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Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
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.
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.
If we view access as innovation and embrace that disabled people bring a pluralism of experience we can break free from mono-modal approaches to exhibition making that unwittingly perpetuate exclusionary experiences because non-disabled experiences are centred and the basis of design.
Extra innovation, not extra work
As explored in Start Here: why access is important, accessibility remains unevenly implemented. This section also examined why there is uneven access implementation. These factors remain at play as when thinking specifically about exhibition making. Accessibility and removing barriers for disabled people is not yet day to day practice and remains in the realm of adjustments, additions and access services. It is an extra, and therefore may be seen as extra work.
This is, in part, due to attitudinal barriers. Many people do not see that accessible approaches enrich exhibitions. If you do not see the opportunity, and instead view access as a problem or difficulty, an additional layer of work, it will always be extra work. What is how people think that access could change from one of meeting standards to exploring 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. When accessibility is prioritised and embedded from concept to delivery, the exhibitions sector becomes a more equal one where disabled people can participate, not as an afterthought, but as valued members of the cultural community.
For an introduction to this section, you can watch this short video about developing accessible exhibitions. You can also find out more about this in Section 7 ‘Planning for access’.
Access as innovation
Despite growing awareness, access may often be perceived within the UK exhibitions sector as something functional rather than creative. It is seen as an obligation rather than an opportunity. Many organisations treat it as an ‘add on’ or a retrofit to an assumed norm, rather than recognising that accessibility can be an integral part of artistic and curatorial vision.
Because access work is rarely seen as interesting, expansive, or innovative, it is frequently deprioritised, underfunded, or left until the final stages of exhibition making. And where it may be considered early, it may be the first thing to go when resources need re-examining. This mindset not only limits the quality of access provision but reinforces the idea that disabled people exist outside of the cultural mainstream, that their inclusion takes away rather than adds to our shared lives.
Reframing access as a source of creative possibility and structural equity is essential to shifting this dynamic and building a sector where access is embedded, disabled people are valued, and disability culture is celebrated.
Innovative Access Examples
- Wellcome Collection has embedded multisensory design, BSL interpretation, audio description, and relaxed formats into major exhibitions as a curatorial principle rather than a bolt-on service.
- Disability Arts Online’s dis_place is a digital gallery space dedicated to removing access barriers to exhibitions while platforming the work of disabled, D/deaf, and/or neurodivergent artists with a focus on intersectionality. It demonstrates how digital exhibitions can embed multiple formats (audio, BSL, Easy Read, transcripts) as standard rather than supplementary content.
Video and Reflection Questions
This short video explores how some disabled visitors experience exhibitions, focusing particularly on the role of audio description and inclusive design.
The video challenges the assumption that exhibitions are primarily visual spaces and demonstrates how interpretation can be expanded through description, dialogue, and multisensory approaches to become equitable and innovative.
Use this video as a prompt for reflection:
- How is visual information currently communicated in your exhibitions?
- Who is able to access it independently?
- Where could description, touch, or alternative formats deepen understanding for all visitors?
Access enriches the experience
A persistent misconception within the exhibitions sector is that access provisions somehow diminish or “spoil” the experience for non-disabled visitors. Features such as audio description, relaxed environments, captioning, or tactile elements are sometimes viewed as distractions from an intended aesthetic rather than as enhancements that broaden understanding and engagement. This is an ableist view because it assumes that the non-disabled way of doing things is the default or superior approach. This reflects a narrow and exclusionary idea of what an exhibition should be, rooted in outdated assumptions about a single, idealised visitor.
In reality, accessible design enriches exhibitions, offering multiple pathways into the work and inviting a wider range of people to connect with it. Overcoming the belief that access compromises quality is essential for creating cultural spaces that are genuinely open, dynamic, and reflective of the diverse public they serve.
Further Information
The Sensational Museum is a major UK research initiative that asks a fundamental question: What happens if we design museum experiences not around the assumptions of sight-dominant visitors, but around the full range of human senses? Rather than treating access as a separate add-on, this project explores how galleries, interpretation and collections can be made trans-sensory – engaging multiple senses in ways that benefit all visitors.
More on challenging assumptions:
Accessibility is not something we tack on at the end – it shapes how we think about the audience, the narrative and the experience. If you design with access in mind from the start, you open up new creative possibilities and invite people in who might otherwise be excluded.”
This video features a producer, two artists and a curator from a UK context discussing accessibility practice in arts and museum settings: including why accessibility is not an extra but something that transforms how art is presented and experienced.
Reflection Questions
What do you currently do? Who does this provide access for?
Why do you do it that way and how do you know it works?
Which assumptions about “typical” visitors might be shaping your organisation’s approach to access?
Where might your current access provisions rely on one-size-fits-all solutions?
Where can you encourage curiosity about innovative embedded access? How can you develop this curiosity in workers and audiences?