Providing Accessible Informal STEM Learning

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NARRATOR: Providing accessible
informal STEM learning.

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CHARLOTTE MARTIN:
I'm Charlotte Martin.

I'm the Director of
Access Initiatives

at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and
Space Museum in New York City.

And one of my big takeaways
working in access for a number

of years now is not to
assume what an individual can

or cannot do, but rather
knowing the potential barriers

presented by your space or
your program or the challenge

you're working on, trying to
mitigate those as best you can

in advance, and then being
prepared to offer clear options

and information
about those options.

So having text labels,
having large print available,

so having large print labels
that people can borrow, also

having that content available
online through an accessible

web page that you can
access through a QR code.

By building those resources
into the exhibition,

you can still have that shared
experience with the people

that you came with even
if some are disabled

or not disabled or have
different preferences for how

they get that information.

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KATY MENNE: Hi.

My name is Katy Menne.

I'm the Curator of Education
at the North Carolina Maritime

Museum at Southport.

We strive every day, all
day, through all platforms

and on site to make
sure that we are

accessible for all people,
all ages, all abilities.

So if it's reading the
exhibits and going through

at your own pace, if
it's scanning a QR

code for a semi-guided audio
tour, including American Sign

Language, or if it's
utilizing our Braille

maps to go throughout the
building, no matter what,

we hope that you
have an opportunity

to learn, and do, and be the
best version of yourself.

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ISAAC BEAVERS:
I'm Isaac Beavers.

I'm with the Alabama
Institute for Deaf and Blind

in Huntsville.

In our informal STEM
learning programs,

we serve primarily blind and
visually impaired students.

We have over the last
few years incorporated

deaf and hard-of-hearing
students.

So one of the things
we do is make sure

that on our registrations, we
ask what consumers might need,

attendees might need.

When we're working with
blind and visually impaired,

we want to make
sure that we have

Braille, tactile
representations and models.

We want to make sure that
we have audio access.

And when we're
working with our deaf,

we always make sure we
have American Sign Language

interpreters, and also we have
a few FM devices along the way.

RYAN SAGLIO: My
name is Ryan Saglio.

I am the Supported
Employment Program Manager

at a human services
nonprofit in Massachusetts

called Attleboro Enterprises.

I work exclusively with
individuals with disabilities

and mental illness who are
looking to find employment

opportunities out
in their community,

but I have also in the past
done accessibility and inclusion

work for some of the local
museums here in New England.

I think that good accessibility
work is basic accessibility

work, things like having
bathrooms that are accessible,

benches that are accessible,
wide walking paths.

A story that I often tell
of accessibility gone wrong

is I recently visited a museum
that I was very excited to see.

I'd been waiting two
years to get there.

I do have my own
physical disabilities

and physical limitations, so
I don't use mobility aids,

but I do need to sit
down quite often.

And we were in the museum,
and we were walking around,

and after a couple of minutes,
I really needed to sit,

and because of COVID, they had
removed all of the benches.

So as we're walking
through the museum,

I'm looking for somewhere to
sit down so I can take a moment,

and we're not finding one.

And the further we
get into the museum,

the less I'm looking
at the museum,

and the more I'm just
looking for a bench.

And by the time we
finally found one,

there was a line of people
who were looking to sit down,

so we actually just left.

TANY HOLZWORTH: Hey.

I'm Tany Holzworth.

I'm the content designer
for Inclusive Classroom

Tools at Microsoft,
and previously, I

was managing the
Volunteer Inclusion

Program at Woodland Park Zoo.

And some of the things that
were the most successful with us

when we first got started were
revamping the Accessibility

Guidelines on our website.

We found that a lot of
people with disabilities

didn't perceive the
zoo to be accessible

for them to even visit, so
it never occurred to them

to volunteer at the zoo.

So by updating the
website and making sure

that there was a way to request
accommodations or see what

accommodations are
available, we were

able to get a lot more folks
interested in volunteering.

The other thing that
was really important

was training staff and existing
volunteers without disabilities

to presume competence of
the incoming volunteers.

And by that, I just
mean treating them

as much as possible
like anybody else

who would be a new volunteer.

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DIANA JOHNS: My
name is Diana Johns.

I'm the Vice President
for Exhibits, Education,

and Outreach at
Pacific Science Center,

and I have been with the
Science Center for 17 years now.

I think for an institution
that's been around since 1962,

some of the challenges
that you're dealing with

are legacy issues.

So one of the best practices is
when you have that opportunity

to make a significant
change to a legacy area,

how are you thinking about the
accessibility of that area?

We recently put in
a new experience

that we'd had before,
and the vendor

had asked if we could put
it back in the same place,

and we said no because that
was not accessible to everyone.

CHARLOTTE MARTIN: But
the thing I would really

encourage from
the very beginning

is engaging directly with
disabled self-advocates,

and engage with them at
all levels of your planning

from the very beginning at
that brainstorming to identify

what the priorities should be
or what the challenges are,

what the opportunities are.

It's the expression--

Don't let the perfect be
the enemy of the good.

We need to start somewhere.

But as long as it's
iterative, and we're

learning along the
way, that's really

what's going to make
the big difference.

KATY MENNE: When designing
programs and exhibits,

we try to look at
the whole person.

So if you are sitting
in a wheelchair,

if you're sitting on
the floor, if you're

walking around needing
constant movement,

how can you still
learn and interact

with our maritime topics?

So materials
utilized in classes,

like crayons or
scissors, we try to have

several different options.

We hope that as you take
on this journey of creating

inclusive and accessible
spaces for all people

that you think about putting
yourself in the shoes

and in the spaces of others.

ISAAC BEAVERS: As
you think about how

to accommodate someone
who is blind or visually impaired

and somebody who's deaf
or hard-of-hearing,

the fact of the matter is,
is that almost all of us

could benefit from something
that is larger print, that

is high contrast,
almost all of us

could benefit from
clear communication.

RYAN SAGLIO: When you make one
small change with one community

need in mind, it often
has ramifications and can

impact more than just one.

So when you make a space
wheelchair accessible,

you make it easier for
a mom with a stroller

to also navigate that space.

When you create a
gender neutral bathroom,

you create a place for dads to
bring their kids or caregivers

who might be out
in the community

and need a space that is neither
a men's room or a women's room.

Or when you create a
picture menu for somebody

that doesn't read,
you also allow

someone who might
have extreme anxiety

or might be an English
language learner

to also occupy that space and
have the typical experience.

DIANA JOHNS: When you do design
something that you make sure

you are testing that with a
wide variety of potential users

because you will learn
very quickly if something

is truly as close to universally
designed as possible.

So I think it's
always never assume

you've got all the answers.

Make sure that you
are testing things

with all the variety of users
that you hope to invite.

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NARRATOR: This
presentation was created

by AccessISL, which supports
efforts to make informal STEM

learning opportunities
more welcoming

and accessible to everyone,
especially individuals

with disabilities.

For more information, visit
the AccessISL website,

uw.edu/doit/programs/accessisl.

AccessISL is supported by
National Science Foundation

grant number DRL-1906147.

Any questions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations

expressed in this material
are those of the speakers,

and do not necessarily
reflect the views

of the federal government.

Copyright 2022,
University of Washington.

Permission is granted
to copy these materials

for educational
non-commercial purposes

provided the source
is acknowledged.