1. Start Here: Why access is important

Disabled people are the largest minority 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. From those working in the sector to the audiences that ultimately come to exhibitions greater equity can still be achieved to increase the involvement of disabled people, thereby enriching our cultures, our exhibitions practice and ensuring that fewer people are excluded from participation in our sector.

Change has happened on a small scale in many ways; perhaps we know people who are passionate advocates, either for themselves or for disabled people as a whole, yet we know that to achieve true equality we must focus on impactful change that is systemic and structural and does not only exist in small changes here and there. In this section we will examine what that is and why that matters.

To start with we’re going to introduce the social model of disability.  To some this may be a reintroduction.  It does not matter if you have or have not heard of this way of thinking about disability – what is important is that it provides a very strong foundation for understanding what being disabled in our society means in practical ways and therefore also provides us with a foundation to build a practical understanding of how to be less disabling.

The social model of disability was created by disabled people to describe their experience in the world. It says that what disables people are barriers that are present in society, not people’s impairments. Barriers can be physical, environmental, sensory, attitudinal, and systemic. For example a wheelchair user is not disabled until they come into contact with a disabling barrier such as steps and no lift access option or if a person starts in a place of work and reasonable adjustments are not offered or discussed. In order to make impactful change we need to focus on all of these barrier areas.

The social model is practical and useful and something that we need to apply in all areas of exhibitions work. The social model also tells us that it is not the responsibility of individual disabled people to remove barriers in society, it is everyone’s responsibility to do something about. Access measures must consider and remove barriers for disabled staff, visitors, and artists. All exhibition makers and venues must act as though they are expecting disabled people to be present and remove barriers to access. Inclusion London provides a useful factsheet to develop understanding of the Social Model, whilst Unlimited offers an animated version.

Governance 

North East Museums’s Access Policy adopts the Social Model explicitly – treating barriers in buildings, interpretation, and attitudes as organisational responsibilities. The policy also links governance-level commitments to employment, consultation with disabled audiences, and staff responsibility across the institution.

Employment 

Shape Arts is a disability‑led arts organisation that works with cultural partners to train and open up employment opportunities for disabled creatives, and to shift institutional practices across galleries and museums.

DaDaFest Rookies Programme runs training, mentoring and placements for young disabled people to help them enter the creative and cultural workforce — a direct example of Social Model-informed employment action within the cultural sector.

Curatorial content 

Exhibitions that centre disabled voices & histories: 

• National Disability Art Collection & Archive (NDACA): A UK‑based collection influenced by the Social Model – showcasing art connected to disability rights and activism, making disabled experience and protest central to curatorial narrative rather than “medical/deficit” framings.

Visitor services 

• Inclusion & Access Manifesto (Buckinghamshire Culture): This practical manifesto defines barriers across organisational areas — including visitor services — and commits to removing barriers to participation, reflecting Social Model principles in service planning and delivery.  

Exhibition access

• Dialogue in the Dark An internationally touring exhibit designed around sensory inclusivity, led by guides who are blind, challenging social assumptions and enabling access through experience rather than deficit.

• Inclusive Exhibition Case Studies & Guides Organisations and publications (e.g. museum inclusion best‑practice guides) emphasise universal design, multisensory interpretation, staff training and co‑design with disabled people: core Social Model actions in exhibition access planning: 

Lack of knowledge

Making impactful change also matters because there is a persistent lack of knowledge and understanding about making the exhibitions sector accessible. A 2021 British Council report ‘Time to Act’ found that lack of knowledge, confidence, and experience in the cultural sector creates barriers for disabled artists and audiences.^[1]  There is often a lack of knowledge at an organisational level which results in poor implementation of policy and practice.  Often knowledge is anecdotal or relies on individuals.

Confidence / Fear

As well as a structural lack of knowledge there is also often an individual fear of getting it wrong. If staff have not had, or taken, the opportunity to think about or enact access measures, there can be a real lack of confidence. This can also come from a strong desire to get things right; a well-developed, well-intentioned understanding that it is possible to get things wrong and a fear of criticism or failure. This lack of confidence can also happen when a disabled person within an organisation is not empowered to speak up on access or their expertise is not recognised, valued or legitimised.

Not knowing where to start

As well as a lack of confidence and fear of getting it wrong, those who do want to act often feel they do not know where to start. Implementing access and making impactful change can feel overwhelming. This can lead to efforts that can focus on wrong barriers or actions, for example providing BSL interpretation at live events, where you have not yet developed a relationship with BSL using audiences or investing money in very new access technologies that have not been designed or tested by disabled people. It can also mean that there is a lack of understanding of the nuance of making impactful change requiring disabled bookers to have an access card, where lots of those who could benefit from barrier removal would not want to identify as disabled.

Lack of consistency

Where good practice has taken place it is often not consistently embedded and sits either as a project context or is threatened by not being part of core activity or budget lines.  Lack of consistency can also affect where the passion and remit of a staff member looking at access is not shared across the organisation or written into policy and plans – when that staff member leaves so does their knowledge and access practices.

^[1] https://attitudeiseverything.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Seven_Inclusive_Principles_for_Arts__Cultural_Organisations_working_safely_through_COVID-19_1.pdf

We have examined the Social Model of Disability and the barriers that disabled people experience.  We have also looked at the barriers within the sector to making impactful change.  Before we go further it is useful to face the reality that disabling barriers are built into many of the structures of society. This means that, though there is a lot that we can change, there are some things that we cannot. Recognising this does not mean that we cannot try to change what we can and speak up about what we cannot change. Facing up to this reality means that we can call it what it is: ableism.

Ableism is “the behaviour which unintentionally excludes or actively discriminates against disabled people and is most commonly manifested in poor physical access or not putting in place sufficient support mechanisms to enable disabled people to succeed”^[1]. Some people do already know about the social model but it is not fully embraced or understood. Or, they don’t understand the impact that it has when it is not followed or not followed consistently.

The ACE report also shows that 9% of audiences to National Portfolio museums were disabled people in 2022/23. This compares with 22% of the working age population according to the ONS.^[2] Because disabled people are less present in the cultural sector there are fewer people within it who might speak about the negative impact of disabling barriers. That means there is likely to be a lack of understanding of the impact of not removing barriers. We often think about the positive impact removing barriers can have but what is less often spoken about is the impact of not making things accessible by consistently removing barriers through improved practice and policy. This results in ableism: discrimination against disabled people. Not providing accessibility means that disabled people are still excluded. The Scottish household survey 2022 Only 56% of Disabled adults had attended a cultural event will venue compared to 80% of non-disabled adults^[3]. By not proactively providing accessibility museums and galleries actively exclude disabled people.

We also know that ableism is not taken as seriously as other types of discrimination.^[4] Often not providing accessible environments is seen as acceptable and because disabled people are so often excluded from society, ableism is less visible. Taking ableism seriously, listening to and believing disabled people, speaking to them as equals, and taking action to be anti-ableist, is one reason why making impactful change so often does not happen.

^[2] https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/diversity-data/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-review-2018-23

^[3] https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2022-key-findings/pages/11/

^[4] https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8db739b1-74c8-4dcf-a405-216335e305b5/files/m919ce933cdc7e3c410d81c9ece92d49b#:~:text=These%20are%20well%2Dknown%20and,group’s%20status%20in%20multiple%20societies. p3

^[1] https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/time_to_act_full_report.pdf

Why do you think making impactful change is important for disabled people, in your context?

Where are disabled people present and not present in your work?

What does impactful change look like for you?

What are the barriers to making impactful change in your context?