Buckinghamshire County Museum (opened last Wednesday) has various
initiatives.  We are about to appoint someone for six months to
improve access for people with learning disabilities in particular,
and disabilities in general.

BCM serves a particularly large disabled community: we have Stoke Mandeville,
the national spinal injuries hospital on our doorstep, and the county includes
20 miles away, the new city of Milton Keynes, a planned community of 1/4
million, mostly built in the last 25 years, and so is more accessible than
most British Cities, and hence is attracting more people with disabilities.

We consulted with interested groups in this area while we were designing
our new galleries and services: so all labels are large-print, we have
an induction loop in the auditorium and a portable one so that 'happenings'
elsewhere in the museum can be induced (or whatever the verb is!).
We have a lot of hands-on stuff.  There is a conflict between
'preservation in perpetuity' and touching in some cases, but casts
of fossils, samples of different timbers with different treatments,
and a giant lace sample are examples of things which _can_ (_should_!)
be handled by everyone.

We have no formal policy (yet), but are planning to include statements
on all our activities (e.g. collection, education, displays, publicity
material).

We have had a particular difficulty in finding any information about
what other museums are doing for visitors/users with learning
disabilities, outside the group visit situation.  Reading about formal
teaching/learning in this area, I notice a stress on assessment and
preparing induvidually tailored programmes: two things which I am unable
to imagine in a conventional museum gallery.

--
Patricia Reynolds
Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum / Freelance Curator

16 Gibsons Green
Heelands
Milton Keynes
MK13 7NH
ENGLAND

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