I believe if someone needs an aide, the aide should get in free. We have many people in our studio classes who require an aide in their daily lives--we do not charge the aides to attend the class, only the student. It's no different from requiring a certain ratio of adult chaperones for a paid school tour: we require the chaperones (and I assume the school would want to send them) but we don't count them as part of the tour numbers when figuring the charge for the entire group. But I agree with Indigo that there should be no discounts for disabled individuals. We have programs in place that allow people with demonstrated economic hardships to apply to receive scholarships or reduced rates for classes (and to my knowledge we have not turned anyone down for this type of accommodation if they cared enough to go through the steps to ask for it); however, the nature of our business means that they need to exercise a certain degree of planning to take advantage of these programs. Maybe there could be some sort of membership program that allows someone with economic difficulties (for whatever reason--a physical disability or a social disadvantage) to apply for a special membership card that allows inexpensive or free access to the museum and would include a provision for an aide. It would certainly allow the museum to demonstrate they are reaching this segment of the population and track the usage of this program. Julia Muney Moore Director of Exhibitions and Artist Services Indianapolis Art Center 820 E. 67th St. Indianapolis, IN 46220 (317) 255-2464 x233 FAX (317) 254-0486 email <[log in to unmask]> website <http://www.indplsartcenter.org> -----Original Message----- From: Indigo Nights [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 8:27 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: question I would be reticent to provide disabled discounts and definitely would not allow aides in for free. Some might think that strange coming from me, but the bias that is presumed by getting that discount is that disabled can't work and therefore should be able to access the facility at a much reduced rate. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).