The authors discuss the principles of "access for all" in museums, both physical and intellectual access. They explore this question of multisensory processing in neurologically typical individuals, and case studies of two Portuguese museums that experimented with implementation of an "access for all" approach to the presentation of their permanent collections. The study was designed with three phases: addressing architectural barriers to access, preparation of accessible information about space and objects, and testing of alternative formats to convey this information to learn how to meet diverse needs in different ways. Set in the context of research on multisensory learning, this article discusses why an access for all principle is a majority issue as well as a moral and legal concept. It discusses two case studies where an "access for all" museological approach has been applied to access to the collections, with differing success. The discussion focuses on how an "access for all" approach could enhance learning, long-term memorability and the 'cultural value' of a museum experience for all visitors.
Making art accessible to blind patrons requires the ability to convey explicit and implicit visual messages through non-visual forms. Audio description is often seen as the best way to offer visual texts to blind people; however, one may query whether words alone are sufficient to convey the subtleties of art and to transport the emotional charge such works offer. It is a fact that the dialogue between words and touch may allow these particular "readers" to "see" art in its tangible forms, but perhaps more is needed if one is to give them the opportunity to live the art experience to the full. This article discusses different multi-sensory approaches to making art available to visually impaired people and proposes soundpainting as a form of artistic transcreation.
ResumenPara que el arte sea accesible para las personas ciegas es necesario saber transmitir mensajes visuales, tanto explícitos como implícitos, a través de formas no visuales. La audiodescripción se considera, a menudo, como la mejor manera de ofrecer textos visuales a los ciegos; sin embargo, uno se puede preguntar si las palabras por sí solas son suficientes para transmitir las sutilezas de las artes visuales y transportar la carga emocional de estas obras. Es cierto que el diálogo que se establece entre las palabras y el acto de tocar puede permitir a estos "lectores" particulares "ver" obras artísticas en sus formas tangibles, pero quizás se necesite más si el objetivo último es brindarles la oportunidad de disfrutar la experiencia artística en todas sus dimensiones. En este 1. This research has been partially funded by the European Project AD LAB: Audio Description. Lifelong Access for the Blind with reference no. 517992-LLP-1-2011-1-IT-ERASMUS-ECUE.
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, where she teaches Audiovisual Translation. In her career as a University teacher and researcher, she has led a number of collaborative projects for the provision of subtitling, subtitling for deaf and hard of hearing viewers and audio description for blind audiences on television, the cinema, museums and cultural venues, the performing arts and education. She is a member of the TransMedia Research Group (transmediaresearchgroup.com) and a board member of the European Association for Studies in Screen Translation (http://www.esist.org/).
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