Igniting Inclusion at the SPARK Museum

Authors:

• Marie Baeta, Museology Graduate Program
• Chair: Angelina Ong
• Joanne Woiak
• John Jenkins

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Abstract:

Museums continue to struggle to provide experiences that are inclusive to disabled people. The lack of legal requirements or guidelines for designing beyond physical accessibility poses a barrier for institutions who want to engage in this work. For small museums the challenge is greater due to limited staff, resources, time and funding. But small museums also often have close community ties, more flexibility in pivoting focus, and close collaboration between staff. This project provided a proof-of-concept model for building capacity in a small museum to integrate and apply inclusive designing principles. Through the assessment of a science show at the SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention, it aimed to provide staff with tools and resources to make their programming more accessible. I developed a framework for the participation of User Experts (disabled people), led 6 User Expert interviews, and reviewed and compiled their feedback. With museum staff we created a weighted list of recommended changes based on User Expert feedback and Universal Design guidelines for science programming. Although the museum gained valuable knowledge and practice in applying inclusive design principles, it is questionable how realistic replicability would be in other small museums. It is unlikely that SPARK could have undertaken this task without the added capacity of my involvement. This demonstrates the need for easy to use tools and resources related to inclusive design. It also highlights the need for a centralized network for museum professionals who are interested in designing inclusively, to help close the gap between research and practitioners.

Poster:

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Project Deliverable:

Igniting Inclusion at the SPARK Museum

Video Presentation