Disability access information online:
A checklist for museums, galleries and heritage sites

The survey undertaken as part of State of Museum Access 2018 found that around one in five (19%) of accredited museums did not provide any disability access information online. This is likely to mean that disabled people are under-represented among their visitors. Different levels of awareness about a venue will influence an individual’s decision-making on whether to visit, when and how.

95% of respondents to the Euan’s Guide Access Survey 2017 sought disabled access information about a venue prior to visiting for the first time, and 85% stated that they checked the venue’s website to achieve this. One respondent sums up why having website access information is crucial for museums:

“Websites which don’t include information about accessibility make me assume that they [the venue] are inaccessible.” 

Museums can therefore help increase attendance of disabled people simply by providing useful information.

VocalEyes, Stagetext and DCN – Disability Collaborative Network for Museums have developed a checklist of 10 items that a museum, gallery or heritage site should cover in an ‘Access information’ page within the ‘Visiting’ section of the venue’s website. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST

You can always provide more details and are of course encouraged to include as much as possible. Don’t put the onus on the visitor to contact you to find out what they could have read online. The information should cover the museum itself and any shop, restaurant, café or other business within the venue.

The full State of Museum Access 2018 report has more details about the items covered here, and many more, covering the information, resources and services that museums can offer to support a range of visitors, including those with mobility impairments, hearing and sight impairments, as well as autistic people and people with learning disabilities. The report also has lots of links to good practice by museums of all size across the UK.