notes on museum experience for people w cognitive disabilities

[Clayton H Lewis]

the wiki isn't letting me in right now, so here are notes in email.  
I'll post to the wiki later, unless some good hearted wiki meister  
beats me to it : )

cheers, clayton

Clayton Lewis
Professor of Computer Science
Scientist in Residence, Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities
University of Colorado
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~clayton

Museum Experience: People with Cognitive Disabilities

Notes from discussion with agency staff who plan and lead museum  
visits for children and adults with cognitive disabilities, and from  
observing a visit to a small art museum visit for about 20 teens with  
cognitive disabilities.

General observations:

Multiple disabilities are common. Any group of people with cognitive  
disabilities is likely to include people with motor, mobility, and  
sensory issues as well, so accessibility issues of all kinds are  
important.

Museum visits are good not only for the stimulation from museum  
exhibits and activities but also for the opportunity to learn to deal  
with new situations and to relate to other people in public settings.

One of the goals of group visits is to encourage families of people  
with disabilities to visit on their own.

Making repeated visits to the same museum is helpful in learning how  
to negotiate the space and general conditions.

Crowded conditions aren't good, but visiting when the museum is  
closed to other visitors doesn't deliver the full benefit.

Interactive activities are more effective than just viewing exhibits.  
The visit I observed included a gallery tour, with a specially  
prepared handout suggesting things to notice (I wasn't able to  
observe this part of the visit), and a hands-on session of about an  
hour's length in which the visitors made collages using pictures from  
magazines.

Interactive exhibits, in which visitors can press buttons and see  
something happen, can be good.

Typical group size is about 10-15, with the visitors being  
accompanied by about one staff person per four visitors.

Visits are usually focused on only a part of a museum, rather than a  
general tour.

Planning a visit involves knowing a lot of specific things about the  
museum, including
*wheelchair access to specific areas,
*what exhibits can and cannot be viewed from chair height,
*which galleries have exhibits that are fragile,
*which exhibits (if any) can be touched,
*parking, including how street crossings can be minimized in getting  
from a vehicle to the museum
*where a good place for a group to eat or have snack is, including  
outdoor locations,
*the layout of the museum, needed for planning the timing of a visit,  
eg after we spend X time in gallery Y we'll be near the snack room,  
so we'll plan spend Z minutes there and then move on to the project  
room at location Q... planners try to have a very well planned  
timeline for the whole visit;
*when the museum is likely to be crowded, say for the opening of  
special exhibit, so these times can be avoided

Attitude and responsiveness of museum staff are key. Some museums  
have staff who are very helpful, and will work with a group when it  
visits, for example by leading a special tour. Other museums are less  
welcoming.

It is very helpful when museum staff have a sense of how to interact  
with visitors, including what manner of discipline or direction is  
appropriate and effective.

Staff feel that interaction with handheld devices would work for many  
visitors. Some visitors are already users of this general kind of  
device as AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) devices.  
Provision for carrying the devices is important: not all visitors can  
do this; provision for attachment to clothing or to wheelchairs would  
help.

Audio tours work for some, but not most, visitors.

Videos work well if they are not too long, say up to 20-30 min.

Some museum experiences, like IMAX shows, are too stimulating for  
some visitors.

Headphones are an issue for many visitors, because of concerns many  
have about being touched. As use of iPods grows, which is happening,  
headphone use may become less of an issue.

Cost is a factor for organizations arranging visits. It is much  
appreciated when a museum does not charge admission for the staff or  
volunteers who accompany a group visitors.

Symbols on signage (eg for restrooms) are helpful.

The materials on existing museum Web sites is often pitched at the  
wrong level. Kid-oriented materials, when presented, are too childish  
for older visitors, but adult-oriented materials often use too much  
specialist vocabulary.

Providing something for visitors to take home is valuable in  
promoting interactions with family or caregivers about the museum  
experience afterwards. Without a handout or similar aid it can be  
hard for visitors to convey much about the experience. Also, families  
like to know what their child or sibling has been doing, and  
organizations benefit from families having that knowledge.

Potential Fluid Applications

Here are three examples that suggest how Fluid technology could  
support good museum experiences.

Forum for visitors with disabilities.

A museum site could provide a forum in which visitors with  
disabilities, and those who organize visits, share information useful  
in planning a successful visit.

The forum would serve both as a source of well-targeted information  
for visitors and planners, and as a source of feedback for the museum.

