Accessibility Audit Toolkit for Museums
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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Accessibility Audit Toolkit for Museums

The Welsh Museums Accessibility Audit Toolkit created by Direct Access provides a structured framework to help museums in Wales assess and improve accessibility across their sites, services, and collections.

Accreditation requirements in Wales include the provision of an Access Plan to be accessible to the public.  Museums must be committed to improving physical, intellectual, and sensory access to their museum sites and collections, and the Access Plan will help with identifying priorities.

The toolkit is designed as a practical, self-assessment resource covering all aspects of the visitor journey-from travel to the site through to exhibitions, facilities, and emergency procedures.  It enables museums to identify barriers, prioritise improvements, and develop an actionable plan while recognising that it does not replace a full professional access audit.

An Accessibility Audit should be reviewed every 3 years, or whenever there is a significant change in museum layout.

Whilst this toolkit was originally produced for museums in Wales, it is a useful toolkit for any museum reviewing access and accessibility.

The Toolkit is available at:
https://www.gov.wales/accessibility-audit-toolkit-museums

Mae’r pecyn cymorth ar gael yma:
https://www.llyw.cymru/pecyn-cymorth-ar-gyfer-archwiliad-hygyrchedd-amgueddfeydd

 

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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

1. Start Here: Why disability access is important

Disabled people are the largest minority group[1] and yet evidence shows that they still face significant barriers in almost all areas of life. This includes the exhibitions sector, where we know there is still a long way to go to create equity for disabled people in every area. Start here to learn more about how to make your exhibitions more accessible to disabled people.

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2. Key actions for organisations to increase disability access

Disabled people are still excluded from museums and galleries and the exhibitions they programme and tour, because of inaccessibility, persistent ableism, and lack of knowledge, confidence and experience in making things accessible. Change is needed. But how do organisations know what change to make?

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3. Access is innovation

Accessible exhibitions require more than meeting minimum legal standards. They demand, and deserve, a holistic approach that considers how disabled people, who face many different kinds of barriers, encounter exhibitions.

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4. Don’t do this: skip the pitfalls in exhibition accessibility

Access is not solely the responsibility of learning and/or engagement teams, visitor services, or curators—it is sector-wide work. Everyone involved in exhibitions, from leadership to architects, contractors, designers, artists, and technicians, needs to understand how their role shapes access.

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