The purpose of museums is to enable all visitors to enjoy its collections and to learn. Although programs for visitors with visual impairment have appeared in developed countries, it does not seem that much has been done to integrate this group into the museum audience. Museum staff had to consider the different learning needs of visitors and consult with members of the community to gain a better understanding of what needs to be changed in order to make their museum accessible to visitors with different abilities. However, it has also been suggested that inclusive practices can be achieved through the use of Universal Design. According to McGinnis (2007), Universal Design means that exhibitions and programs would have to be designed so that everyone was able to use them. This article aims to analyze the accessibility of museums in Skopje to visitors with visual impairments, with a particular focus on how they can become more inclusive.

1. Museums: Accessibility to
visitors with visual
impairment
26-27 January 2017
Sofia, Bulgaria

2. WHO AM I AND WHAT I DO?
Daniela Dimitrova-Radojichikj, PhD
Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation,
Faculty of Philosophy, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius,
Skoplje, RM
Email: daniela@fzf.ukim.edu.mk

3. STRUCTURE OF THE PRESENTATION
• Museums and Social Exclusion/Inclusion
• Museums accessibility
• Methodology
• General conclusions

4. Museums and Social
Exclusion/Inclusion
Museums and galleries can, and
have played a significant role in
combating social exclusion
(GLLAM Report, 2000).

5. • To avoid social exclusion of visitors with visual impairment
(VI), the museums should adopt and understand the social
model of disability.
• The social model of disability does not deny impairments
or any medical needs that arise from an impairment, but
positions the ‘problem’ within the social or physical
environment, not with the person or the impairment.

6. Social Exclusion: a multi-dimensional and interrelated
process through which groups in society become
disenfranchised and marginalized by being shut out, fully or
partially, from any social, economic, political, and cultural
systems (Sandell, 1998).
Social exclusion is a term for lack of access to various social
benefits to an individual or a social group (Brstilo, 2010).
Funding for social inclusion work has not been easy to access.
National museums have not been in the forefront of social
inclusion work, for a variety of reasons.

7. TWO FORMS OF EXCLUSION
There appeared to be two forms of exclusion discussed in
the literature on disability
Active exclusion
Passive exclusion
Set on an axis of extremes
Exclusion can be seen as individual, based on a position
on this axis

8. Social inclusion embraces things like
education, access, equal opportunities - all
of which have been established as 'good
things' for some time

9. right
• to be included in all the activities of museums and
galleries
dialogue
• with people with VI to find out what they need and
want, and how to deliver it
barriers
• should be identified and dismantled to enable
and empower people with VI to participate
universal design
• should be the basis for inclusive practice in
museums and galleries
process
• must be ongoing, long-term, achievable and sustainable

10. • Universal Design (UD) mean that exhibitions and
programs would have to be designed so that everyone was
able use them (McGinnis, 2007).
• However, it has been argued that UD poses some problems
because the needs of individuals are so varied and it would
be hard to come up with a model that would provide access
for all (Imrie, 2004).

11. McGinnis (2007) offers a solution to this problem. She suggests
that instead of searching for one ideal model, Museums and
Galleries should consider the seven principles of UD:
UD
flexibility
of use
equitable
use
low
physical
effort
tolerance
for error
perceptible
information
appropriate
size and
space
simple
use

12. For example, exhibitions should present information in
different formats such as, braille text, large print text, and
audio.
Also, artworks should be placed so that children and adults
can see them clearly and opportunities for tactile, visual, and
audio exploration should be available throughout
the exhibition.

13. Museums Accessibility
Visitors with VI want to be able to
attend programs open to the
general public (Reich et al., 2011)

14. • For museums accessibility is most commonly used when
referring to creating a space that can be physically
accessed by all people (whether they have a disability or
not).

15. Despite a growing acceptance of the imperative to become more
accessible, there is little evidence to suggest that many museums
have embraced their potential to act directly as agents of social
inclusion and to tackle contemporary social problems

16. Conclusion
Their training and learning programs, however, need to be
adjusted and developed according to the needs of the community
which shares the same territory and culture as the museum. These
programs should meet the needs in the community, especially of
its marginalized and excluded members.
Museums can and should sensitize to the social needs in their
community by transforming architecturally, by adopting their
programs, performances and similar.

17. Museum participating in social life in their community
can transform it into a dynamic scene, play a role in creating
cultural-social inclusion, contribute to social participation and
provide incentives for a long term policy of socially
sensible cultural institutions.
Museum can fight the social exclusion by working closely with
non government organizations
and institutions which deal with similar topics.

18. Museums and galleries exist for people. Those people include
people with VI and their families and friends
Museums and galleries as employers and as service providers
should ensure equal treatment for people with visual impairment.

19. Candlin (2006) makes a strong argument for how the use of touch
in museums is seen as a “lesser, substitute form of seeing” (p.
137) since it is mainly used by museums during access programs
and not as a mainstream option for teaching.
The majority of the literature that exists regarding museum
programs for visitors with visual impairments focuses on touch
tours, visual descriptions, tactile diagrams, and art making, and
not on how to integrate these tools into mainstream programs
(Axel & Levent, 2003).

