>Thanks for your message.  I agree that a lot can be done, especially if
>we're creative.  Have you done anything to make your sites more
>accessible for visitors with disabilities other than mobility
>impairments?  Also, do you have any areas that are inaccessible and have
>you found ways of sharing that information or experience?
>
>Lisa Craig Brisson, Museum Educator
>Mackinac State Historic Parks
>(616) 436-7301
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I'd be happy to brainstorm on this. What are your site's particular
problems? Do you have a renovation projects in the works?

As for other disabilities - sight, hearing, emotional and developmental -
we haven't made any special studies or consulted with experts. I image
there are museum professional groups within AAM studying thise issues.

However, in the course of making exhibits more interesting, we've found
they are also more accessable: a sit-in stagecoach that rocks on its
leather braces, with a tape of a traveller's tale gives the tactile and
audio for the sight impared.
Something to touch helps any visitor better appreciate the history being
presented: a clicking telegraph, a miner's gold pan, coach makers' tools
(with special protective mountings, of course).
We push to use the largest type size possible on a text plate, because most
people just won't read small lettering.
When we laid a wood floor in a marbled lobby space, we worked to have the
slope up very smooth, so that seniors, who's feet loose flexibility, won't
jam their toes. This was beyond building code requirements.
Our guides have done much to specialize the tours for 4th graders, and can
easily modify a tour for a special group, with advice from the group's
leaders.

Hope this helps, and let me know what you come up with.

Bill Sander
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Wells Fargo Historical Services
Wells Fargo Bank
415/396-3956

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