Because, as brought out in the observations above, the information  
needed by visitors and planners is quite specific, and different from  
that needed by typical visitors, museum staff are not as well able to  
provide it as visitors and planners themselves would be. Thus the  
forum to an extent shifts some of the work needed to accommodate  
visitors with disabilities from museum staff to people better able to  
provide quality information.

Some needed planning information is mapping based (where different  
facilities are, where accessibility issues occur, where touch- 
friendly exhibits are, etc.) Fluid's mapping components will have a  
role here.

Forum Scenario.

Pat, a staffer at an organization that organizes cultural activities  
for adults with developmental disabilities, takes a group to the Catt  
Museum. Looking for a place to park, Pat finds that there is parking  
behind the museum that allows visitors to enter the museum without  
crossing a street. In the museum Pat finds that the second floor  
snack room is more spacious and less crowded than the first floor  
cafeteria, and has large tables that can accommodate the whole group.  
Pat also finds that a new exhibit in the entry area of the museum  
contains fragile materials within easy reach of visitors, so care is  
needed in managing the group.

During the visit Pat posts to the forum, adding notes under forum  
headings "parking", "where to eat", and "areas where care is needed".  
The notes are linked to a map of the museum so that readers can  
easily see where the features Pat is describing are located.

Shawn, a staffer at the museum, has a feed from the forum, and sees  
the notes Pat posts. Shawn checks the situation in the museum entry,  
and sees that there is a risk of visitors damaging the new exhibit  
there. Shawn arranges changes to that exhibit to provide better  
protection, and posts a note to the forum indicating that that  
problem has been dealt with and thanking Pat for calling attention to  
it.

Devin, a staffer at a different organization, is planning a trip to  
the museum. Devin consults the forum on the museum site, and finds  
the notes Pat and others have posted very helpful.

Interaction Opportunities for Visitors

As mentioned earlier, some visitors will be able to manage a handheld  
device, and would enjoy and benefit from opportunities for  
interacting with exhibits.

Fluid technology could make it fairly easy for a museum to offer  
interaction opportunities via a handheld device. Details of how the  
opportunities would be found and exploited would differ in location- 
aware and non-location aware situations. In a non-location aware  
situation a visitor or someone with them could initiate the  
interaction based on an exhibit identifier or from a mapping screen  
that shows the location of interaction opportunities.

As suggested in the scenario below (which is based loosely on the  
printed materials from an actual visit) the interaction opportunities  
can be quite simple. An extension of this application idea would make  
it possible to visitors or volunteers to create and contribute  
interaction opportunities.

Scenario

Devin has brought a group of adults with developmental disabilities  
to the Catt Museum. The group is issued handheld devices. A map on  
the devices shows that there is an interaction opportunity in the  
Persian Gallery. The group goes to that gallery, and Devin helps the  
visitors start the interaction opportunity by selecting a symbol on  
the map. Devin explains that the handheld devices will show pictures  
of catts in the gallery, and that the visitors should find them. He  
also explains that when they have found one of the catts they should  
press the green button under the picture to see another catt to look  
for.

Pat, one of the visitors, enjoys looking for the catts and pressing  
the button to get the next one. Shawn, another of the visitors, finds  
it hard to understand the overall activity, but enjoys seeing the  
pictures change when the button is pressed.

Something to Take Home

Scenario

When Devin's group is issued its handheld devices, each visitor also  
receives a card with a url and password, and the explanation, "Go to  
this URL to remember your visit to the Catt Museum. You will need  
this password ________ to access the information."

During their visit, things that they do, like the interactive  
opportunity just described, leave traces on the museum site. There is  
also a photo opportunity in which the visitors are able to take  
pictures that are stored on the site. Pat, one of the visitors, takes  
a picture of a favorite catt in the Siamese Gallery.

When Pat gets home, Pat gives the card to Shawn, a caregiver who  
comes in in the afternoon to help Pat with household tasks. Shawn  
helps Pat to access the URL on the card, and enter the password. The  
site shows the first picture from the interactive activity in the  
Persian Gallery, and the picture Pat took in the Siamese Gallery. Pat  
enjoys looking at the catt pictures shown on the site, and talking  
about them with Shawn. The site also shows a map of the museum, with  
the Persian and Siamese galleries marked as places Pat visited. Shawn  
asks Pat about one of the other galleries, but Pat can't say whether  
she visited it or not. Nevertheless, Shawn likes knowing something  
about Pat's visit.







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