But is it a place truly built for all? Whether it’s the bright lights in an exhibit or a video without closed captions, accessibility and inclusion in museums can often feel like an afterthought. When you partner with Access For All, you’re telling your community that they are part of your story. That you built this space for them.
How does it work?
Each visitor is as unique as your museum. Without changing any of your exhibits, the user-friendly app, Access For All, transforms your center into a welcoming and accessible space for people with varying needs. By bridging your existing exhibits with the accessible content, Access For All ensures that each visitor can fully immerse themselves in your story.
Built as a choose-your-own-adventure, visitors who are in need of supportive content can pick the feature they align with in the app. By giving the visitor choices on how they will best interact with your story, you empower them to experience your museum on their terms.
As the visitor explores the museum, the app uses location-based technology to track where the visitor is within the museum or exhibit. The app automatically connects the visitor with the content based on the exhibit closest to them. For example, someone who is visually impaired would hear an audio description of their surroundings. Or someone on the autism spectrum would see and hear a social story about what to expect from the exhibit. Or someone in need of hearing assistance could hear live audio through their headphones or hearing aids with synchronized captions or an American Sign Language interpretation on screen.
Whether a visitor walks into an exhibit in the middle of the media presentation or at the start, the app automatically syncs with the exhibit media content. The dynamic app ensures that no matter when or where they enter, the visitor will always have the most relevant exhibit information.
Types of Content
The Audio Description Content includes audio descriptions of the museum exhibits and synchronized media descriptions for people who are blind or have low vision.
The Assistive Listening Content includes synchronized media captioning and American Sign Language interpretation, and live, reinforced audio for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The visitor can adjust the volume as needed and listen with headphones or directly to their hearing aids.
The Social Stories Content includes social story support videos for people who are neurodivergent like those on the autism spectrum. Social stories are simple videos about your museum exhibits that help manage expectations and guide visitors to try new activities. It also includes a red/yellow/green warning system about sounds and lighting for those with additional sensitivities.
How do visitors access the app?
The app can be downloaded by visitors on their own devices from the Apple App Store or Google Play. While the app looks similar at each museum (giving a standardization for visitors to use across museum locations), the audio and video content are customized and created specifically for your museum. When you start working with Access For All, your content is hosted on a web-based server so that visitors can download the content to their devices with any Internet connection. The app is free for their use and the content can only be accessed within the museum walls. It’s as simple as downloading the app once the visitor enters the museum. Or you may choose to provide tablets or other devices with the app already installed and ready to use.
I’m interested in learning more!
Please get in contact with us to set up a meeting about your museum or schedule an on-site assessment. We continue to move this platform forward with future updates that will include language translations and general audio tours. While we are focusing on museums and visitor’s centers, we would love to discuss any needs that you may have.