Representatives from different museums across Israel have come together to create a national network for sharing best practices on how museums, galleries, and heritage sites can welcome their visitors with special needs and disabilities. Earlier this month, the representatives attended the first-ever National Forum on Accessibility and Inclusiveness in Museums. The virtual event, which took place earlier this month, was held under the auspices of the Israel Council of Museums.
The first meeting focused on how COVID-19 has impacted access to museums. Keynote speaker Beth Ziebarth, director of access for the Smithsonian Museums, shared how her team had incorporated accessibility in the reopening of museums.
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"As museums begin to reopen during the 'new normal' created by the pandemic, my hope is that we build on the progress in accessibility we have achieved in the past decades, rather than retreat from those efforts," said Ziebarth. "It's more important than ever to invite self-advocates and families of children with disabilities to be part of the planning and protocols being put into place as we reopen our doors."
Caroline Smith of London's National Gallery and co-chair of the UK SEND Network addressed how museums could best provide what families need from cultural institutions during the pandemic.
Museum representatives from Jerusalem, London, and Washington noted that with the usual forms of communication – touch, hands-on experiences, facial expressions – being curbed due to health regulations, these sectors of the population are unable to engage as well as they otherwise would be.
The forum was initiated by the Tower of David Museum, one of the first museums in Israel to run programs for children with special needs.
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Museum director Eilat Lieber said that "through imaginative programming over the last few years, the museum has brought new and diverse audiences into the world of culture and heritage and has established a forum to share like ideas among all cultural institutions in Jerusalem. We look forward to expanding this forum together with ICOM in order to make inclusivity a standard in all museums in Israel."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org
