Open Forum

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

Grounds For Sculpture developed a touch tour of our sculpture specifically for visitors with vision impairments. When this program was designed in 2006, we did produce braille labels for the works of art featured on the tour. However, actual practice has shown that the braille labels were not very helpful. A partner organization of ours who works with the blind has indicated that only a small percentage of blind individuals use braille, and that it is actually decreasing as audio recordings are becoming more common and are easily accessible.  That said, we no longer offer braille labels.

We do create large print text of all our exhibition materials, including text panels and labels. More recently, we've moved to making sure the actual labels in the gallery are in large text, so that additional resources do not need to be created.  I believe it is part of the ADA law that any publicly viewable information (like labels) be made accessible. For lesson plans or other hands-outs, we generally do not product large print, although if someone requested it, we would accommodate. You may want to consider indicating that large print is available upon request only.

------------------------------
Cassandra Demski
Curator of Education
Grounds for Sculpture
Hamilton NJ
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-11-2015 11:55 AM
From: Anthony Pennay
Subject: Braille, Large Print Materials

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

Hi Anthony,

When I worked full time at museums, what we'd typically print on all our materials is something like "Available in Large Print upon request."  and include the graphic icon for Large Print that is part of the disability symbols.  If it was something like a brochure, we would run a smaller print quantity in large print and hand them out as requested; for lesson plans, if we did them in house we could just create a file in large print and email it to them; it became more complicated if it were something printed and designed, hence the "upon request."  I don't recall ever having to do it, but our plan was that we'd get copies printed and it would take an additional 2 weeks - which we would tell them when they requested it. The only materials we had in Braille were our directional signage for exiting and in the elevator, etc.

Regarding Braille - I just did an accessibility audit of a site with a person with a disability who works for a center for independent living.  He said that Braille is dying out - I'm not sure I agree - just repeating what he said.  I know our state has a commission for the blind and visually impaired, and I'm guessing all states do - I would suggest calling them and asking their opinion on what to do regarding the Braille materials.

Claudia

------------------------------
Claudia Ocello
President & CEO
Museum Partners Consulting
Morristown NJ
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-11-2015 11:55 AM
From: Anthony Pennay
Subject: Braille, Large Print Materials

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

First addressing educational materials.  I would say offering them electronically is much better than offering them in large print.  This is cost-effective for the museum, and it allows the teachers to display them in a variety of ways that suit their students' visual needs.

Now, as for the rest of the museum - 

We have both blind and deafblind visitors at our museum regularly.  We have both Braille and large print versions of our permanent exhibit's labels as well as our rotating exhibits' labels.  Note that these also include visual descriptions of photos and other items, it's not just the text from the wall.

Unfortunately, booklets take away from the museum experience for many blind and deafblind visitors, as they can simply sit on a bench to read the materials, and don't get the integrative experience of wandering the museum, standing in front of objects to use their usable vision, etc.  Walking and reading Braille or large print is difficult, but audio tours are not yet an option for us, so visitors can only sit on the benches and read.  We are working on integrating our exhibit with electronic Braille readers like the Focus or Braille Sense U2, as several of our deafblind visitors have expressed an interest in this option.

-Meredith

------------------------------
Meredith Peruzzi
Manager
Gallaudet University Museum
Washington DC
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-11-2015 11:55 AM
From: Anthony Pennay
Subject: Braille, Large Print Materials

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) has a nice guide, Clear Print Design Standard, available on their website (http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/resources/Clearprint/Pages/default.aspx).  Their Clear Print research report, published in 2006, is also available there.

Sue
------------------------------
Susan Maltby
Conservator
Toronto ON
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-15-2015 10:12 AM
From: Meredith Peruzzi
Subject: Braille, Large Print Materials

First addressing educational materials.  I would say offering them electronically is much better than offering them in large print.  This is cost-effective for the museum, and it allows the teachers to display them in a variety of ways that suit their students' visual needs.

Now, as for the rest of the museum - 

We have both blind and deafblind visitors at our museum regularly.  We have both Braille and large print versions of our permanent exhibit's labels as well as our rotating exhibits' labels.  Note that these also include visual descriptions of photos and other items, it's not just the text from the wall.

Unfortunately, booklets take away from the museum experience for many blind and deafblind visitors, as they can simply sit on a bench to read the materials, and don't get the integrative experience of wandering the museum, standing in front of objects to use their usable vision, etc.  Walking and reading Braille or large print is difficult, but audio tours are not yet an option for us, so visitors can only sit on the benches and read.  We are working on integrating our exhibit with electronic Braille readers like the Focus or Braille Sense U2, as several of our deafblind visitors have expressed an interest in this option.

-Meredith

------------------------------
Meredith Peruzzi
Manager
Gallaudet University Museum
Washington DC
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-11-2015 11:55 AM
From: Anthony Pennay
Subject: Braille, Large Print Materials

Hi everyone,

We had an Educator Appreciation Event last night and were giving away lessons, curriculum, materials etc... This morning I had one of the teachers who came write me to share her disappointment that we had not created versions of these materials in braille and large print. I am certainly sympathetic to her concerns (she teaches visually impaired students). However, this is the first such request we've had for this specific type of resource in my five years. We are exploring options for better serving this group, but I wonder if this is fairly standard practice to print materials in braille and/or large print? Do your museums typically develop this sort of resource? Just wondering. Thanks in advance for any replies.

------------------------------
Anthony Pennay
Director, Annenberg Learning Center
Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Simi Valley CA
------------------------------