Leah,

I have worked a number of places and we always offered free admission to anyone who came to assist a person with a disability. In terms of school groups I have always advocated letting in language interpreters free as well. Sometimes I win that battle, sometimes I don't.

And to be blunt, I don't recall caring whether a specific person was a family member or an actual paid professional. The fact is, we aren't talking a lot of people here and you have to balance the cost of losing a small number of admission tickets with the negative consequences of offending a group or family arguing over definitions. I have been through the later with a particularly obstreperous docent and it just is not worth it in the long run. This type of thing goes especially true for the disabled community because they tend to be very well networked and communicate.  You don't want to get a reputation as being inaccessible. My advice is that if they claim it, let them in with appropriate safeguards for acceptable ratios of paid/free tickets. 

I should note that I come at this from the history museum side, mostly. My sites have typically been in historic structures that weren't always as fully accessible as a more modern building might be, so we were VERY sensitive to give back a little to that community when we could to stay in their good graces.

Just my 2 cents.





Matthew White
PhD Candidate, History of Science
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Museum Studies
University of Florida
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On Sep 9, 2011, at 9:57 AM, Leah Fox wrote:

Hi All,
 
We are currently examining our admissions policies for visitors with disabilities. Presently, we do not offer any special discounts to a visitor with a disability or their assistant, but would like to know if other museums are addressing this any differently. (We offer free admission hours for all visitors every Saturday from 10:00-noon.)
 
  • Do you offer free or or reduced admission if someone with a disability brings a personal assistant (someone acting as a sighted guide; someone to assist with a wheelchair)?
  • How do you address the fine line between a personal assistant and a friend/family who is joining them to enjoy the visit but also helping? (We have had several occassions where the person accompanying has identified themselves as an assistant asking for free admission. We told them our current policy and they were fine with it. While we understand that there are many hidden disabilities, we questioned to ourselves the visitor's intentions -- it was the second person self-identifying as an assistant, not the person with the disability saying "I'm here with my assistant.") Overall, we try to use our best judgement with this.
Thanks,
 
Leah
 
 
Leah Fox, Director of Public Programs
Currier Museum of Art
150 Ash Street
Manchester, NH 03104
603.669.6144 x119
 
Visit our Online Curriculum for Educators at http://curriculum.currier.org.


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