Why Accessibility Matters in the Museum & Heritage Sector ♿🌻

Accessibility isn’t just a professional interest for me — it’s personal. As a disabled and chronically ill person working toward a career in museums and heritage, I’ve learned first-hand how essential it is for spaces, resources, and experiences to be created with accessibility at their core.

Publishing this today, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, feels important. It’s a day dedicated to recognising barriers, celebrating disabled voices, and pushing for real inclusion — something I commit to every day through my work, volunteering, and digital practice.

♿ Accessibility as Lived Experience, Not a Buzzword

Living with chronic illness and disability means navigating a world that often overlooks the needs of disabled people. This lived experience shapes the way I approach every heritage project I work on.

For me, accessibility is never an optional extra — it’s a fundamental requirement. It affects whether someone feels welcome, supported, and able to participate fully in cultural spaces.

My lived experience sits at the core of my heritage practice, informing how I design content, engage with visitors, and advocate for inclusive systems in the sector.

🌻 Accessible Practice in My Everyday Work

Across my website, social media, and professional portfolio, accessibility is consciously built into everything I create.

Digital Accessibility Standards I Use

• Alt text on every image

• Subtitles and transcripts for audio/video

• Plain, readable language

• High-contrast visuals

• Descriptive hyperlinks

• Logical structure for screen readers

• Considered emoji use (end-of-sentence placement)

Website Accessibility Tools

I use the Access Pro Accessibility Plugin, which supports:

• text enlargement

• dyslexia-friendly mode

• contrast adjustments

• link highlighting

• stop-animations toggle

• keyboard navigation

• text-to-speech tools

...and much more.

These tools ensure that my work is accessible for a broader range of visitors, including disabled, neurodivergent, and visually impaired audiences.

Instagram Link: @DisabilityWithBailey

🧏 The Many Voices Project: Accessibility in Practice

Being part of the Many Voices Project review meeting with Sheffield Museums was not only rewarding but affirming. This project is centred around community inclusion — a value that aligns with every part of my practice.

I contributed both:

• my professional experience in interpretation, engagement, and digital communication

• my lived experience as a disabled person navigating museum spaces

During the session, we reviewed accessibility needs such as:

• Plain language text

• Alt text and image description standards

• Inclusive sensory considerations

• Options for quiet, calm engagement

• Multi-format interpretation (visual, audio, tactile)

• Barriers to participation and how to remove them

Being included in this conversation made me feel genuinely valued — and reminded me why this work matters.

♾️ Accessibility in Heritage: Why It Matters

Museums tell human stories — but if those stories are not accessible, they are incomplete.

Accessibility benefits:

• disabled visitors

• neurodivergent visitors

• d/Deaf and blind visitors

• chronically ill and fatigued visitors

• people learning English

• visitors with sensory processing differences

• online audiences who cannot visit in person

Accessible practice doesn’t limit creativity; it expands it. It ensures that heritage belongs to everyone, not just those without barriers.

🦮 My Personal Commitment to Accessibility in Heritage

Whether I’m:

• supporting Talking Tables sessions

• working with natural history specimens

• digitising archival items

• writing interpretation

• developing exhibition content

• creating blog posts and website pages

…accessibility remains central to everything I do.

I am committed to building a career where inclusion, representation, and lived-experience-informed practice shape every decision — large or small.

If one visitor feels more welcome or included because something I created helped remove a barrier, then I know I’m contributing to meaningful change.

🌈 Closing Thoughts

Marking this post on International Day of Persons with Disabilities feels significant. My journey in heritage is shaped by my lived experience — and accessibility is not just a part of my work, but part of who I am.

I hope to continue contributing to a museum sector where disabled people are not just accommodated, but actively considered, represented, and embraced.

📜 Link to my Accessibility Statement

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✨ Learn more about my work and aspirations here: My Portfolio