Article by Yoti Goudas (user experience consultant) about his survey of museums and their strategies for employing and engaging with disabled staff:
“From national and private cultural sector institutions, to digital companies that create accessible exhibition experiences, I wanted to gauge to what extent disabled people in the museum workplace have real influence and agency within their organisation – and, indeed, whether they are there at all […]
Sadly, most of the cultural institutions that were part of this initial investigation had very few, if any, disabled staff. Even fewer had any policies to create conditions where retention and recruitment of disabled staff could be improved.”
The author calls for urgent and lasting changes:
“Going forward, we need to focus on creating lasting and meaningful change within organisations. For accessibility to be advanced in any museum it must be:
- championed by leadership and entrenched in governance;
- embedded in recruitment processes and reflected in the workforce who are hired as staff or volunteers;
- supported by procurement policies and operational practices so as to remove physical or digital barriers to staff;
- promoted and supported within the culture of the institution through learning and development.”