AccessISL

The Intrepid Museum is an excellent example of an informal STEM learning program providing information about accessibility to the community. Through their Accessibility Resources website, information is structured into four categories: Online resources, on-site resources, specialized programs, and the Community Advisors program.

Highlighting efforts at the Royal Ontario Museum, the video Making Museums Accessible promotes the full inclusion of individuals on the autism spectrum in museum offerings through focused efforts such as community partnerships, custom tours, and staff training.

The Visitor Voices session at the 2015 American Alliance of Museums Annual Expo highlighted the practice of listening to perspectives and access stories from museum visitors who have disabilities such as vision impairments, hearing loss, and autism.

The Access Informal STEM Learning (AccessISL) project supports efforts to develop a capacity building model for making informal STEM learning (ISL) opportunities more welcoming and accessible to individuals with disabilities.

There are many ways that informal STEM learning programs can support individuals with mobility impairments. Staff should consider adopting universal design (UD) principles. Universal design means that rather than designing for the average user, you design for people with differing native languages, genders, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and abilities. For more information, visit Equal Access: Universal Design of Your Informal STEM Learning Project.

There are many ways that informal STEM learning programs can support individuals with vision impairments. Ensuring that websites are accessible, that videos are captioned and, ideally, audio described, and that other electronic media is provided in accessible formats will help patrons with vision impairments feel welcome.