Participatory Accessibility in Museums: The Case of the Murney Tower Museum’s Audio Tour

Abstract

Museums around the world are increasingly developing new assistive tools and digital technologies to improve access to their spaces and accommodate the needs of disabled individuals. Despite the growing recognition of issues of accessibility in museums, most initiatives are developed without the active participation of those intended to benefit from these projects, including individuals with disabilities (Park et al. 2015; Wilson et al. 2018). As a result, participatory accessibility remains a largely overlooked area both within museum literature and museum practice. Using the Murney Tower Museum’s participatory audio tour project as a case study, this paper offers insights into participatory accessibility design in museums, and reveals the social, cultural and institutional implications
of this approach to design. Through a detailed analysis of the museum’s threestep audio tour project, the paper argues that accessibility initiatives which are developed with the active participation of disabled people and other target audiences, may create better results in facilitating greater access to museums and cultural spaces.