Richard S. White Wrote:

>  And I second the idea of having docents and
> tourguides tour the museum in a wheelchair.  We also take our docents
> through blindfolded and using a cane as we do many programs with the
> visually impaired.

But keep in mind that such exercises can be offensive to some in the
disabled community. I am not sure I completely understand why or if I agree,
but then never having been even temporarily without any of my abilities I am
not sure it is for me to agree or understand. I believe the thinking goes a
little like this: "You can never know what it is like to be me, so any play
acting you do will never come close to the reality that I have to live with.
To assume it does is presumptuous and offensive." If I have mis-stated their
case I apologize to all concerned. I just wanted people to know that it is
an attitude I have met with in the past and that you may also run into it
when designing your programs. Lesson to learn is that no two people, even
people who share what we would think to be a character defining
characteristic such as a disability, are alike in their outlook,
personalities, or sensibilities.

I have spent a lot of years being and training front line staff in retail,
gas stations, parks, restaurants, and museum just to name a few and one
thing I have learned is that what happened at the Kimball could have
happened to any of us, at any time. No matter how well you train your staff
and no matter how excellent they are, there will always be the potential for
running afoul of a visitor on some issue be it ADA or some other equally
important or completely petty issue. And just as soon as you think it can't
it will. All the moral indignation I have seen directed at the Kimball these
last few days can only be from people who haven't had it happen to them yet.

Bear in mind that no two people  on this planet are exactly the same. Each
one has their own ethics, sensibilities, experiences, prejudices, biases,
education, pet peeves, etc. etc. There is no way you can plan for them all.
What you can do is do your job to the highest possible standard, prepare for
the problems you most expect, but be flexible, be understanding, be patient,
and build in a grievance procedure that takes your front line person off the
hot seat ASAP (they are after all, probably the lowest paid people in your
museum, if they are paid at all) and gets the visitor to a supervisor as
well as quick response system that gets a letter or other communication from
as senior a staff person as possible to the aggrieved party in as short
amount a time as possible. Be prepared to make changes if needed, but also
be prepared to tell an aggrieved person that you are comfortable in your
policies and plan to stick with them.

And as a person who has been through more than a couple of these
controversies I am amazed at the number of people who are criticizing the
Kimball with, as far as I can tell, ONLY ONE SIDE OF THE STORY. Do you treat
your staffs like that? Do they get disciplinary action as soon as a visitor
complains? Do you bother to get their side at all? As far as  I can tell, we
have only the visitor's side of this event, and look at all the debate and
acrimony it has produced. I certainly hope cooler heads prevail when
controversies arise at your institutions, or I can't imagine you hold staff
for very long.


--
Matthew White
Director of Museums
Mount Washington Observatory

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www.mountwashington.org

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