Access to Heritage Sites

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Access to Heritage Sites
Rix j.r.m.rix_at_open.ac.uk
Jonathan
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Castles Galleries Museums Old Ships Churches
Palaces Old Houses


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Some sites have

• Special tours
• Audio tours
• Art Projects
• Photography Projects
• Personal history projects
• Accessible signs

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But there is very little advice
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Advice is often general

• Eg
• Think about whether people can access your
  information

Or Consult and involve new audiences in the
production of exhibitions.
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Some advice can be quite worrying too

• A professional consultant, whether disabled or
  non disabled, should be able to cover all areas
  of impairment, including those in which they have
  no personal experience.
• (Audits - Delin, 2003 pp16)

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Some advice may be useful

• The Disability Directory (Resource 2001)
  recommends the use of
• plain english
• supporting pictures
• short sentences
  
• clear print
• step by step learning opportunities
• active sentences without complex qualifying
  clauses

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Some advice may cause difficulties and confusion
The Disability Directory (Resource 2001) also
recommends the use of

• Attention-grabbing, human-story information

• No distracting background audio effects

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• How can we give better advice?

How can we give more good advice?
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Key issues from a Medical Model View

• Visual Functioning
• Auditory Functioning
• Response to Stimuli
• Short-term memory
• Language understanding and use

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Key issues from a Medical Model View

• Referential issues
• Motivation
• Numeracy skills
• Comprehension

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• But is this research useful?
• It is all about limitations...
• It is about what people cannot do...
• It does not tell us how we can make heritage
  sites better

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Heritage site audiotour research

• Rix, J. (2005) Checking the List Can a Model of
  Down Syndrome Help Us Explore the Intellectual
  Accessibility of Heritage Sites? International
  Journal of Heritage Studies, 11, 4, 341 - 356

Westminster Abbey Audiotour
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Comparison of the structures of 3 Audiotours
adjectives technical terms dates uncommon
nouns older english terms that are knowledge and
context specific
family names verbs with different
endings alternative words to help explain other
words occasional site specific term
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I discovered that my audio tour...was better than
the others...in theory!
And I identified parts of the audio tours where
you could ask

• Is there a negative impact on focus, motivation
  and self-confidence of the audience?

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• Identified parts of the audio tours where

Sentences that are too complex because
Too many words Too many ideas Too many
characters
Confusing directions
Confusing things to do
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• At best I could help the heritage sites know
• Where to look
• Where to ask questions

What is still needed is people with learning
difficulties to go to heritage sites and tell
them what works for them.
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The Heritage Project - Merseyside

• To assist and encourage people with a learning
  disability to access Merseysides culture and
  heritage sites as is their right.
• To enable cultural sites to become accessible to
  people with a learning disability and therefore
  benefit everyone.
• To create an intellectual access protocol that
  can be used in cultural sites everywhere.

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The Forum

• 5 groups
• 20 adults involved
• Meet once a month since January 2006
• At meetings they plan and share findings

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Visits to Heritage Venues
There have been at least 20 visits to venues
during the project so far

• The World Museum (a few times!!)
• The Walker Art Gallery
• The Maritime Museum
• The National Wildflower Centre
• Speke Hall
• The Williamson tunnels
• Metropolitan Cathedral
• The Anglican Cathedral
• The conservation centre
• Lady Lever
• Staircase House

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The World Museum

• Hands-on workshop
• Explored the Natural History collection
• Could talk about the artefacts
• The support staff were surprised that workshop
  sessions at the museum are free

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Speke Hall

• Agreed free entry
• Went on guided tours
• Went around on their own
• National Trust say they will listen to research
  findings

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How is the research done?

• The forum has been photographing and filming to
  document our visits
• Project co-ordinator makes notes of individuals
  observations
• Questionnaire for Support Staff
• End of session questionnaire

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Think about a visit to a heritage site... Did you
enjoy it? What was good? What was bad? Think
about things you saw, heard, read,
touched... Think about pictures you saw Think
about labels you read Think about stories you
heard Think about how you travelled there Think
about how people treated you
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Issues regularly identified by The Forum

• Pre visit information needed
• Not knowing what is available at a venue to use
  it to its full potential
• On arrival not being made to feel welcome
• Unclear way finding - signage
• Use of colour coding for directions
• Often needs lots of visits
• Info lots of times in small chunks
• Inconsistent symbols
• Lack of symbols in use in interpretation
• More and bigger symbols
• More senses being used
• Audio text at press of a button
• More use of sound
• Large text is needed
• Videos and music create a sense of place and
  reduce need to read
• Computer games are fun
• Enjoyed hands on exhibits
• Enjoyed people in costumes
• More seating

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The Forum Plans...

• An exhibition at St Georges Hall
• A film showing how they work
• Developing training for guides
• Exploring Tactile interpretation
• Pre visit packs
• Symbols and symbols guide
• News letter about what venues offer

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The Forum believes

• A consultation process should be undertaken
  whenever new interpretation is designed and made
  for Heritage sites

What do you think?