Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums

Book excerpt: Blind Visitor Experiences at Art Museums seeks to answer two questions: Given the guiding principle of visual art being understood only by sight, what do people understand when sight is diminished or not there? Moreover, given the experience of blindness, what are the effects of vision loss or no vision on a cultural identity in art? It does this by exploring seven in-depth case studies of visitors to the education department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the experiences of leading groups by two teachers. In addition, this book includes findings from participant observations in classes and touch tours for blind and visually impaired people at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After reading this book, readers will understand both passive and active social exclusion from the museum’s facilities (active exclusion is defined as a deliberate act of exclusion based on the belief that blind people are incapable of understanding visual art, whereas passive exclusion is defined as exclusion resulting from an aspect of miseducation, such as inappropriate building design or learning materials, or a lack of training, knowledge, resources, access materials or buildings).