Open Forum

Could anyone recommend a consultant to do an accessibility study at our Museum? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

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Graham Humphrey
Jewish Museum of Maryland
Baltimore MD
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Graham,

If you mean physical accessibility of your facility I would recommend Gian Hilberry. She was a consultant for the new Busch Stadium and is now working on the St. Louis Arch grounds renovation here in St. Louis. 

Gina G. Hilberry, AIA LEED-AP CCS

Best,

Nicole

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Nicole Smith
Lead Public Service Representative                                                                                                                                                                   Missouri History Museum                                                                                                            

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We used Mark Trieglaff and Ingrid Kanics. I would also recommend Bob Dillon. Feel free to email me and I can tell you more about their qualifications. Also I gathered a list of folks who do this kind of work.

Tina.keegan@cityofpaloto.org

Best,

Tina Keegan

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Tina Keegan
Exhibits Director
Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo
Palo Alto CA
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I would recommend you contact VSA. VSA - Education - The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The Florida branch of VSA has done many accessibility studies from cultural institutions here in Miami. Some of these studies were conducted for free and or were covered by grant funds.

Mark

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Mark Osterman
Guiding Programs Manager
Vizcaya Museum & Gardens
Miami FL
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Good morning Graham,

I had to add in my thoughts on this subject for personal reasons.  

I am a disabled person, now using a cane and soon a service animal.  During visits to museums, galleries, zoos, aquariums and so forth, I utilize a small mobility scooter.  It may be a good idea to ask actual disabled persons who use walkers, scooters, wheelchairs to visit your site and see how truly "accessible" your facilities are to a handicapped individual.  I can say from personal experience that many times areas that able bodied people perceive as accessible are not all workable.  I worked at your museum way back when it was JHSM and we had this discussion involving the lobby area bathroom handicapped stall.

One of the education staff seated themselves in a manual wheelchair and then tried to use the handicapped stall.  She found there wasn't enough room to actually get out of the wheelchair while in the stall, turn and seat herself on the commode.  This was eye opening for the staff as the bathroom was to code and was measured to the inch to comply with ADA, but was so tight that it was impossible for a chair user to actually make it work.  Bear in mind this was an able bodied person but they were totally unsuccessful in utilizing the stall, and remarked how large the stall had seemed until she tried it with the chair.

Again, these are my personal thoughts only, but in my travels I have found we the disabled know exactly what works and what doesn't. Ask me about how unaccessible I just found Philadelphia to be during my trip there last week.  Ramps in out of the way areas, huge concrete lips around the edges of curb cutouts, ramps at insane angles I would not even attempt, bathrooms with narrow openings and no automatic doors, I could go on for days. Hard city to use a scooter in for sure.

An able bodied person doesn't have the same viewpoint or needs.  I'd be happy to bring my scooter over and tell you what i find, just let me know.  I've addressed a few issues in my own museum that no one ever thought of so I know how accessibility issues are sometimes more apparent to those who need the accessibility to work.  I'm happy to "consult" on this issue.

Best, 

Linda Jo 

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Linda Nelson
Registrar
Maryland Science Center
Baltimore MD
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If you are looking for a informal review, and more of a way to improve your visit tools and accessible experience - then I'd definitely recommend looking at:

http://www.inclusiverec.org/

I had been contacted a year ago by a Professor from SUNY Cortland - and they run this website which is an inclusivity recreation resource. Their evaluation is not a "legal" critique, but a "usability" assessment. The professor came out with a couple of students (undergrad and grad) and spent the day at the Central Park Zoo exploring the facility and taking measurements. I'm still in the process of working with them on the outcomes and results that they put together as a resource on their website. They had agreed to not publish things to their site until I had final review and sign off with our Park Director.

Unbeknownst to me, many years back, they had done an informal visit to the Bronx Zoo - - unfortunately, the information they have on the site for BZ is not very accurate. Once I get the CPZ project completed, I'll probably look to have them back to properly update the Bronx Zoo content on their site.

Best of luck!

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Randi Winter
Director, Admissions & Guest Relations
Wildlife Conservation Society
Bronx Zoo - NY Aquarium - Central Park Zoo - Prospect Park Zoo - Queens Zoo
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