Mobilizing museums
MúzeumCafé 16.
Nothing better demonstrates how complicated it is to make museums accessible to people with limited mobility than the experience of participants in wheelchairs at a conference on the theme in the Palace of Arts, the home of the Ludwig Museum. Parking was free, but only for a limited time. The chairlift leading to the buffet was unusable and the tap in the ‘disabled’ toilets was not working. On the positive side, however, besides museum specialists and rehabilitation experts, many people directly concerned were themselves present at the conference, Animated Museums Workshop – Connecting Contemporary Art and People’s Disabilities, held in the Ludwig on 5 March. The gathering, which focussed on making Hungarian museums accessible, took place thanks to the Grundtvig Lifelong Learning Programme and the VIVO Foundation. On the second day representatives of Szentendre’s Open-air Ethnographic Museum, the Fine Arts Museum and the Ludwig Museum spoke about the opportunities museums can provide for people with disabilities to learn about art. Cécile Ranise, who is writing her PhD on the subject, told participants she had sent questionnaires to 15 museums in Hungary, of which 14 responded. The answers showed they considered themselves accessible for people with limited mobility, yet their services are far from being comprehensive for all groups of people with disabilities. Her illustrated presentation detailed how access in terms of a physical nature, information and content can be made available for the motor-disabled, people with impaired sight and hearing, those with learning difficulties, and even for expectant women, mothers with young children and senior citizens. At the time of its reconstruction, the Szentendre Open-air Museum learnt much from Cécile as well as from an Egyptian architect. They pointed out, for example, that a muddy parking lot dirties the hands of wheelchair users.