Art Education, I was still curious about education in the realm of art museums, which is why I decided to attend graduate school and study museum education. In graduate school, I also began to study American Sign Language (ASL) since I had been curious about this language after growing up with a Deaf person in my community. Consequently, I combined my interest in both the Deaf community and art museum education as the focus of my thesis, while in graduate school. Now that I have completed my thesis, I would like to share my research with museum professionals and members of the Deaf community to improve the accommodations that museums provide for people who are Deaf.

An Important Note: I realize that when discussing the issues a certain group of people face, it may seem like they are being isolated and objectified, but I would like to express to the reader that this is not my intent. My intention of my thesis and research is to create awareness about the needs of people who are Deaf within the setting of art museums. Also, my purpose was not to put down any museum, but to critically analyze what art museums are missing when considering programming for people who are Deaf, and to distinguish which accommodations are effective.