20. 3. Individuals with visual impairments appear to be some of
the first persons with a disability that museum staff
welcomed (Andrus, 1999).
Museums and galleries, perhaps uniquely, have the potential to
represent the diversity of communities and, in doing so, to
challenge stereotypes and promote tolerance and social cohesion.

21. METHODOLOGY
The context, methods and
structure of the study

22. Museums in the study
Museum of the Macedonian
Struggle (VMRO)
Museum of the city Skopje (SK)
National Archaeological
Museum (AM)

23. Holocaust Memorial Center for
the Jews of Macedonia (HMC)
Museum of Macedonia (MK)
Contemporary Art Museum
(Art)

24. The research was designed to investigate:
1. Are the Museums in the capital city Skopje accessible for
visitors with visual impairment?
2. How are the attitudes of museums staff according the
people with blindness?

25. 1. Skopje’s museums are
accessible for visitors with
visual impairment
The context, methods and
structure of the study

26. 1. Skopje’s museums are accessible for people with VI!?
Questions VMRO HMC AM SK
Is lighting consistent
throughout the space?
yes no yes no
Is there additional light to read
labels/text?
no yes yes no
Are main panels and
introductory text in 24-point or
larger?
yes yes yes no
Is text printed on a solid
background?
yes yes yes no

27. Skopje’s museums are accessible for people with VI!?
Questions VMRO HMC AM SK
Is there an audio version of
labels/text available?
no no no no
Do you provide an audio guide of
the exhibition?
yes no yes no
Do you use Braille labels? no no no no
Large print catalogue no no no no
Do you provide a Braille catalogue? no no no no
Do you use appropriate language in
the description of people with VI?
no yes no no

28. Questions VMRO HMC AM SK
If objects are very small, have you
provided a reproduction of works?
yes yes no no
Do you have tactile opportunities
for people with VI in your
Museum?
no no no no
Has all staff received awareness
training?
yes no no no
Is there a staff person responsible
for disability access services?
no no no* no
* in process to employ
Skopje’s museums are accessible for people with VI!?

29. Museums and Social
Exclusion/Inclusion
Museums and galleries can, and
have played a significant role in
combating social exclusion
(GLLAM Report, 2000).

30. 2. Attitudes of museums staff according the people with
blindness
• Participants
Twenty-four employees of those six museums from Skopje.
• Instrument
Participants completed the Social Responsibility about Blindness
Scale (SRBS) (Bell & Silverman, 2011), which was used as a
measure of their attitudes about blindness. The scale includes 20
self-report items evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale with 1=
Strongly Agree and 5= Strongly Disagree.

31. Attitudes of museums staff according the people
with blindness
• Scores on the SRBS range from 20-100, with increasingly
higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward
blindness.
• The mean SRBS score for the museum staff was 52.5
(SD=7.41), with a minimum score of 38 and a maximum of
70.

32. 2. Attitudes of museums staff
according the people with
blindness
The context, methods and
structure of the study

33. • Museums should form an advisory board comprising both
visitors with visual impariments and specialists in the field of
serving visually impaired groups.
• Museum staff and educators should go through sensitivity and
mobility training to better meet the needs of visually impaired
visitors.
• Museums should pilot a program with visually impaired
people to gain invaluable information regarding the successes
and failures of the program.

34. • Museum tour groups should be kept small and individual
attention is necessary to make sure the needs of visitors are
being met.
• Museums should disseminate information about programs by
reaching out to specialist in the field of education for the
visually impaired.
• Museum staff should consistently ask their audience questions
and listen to what they need in order to make necessary
changes to programs.

35. References

36. • Axel, E. S., & Levent, N. S. (Eds.). (2003). Art beyond sight: A
resource guide to art, creativity, and visual impairment. New York,
NY: Art Education for the Blind, Inc. (AEB) & AFB Press of the
American Foundation for the blind.
• Andrus, L. (1999). Opening the doors: Museums, accessibility, and
individuals with special needs. In A. Nyman & A. Jenkins (Eds.),
Issues and approaches to art for students with special needs (pp. 63-
86). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
• Bell, E., & Silverman, A. (2011). Psychometric investigation of the
social responsibility about blindness scale. The Journal Of Blindness
Innovation And Research, 1(2).
• Brstilo, I. (2010). Culture as a field of Possibilities: Museum as a
means of Social Integration. Ethnological Researches 15, 161-173.
• Candlin, F. (2006). The dubious inheritance of touch: Art history
and museum access. Journal of Visual Culture, 5(2), 137-154.

37. • Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (2000).
http://www.accessibletourism.org/resources/uk_museumsand-
galleries_disability_directory_pdf_6877.pdf
• Hooper-Greenhill, E., Sandell, R., Moussouri, T., & O’Riain, H.
(2000). Museums and Social Inclusion, The GLLAM Report.
https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/rcmg/projects/muse
ums-and-social-inclusion-the-gllam-report/GLLAM%20Interior.pdf
• Imrie, R. (2004). From universal to inclusive design in the built
environment. In J. Swain, S. French, C. Barnes, & C. Thomas (Eds.),
Disabling barriers, enabling environments (pp. 279-284). Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
• McGinnis, R. (2007). Enabling education: Including people with
disabilities in art museum programming. In P. Villeneuve (Ed.), From
periphery to center: Art museum education in the 21st century (pp. 138-
149). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.