Access in Museums Conference Schedule

Intro from GEM

Event partner introduction from Group for Education in Museums (Brodrick Hall)

Spotlight - Live Transcription

Oliver Webster from StageText will discuss what live transcription is and why it is important for access.

Throughout the Access in Museums conference we will have access you will have access to Stage Text: a live transcription service for all talks in Broderick Hall. Oliver Webster from will discuss what live transcription is and why it is important for access.

Workshop

Choice A: Fostering hope, optimism and inspiration: South Shields Museum and Art Gallery ESBA programme with Leslie Palanker-Jermyn (Thoresby room)

A key question in relation to EBSA is ‘How can we help children thrive, rather than just survive?’ This workshop will show how rethinking the purpose of a museum can foster hope, optimism, and self-expression, and so impact positively on the lives of children and young people and their families experiencing EBSA. We will show how this collaborative project with Educational Psychologists, sensory artists, a local secondary school and our partnership with the National Gallery Masterpiece Tours has inspired children and young people and their families to use art and co-create art exhibitions, as a way to express what makes school a challenging place for them, what it is like to step into their shoes, to help others better understand how they might be able to help.

Choice B: Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Making Museums Accessible and Engaging for People with Visual Impairments with Amy Jo Kearton (Broderick Hall)

This workshop will explore how museums can facilitate physical access and promote intellectual engagement for visitors with visual impairments. The key topics discussed are touch, audio, staff awareness, and narratives about sight loss, including interactive activities and demonstrations.

Spotlights (Broderick Hall)

What is the UK Disability History and Heritage Hub? - Louise Bell

Who is the UK Disability History Heritage Hub and what do we do? UKDHHH is a group, created by then-PhD students with links to the heritage industry. We felt there was space for a network to allow those interested in Disabled, Neurodiverse, and D/deaf histories, from the ancient world to the modern era, to connect and collaborate. The Hub is open to researchers, students, archivists, museum professionals, activists and anyone in-between! Come and find out more about us!

The Disability Badge Scheme - Emily Elsworth and Pen Foreman

An Introduction to the Disability Badge Scheme for Museums and Heritage. 

The Disability Badge Scheme is a way of museums and heritage sites highlighting what they are doing to increase accessibility for disabled people. This scheme recognises the need for increasing access for disabled visitors, staff, volunteers and freelancers.

Museum Development Supporting the Sector - Liz Denton, Access Cohort

Find out how 14 museums have been involved in an intensive programme focusing on improving their offer for disabled people. Hear case studies direct from some of the Access Cohort members.

Workshop

Choice A: Advancing Accessibility: Disability Work Culture in Museums with Alexandra Morris (Broderick Hall)

Explore how museums can foster accessibility by rethinking recruitment, hiring, and leadership pathways for disabled people. This interactive workshop shares lived experiences and practical tools, offering fresh strategies to improve organisational culture and inclusion.

Choice B: Belonging in Museums: Creative Experiences for SEND Learners with Dionne Matthews (Thoresby room)

Join us for an interactive, hands-on session exploring how creativity and mindful practice can help SEND learners feel a sense of belonging in museum spaces. Together, we’ll experiment with artforms inspired by museum collections, using simple, sensory approaches to support confidence and self-expression.

This workshop invites you to take part, play, and share ideas while discovering adaptable techniques to enhance personalised learning and inclusive provision. You’ll leave with practical ideas, creative inspiration, and fresh ways to support SEND audiences in museums.

Discussion Groups

Choice A: Education and Community Conversation Group (Broderick Hall)

Choice B: Staff and Volunteers Conversation Group (Thoresby Room)

Spotlight on supported Internships

Sophie Hewitson, Employment and Skills Manager at Leeds City Council (Brodrick Hall)

Find out what supported internships are, why they are so important for many potential employees and how you can set up a supported internship. 

Keynote: Julia Collar - Collars and Cuffs

The Ball that Cam Back: Sensory Archetypes and the Everyday Access Revolution for People with PMLD (Brodrick Hall)

Workshop

Choice A: Included and Understood: What we have learned from prioritising deaf audiences with Wellcome Collection (Broderick Hall)

Staff from Wellcome Collection will share what they have learnt through prioritising and building our offer for deaf audiences and collaborators. Insights will focus on reaching and supporting audiences, working with collaborators and users, communication and British Sign Language, staff development, institutional barriers and evaluation.

Choice B: Artist-Led Creative Access in Museums and Galleries with Michelle Duxbury (Thoresby)

Michelle Duxbury (disabled artist-researcher) and Stephanie Webb (Wakefield Museums & Castles) share their experience of working together on artist-led creative access for the current exhibition at Wakefield Museum, Cynthia Kenny: A City Framed. There will be an opportunity for delegates to try out creative audio describing themselves and a demonstration of the RNIB PenFriend audio labeller.

Workshop

Choice A: Sensory Storytelling in a Box with Sharon Healy (Thoresby room)

This workshop will take through you the process of creating a sensory box/story for people with additional needs to use within the Museum setting and as outreach.

Choice B: Creating Equitable Museums with and for Neurodivergent People with Justine Reilley from the Neurodiverse Museum (Broderick Hall)

We’ll have a panel of approx. 6 Neurodivergent individuals (different ND, some working in the sector some working with, some visitors). The panel will ask for questions from the delegates before the session (social media, through the conference marketing etc) and will discuss what the delegates want to hear from them in terms of how accessible the sector is for ND folk, our experiences, what needs to change, ideas for change and more. 

Spotlights (Broderick Hall)

Showcasing the “Creative Access Toolkit”- Jennifer Gilbert from the Jennifer Lauren Gallery

Introducing the ‘Creative Access Toolkit: How Galleries and Museums can better work with and support deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent artists’.

Making Employability and Skills Programmes more accessible for more Young People - Adam Duckworth from Liverpool Museums

This spotlight shares National Museums Liverpool’s (NML) collaborative approach to supporting young people experiencing barriers to employment. We will introduce two programmes: Supported Work Placements and the Drugs Awareness volunteer programme. We will explore the progress of students completing supported placements in our museums and how they share their valuable insights to support others who experience similar barriers in their museum career pathways. We will also discuss how volunteers in recovery from drug addiction utilise their lived experiences to co-deliver the Contraband, Weapons and Drugs Awareness programme to students and young people not currently in education, employment or training. 

Learning and Adapting as we go: Accessible Volunteering at Wolverhampton Art Gallery- Michelle Hallard

Volunteers are an essential part of the visitor experience at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and over half of the Wolverhampton Arts and Culture volunteer workforce has an access requirement. Two of our Volunteers and our Visitor Assistant Officer discuss our approach to making volunteering accessible.

Enhancing the Approach to Developing Large Print Guides at the Postal Museum - Danny Figg

The development of durable and easily updated large print guides for The Postal Museum galleries, and how these can be expanded to encompass a wider range of visitors and access requirements.