The Inclusive Museum

In my last few posts I have discussed…what dyslexia is, how museums can be fantastic learning spaces for individuals with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, and today I am going to be exploring what museums can do to increase dyslexic access and inclusion.

I have mentioned in the past the the main issues individuals with dyslexia struggle with are: self esteem, memory, phonological difficulties, and often (but not always) visual stress.

I will now take these point by point and outline what I feel museums can do to improve access:

*** Please note that there has not in any way, shape or form, been enough evealuation into this area of study. It is important that I make it clear that what I am suggesting come purely from my own experience and my own research. I have not conducted any large scale evaluations and would strongly recommend that any museum wishing to become more accessible should consider doing so!***

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Visual stress:

Individual with Irlens Syndrome, or visual stress, often struggle glare that white paper, musuem cases and objects under spot lights give off. Therefore increasing the contrast of museum panels by using coloured backgrounds can increase comfort. Typically having a pastel coloured background is preferable, and will not effect the reading abilities of those without dyslexia, but will greatly increase it of those with dyslexia. Additionally reducing light levels can be an effective alternative, but can in itself cause further visual problems.

It is also suggested that any material that is laminated should be done in a low gloss or matt format. The same applies to acetate.

Some museums are unable to move away from the traditional black text on white backgrounds, due to internal policies and have therefore supplied visitors with coloured overlays. I should at this point, point out that each individual will have a different colour preference, mine is grey/blue, but from experience I can say that any colour is better than glaring white.

Self Esteem:

As mentioned in a previous post individuals with dyslexia often struggle with low self esteem, feeling confused, embarrassed and lacking confidence.

Museums can combat this by celebrating the achievement of individuals with dyslexic and learning difficulties on there walls.

It is also of vital importance that all members of staff, especially front of house staff have received basic disability awareness training. In the past I have had very negative experience with respects to front of house staff and they have left me feeling embarrassed and insecure. Additionally if your establishment is going to offer auxiliary aids all members of staff should be aware of them and how to use them.

Memory:

As mentioned in a previous post, many individuals with dyslexia have difficulty with memory, particularly Short Term Audio Memory (STAM).

Museums can help with this by offering information in a number of formats.

Individuals with dyslexia and other neuro-diversities, often learn best though visual and holistic styles. With respect to this, and focusing on history, museums can help by physically leading people thorough time by setting up exhibitions chronologically. Holistically, by starting exhibitions with a overview panel, viewers can visualise the whole story before moving onto the in depth details.

Phonological difficulties:

Individuals with dyslexia often struggle with phonological skills such word attack, decoding and semantics (see previous post).

Museums can help to reduce this struggle by using short sentence, avoiding over complicated words, presenting information in manageable chunks, considering visual displays and images. It may also be pertinent to use plain and evenly spaced fonts such as Veranda and Tahoma.

As I have mentioned before this topic was the focus of my dissertation and I have personal experience with this field being a individual with dyslexia. Should you or the institution you work for want to know more about how you can be more accessible to individuals with neuro-diversities or dyslexia do please get in contact or comment below.