Museum educational programmes for children with visual disabilities

Abstract

There has been an increasing awareness on behalf of museums for visitors with disabilities during the last decades. Museums in Greece have acknowledged the right of people with disabilities to access to cultural heritage information and exhibitions and so they have taken some significant actions in order to facilitate their access via special organized programmes and services. Nevertheless, the access of people with visual disabilities remains a challenge for the majority of Greek museums. The research aim of the present study was to investigate the experience of archaeological museums' services in organizing educational programmes specifically for students with visual disabilities. Additionally, special education teachers of students with visual disabilities were asked to participate in the study by describing their experiences from school visits to museums. Based on quantitative and qualitative data (questionnaires and interviews), the results revealed that archaeological museums had limited experience in specialized museum programmes for students with visual disabilities and underscored the nonsystematic collaboration between museums and schools. Finally, the results of the present study are strongly linked to implications in terms of specialized museums' programmes and ways of collaboration between museums and schools which raise pedagogical and ethical issues, such as inclusion and equal opportunities. © Common Ground, Harikleia Kanari and Vassilis Argyropoulos, All Rights Reserved.