I am also a parent, a scientist, and a person who has grown up with a mobility impairment. Exhibit development is a team process at the Museum of Science. Developing Accessible Exhibits Over the years, we at the Museum of Science have moved toward greater exhibit interactivity and away from great lumps of text on the wall. In the process, we have learned a lot about ways to invite visitor participation. For example, any interactive exhibition now offers visitors choices of things to do in its exhibits, including things to smell and touch.
Choices open an exhibition to visitors of all ages, abilities, and levels of interest.
In thinking about what works and what does not work for visitors, we believe that the most important thing is to test ideas and prototypes with all categories of potential users, particularly people we previously have not had much success in accommodating or attracting. For me, right now, that means people who are blind or have substantial vision loss. Each planet will be identified by a label with raised letters, its astrological symbol, and its name in braille. Assuming that the braille should be scaled up, we prepared a prototype label using a thermoform process to match the scale of the symbol and the lettering. Then we ran it by one of our advisors, a man who is blind and who reads braille.