Some answers to Shedd Aquarium’s accessibility questions

A lot of folks who read my Love Letter to Cultural Arts post last week about the panel I was on at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium asked me to write about the answers we gave to the questions provided. Your wish is my command, but first, a review.

The Shedd.

Last Tuesday I sat on a panel at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium with Brian Balcam (a theater director who uses a wheelchair), Rachel Arfa (a lawyer who is deaf), and Laurie Viets (a mother of two children on the autism spectrum). Lynn Walsh, the Manager of Accessibility and Inclusion at Shedd Aquarium, asked the four of us to talk with Shedd’s Guest Experience team (the staff members who greet groups, sell tickets and memberships, man the information booth, welcome guests to the 4-D Theater, Oceanarium, Tide Pool, Sea Star Touch, Sturgeon Touch, and so on) about ways museums and cultural institutions can be welcoming to all visitors — including those of us with disabilities.

Last week’s post listed the questions Shedd Aquarium asked us to think about before Tuesday’s presentation, and today, I’m providing some of the answers we gave.

• What do you like about Shedd/the collection? When thinking of accessibility and inclusion, what do we get right? Laurie, the mother with the kids on the autism spectrum, said she appreciates access to the quieter areas of the museum. “Those picnic tables in the basement? They’re great!”
• Can you give us examples of accommodations that made your experience a self-conscious one? Rachel, who uses cocular implants, said she’d been to the Dolphin Show at the Shedd with friends, but without live audio captioning she felt left out — she wasn’t able to take it in the way others did. Eyebrows up! The panel discussion we were giving Tuesday did have live captioning, and the Shedd is planning to offer more in the future.
• Can you give us examples of accommodations that have made your experience at a cultural organization amazing? Brian, who uses a wheelchair, said he likes knowing that any museum that welcomes kids will be accessible to him. “In this chair, I’m like a five-year-old.” Of course I had to ask if he meant intellectually, or height-wise. “Sometimes, both!” He laughed, explaining that any time a kid-friendly museum plans a new exhibit, he feels confident he’ll be abel to access it — they arrange everything so a kid who’s the height of a five-year-old can see it.
• Do you have any examples of times someone got it wrong?
  Laurie said the family-friendly bathrooms near those quiet picnic tables in the basement are terrible. “The automatic dryers make my son with autism freak out,” she said. “And the toilets flushing by themselves scare him, too.” Her answer gave me a chance to point out how different our needs are, and how museums and cultural institutions have their hands full when trying to please the variety of guests who have a disability. “As for me? I love the toilets that flush themselves,” I said. “That way I don’t have to feel around to find the lever!”
• Can you give us examples of accommodations that have made your experience at a cultural organization amazing? I said I don’t mind at all when people ask if I need help — I can always say no if I’m doing fine. “But I especially like it when the person asking lets me know who’s offering,” I said, encouraging Shedd staff to introduce themselves out loud to visitors who are blind or have a visual impairment. “A lot of you here have let me know right away that you’re on staff, too. I like that.” All three of the others said that if they walk in the entrance and a staff member greets them with a welcome smile, it makes their day.