How Art Museums Are Serving People With Visual Impairments

Takeaways

• Museums worldwide are actively working to make art accessible to people with visual impairments and other disabilities. Many institutions are recognizing that everyone deserves access to cultural heritage.
• Institutions in Italy and other countries are working to shift the art experience from sight-only to multisensory. These efforts include touchable replicas or 3D models, audio descriptions, and guided experiences that use sound, scent, and detailed storytelling to explain the meaning of the artwork.
• These improvements are making art more accessible to all visitors. Inclusive design, such as smoother pathways, clear signage, and multisensory exhibits, improves the experience for everyone. It also supports a growing number of older adults and visitors with disabilities.

Italy is known for its extraordinary artistic heritage. Yet not all its visitors have been able to fully appreciate the artistic treasures on offer. Visitors with vision impairments or other disabilities have often been unable to experience its art, artifacts, and architecture in the same way as others. However, in recent years, museums and cultural sites have aimed to change that by creating ways for people to experience art with senses other than sight.

How Italy Is Making Art More Accessible

Tactile Museums and Replicas

Museo Omero in the Adriatic coastal city of Ancona, founded by blind art lovers Aldo and Daniela Grassini, is a publicly funded tactile museum. Visitors can touch life-size replicas of famous sculptures, including classical statues, the head of Michelangelo’s David, and contemporary artworks. The idea is to explore art through touch and texture. This approach shifts the experience from purely visual to body-based and sensory, offering a deeper emotional connection for blind visitors.

Accessible Archaeological Sites

At the ancient site of Pompeii, accessibility enhancements include braille signage, QR-coded audio guides, tactile models, and bas-relief replicas of excavated artifacts. These help blind and low-vision visitors access information about the site’s architecture and history through texture and sound. The site also provides guided tours led by Italian Sign Language speakers, fully accessible tours for wheelchair user, and an easy-to-read map and guides for people with cognitive impairments.

Museum Accessibility Guides

Institutions like the Uffizi Gallery also offer accessibility information and tactile experiences. These include routes where people who are blind or have other vision problems can touch select sculptures from the Medici collection.

Creative Tours and Inclusive Guides

The Radici Association has been leading sensory-focused tours in Rome since 2015. Its tours offer a slower pace, narrative descriptions, and even creative encounters, such as reenacting a statue’s posture so others can feel the shape, to help convey artistic meaning without relying on vision.

Similar Accessibility Initiatives Around the World

Many museums and cultural institutions globally are adopting more inclusive practices to enrich the experience for visitors with visual impairment, including legal blindness and loss of vision, as well as guests with other disabilities.

Tactile and Multisensory Exhibitions

• The Tactual Museum of Athens displays copies of artifacts that visitors can touch, offering a tactile way to explore ancient Greek art and culture.
• Kaunas Museum for the Blind features art and cultural objects created by and for visually impaired individuals. This Lithuanian museum offers experiences through sound, touch, and smell as well as sight.
• The Louvre and other museums have also created tactile reproductions that allow fans of art history to explore iconic paintings and sculptures with their hands, along with audio guides and written signage.

Audio Descriptions and Guides

• At the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, blind and low-vision visitors can explore galleries at their own pace using audio narration, raised touch guides, and braille materials. The museum also serves the needs of visitors on the autism spectrum and guests who have hearing impairments. In addition, personal care attendants for guests with disabilities can enter the museum for free.
• Many museums worldwide use audio description, QR guides, and smartphone apps to share visual details through sound. These enhancements help visitors understand size, composition, materials, and historical context of artworks and artifacts.

Inclusive Museum Practices

• Some museums offer multisensory exhibits that integrate touch, sound, and smell. These museum experiences aim to engage all visitors, not only those with disabilities. They are demonstrating that accessible design often improves the experience for everyone.

Why It Matters

Making art accessible is both a matter of rights and common sense. People with disabilities deserve equal access to cultural heritage, and accessible experiences also attract more visitors and strengthen cultural tourism. According to the United Nations, nearly half of all people over age 60 have a disability. Many disabled travelers often travel with two or more companions.

As populations grow older and more visitors live with some form of disability, inclusive design is becoming more important for museums and historic sites around the world.

Additional Reading

• Bill of Rights for Airline Passengers With Disabilities
• Rideshare Apps: Pros and Cons for People With Disabilities