Abstract
Despite museums’ obligations under international and domestic regulatory protocols to meet accessibility standards and anti-discrimination measures, audiences who are blind or have low vision continue to encounter significant barriers in accessing collections. These barriers largely stem from institutional approaches that compartmentalise the concept of accessibility into isolated categories, as a consequence of these protocols. In response, this thesis introduces the Enabling Museum framework, adapting Cameron Duff’s relational idea of ‘enabling places’ to promote a more nuanced understanding of accessibility, across its conceptual, applied and lived experience dimensions, within museum settings.Data collected through two participatory museum program workshops, semi-structured interviews and document analysis are analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive Thematic Analysis method.
The thesis identifies three key findings. Firstly, dividing museum accessibility frameworks into categorical domains, such as physical and social access, typically results in compartmentalisation. This originates from accessibility mandates established by the United Nations’ 2008 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, influencing both domestic regulations and institutional practices. Secondly, longstanding Eurocentric sensory hierarchies in museums, intensified by regulatory compartmentalisation, privilege visual engagement practices. Consequently, this often leads to programming provisions, such as touch tours, that segregate audiences according to sensory abilities. Thirdly, multimodal approaches to interpretation are identified as being able to contribute to alleviating the combined effects of regulatory and sensory compartmentalisation, enhancing museum accessibility for visitors with lived experience of blindness or low vision.
Through development of the experimental Enabling Museum framework, this thesis aims to expose the disabling effects of compartmentalisation and promote a reconfiguration of isolated accessibility categories as interdependent and thus interconnected resources – formed through dynamic interactions among individuals and their environments to foster supportive networks. The Enabling Museum framework advocates for collaboration among practitioners, visitors, policy makers and disability advocates to drive systemic change to improve museum accessibility by engaging with the spectrum of experiences and challenges faced by audiences who are blind or have low vision.
| Date of Award | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Bethaney TURNER (Supervisor) & Tracy IRELAND (Supervisor) |
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