 Providing Accessible Informal STEM Learning. I'm Charlotte Martin. I'm the Director of Access Initiatives at the Intrepid Sierra and Space Museum in New York City. And, you know, one of my big takeaways working in Access for a number of years now is not to assume what an individual can or cannot do, but rather knowing the potential barriers presented by your space or your program or the challenge you're working on, trying to mitigate those as best you can in advance and then being prepared to offer clear options and information about those options. So having text labels, having large print available, so having large print labels that people can borrow, also having that content available online through an Accessible webpage that you can access through a QR code, by building those resources into the exhibition, you can still have that shared experience with the people that you came with, even if you have, even if some are disabled or not disabled, or have different preferences for how they get that information. Hi, my name is Katie Many. I'm the Curator of Education at the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport. We strive every day, all day, through all platforms and on site to make sure that we are accessible for all people, all ages, all abilities. So if it's reading the exhibits and going through at your own pace, if it's scanning a QR code for a semi-guided audio tour, including American Sign Language, or if it's utilizing our Braille maps to go throughout the building, no matter what, we hope that you have an opportunity to learn and do and be the best version of yourself. I'm Isaac Beavers. I'm with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind in Huntsville, and our informal STEM learning programs. We serve primarily blind and visually impaired students. We have, over the last few years, incorporated deaf and hard of hearing students. And so one of the things we do is make sure that on our registrations, we ask what consumers might need, attendees might need. When we're working with blind and visually impaired, we want to make sure that we have a Braille tactile representations of models. We want to make sure that we have audio access. And when we're working with our deaf, we always make sure we have American Sign Language interpreters. And also we have a few FM devices along the way. My name is Ryan Saglio. I am the supported employment program manager at a human services nonprofit in Massachusetts called Adelboro Enterprises. I work exclusively with individuals with disabilities and mental illness who are looking to find employment opportunities out in their community. But I have also in the past done accessibility and inclusion work for some of the local museums here in New England. I think that good accessibility work is basic accessibility work. Things like having bathrooms that are accessible, benches that are accessible, wide walking paths. A story that I often tell of accessibility gone wrong is I recently visited a museum that I was very excited to see. I've been waiting two years to get there. I do have my own physical disabilities and physical limitations. So I don't use mobility aids, but I do need to sit down quite often. And we were in the museum and we were walking around and after a couple minutes, I really needed to sit. And because of COVID, they had removed all of the benches. So as we're kind of walking through the museum, I'm looking for somewhere to sit down so I can kind of take a moment and we're not finding one. And the further we get into the museum, the less I'm looking at the museum and the more I'm just looking for a bench. And by the time we finally found one, there was a line of people who were looking to sit down. So we actually just left. Hi, I'm Tani Holesworth. I'm the content designer for inclusive classroom tools at Microsoft. And previously I was managing the volunteer inclusion program at Woodland Park Zoo. And some of the things that were the most successful with us when we first got started were revamping the accessibility guidelines on our website. We found that a lot of people with disabilities didn't perceive the zoo to be accessible for them to even visit. And so it never occurred to them to volunteer at the zoo. So by updating the website and making sure that there was a way to request accommodations or see what accommodations are available, we were able to get a lot more folks interested in volunteering. The other thing that was really important was training staff and volunteers, existing volunteers without disabilities to presume competence of the incoming volunteers. And by that I just mean treating them as much as possible like anybody else who would be a new volunteer. My name is Diana Johns. I'm the Vice President for Exhibits Education and Outreach at Pacific Science Center. And I have been with the Science Center for 17 years now. I think for an institution that's been around since 1962, some of the challenges that you're dealing with are legacy issues. And so one of the best practices is when you have that opportunity to make a significant change to a legacy area, how are you thinking about the accessibility of that area? We recently put in a new experience that we've had before and the vendor had asked if we could put it back in the same place and we said no because that was not accessible to everyone. But the thing I would really encourage from the very beginning is engaging directly with disabled self-advocates and engaging them at all levels of your planning from the very beginning at that brainstorming to identify what the priorities should be or what the challenges are or what the opportunities are. It's the expression. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, right? We need to start somewhere. But as long as it's iterative and we're learning along the way, that's really what's going to make the big difference. When designing programs and exhibits, we try to look at the whole person. So if you are sitting in a wheelchair, if you're sitting on the floor, if you're walking around needing constant movement, how can you still learn and interact with our maritime topics? So materials utilized in classes like crayons or scissors, we try to have several different options. We hope that as you take on this journey of creating inclusive and accessible spaces for all people, that you think about putting yourself in the shoes and in the spaces of others. As you think about how to accommodate someone who's blind or visually impaired and somebody who's deaf or hard of hearing, the fact of the matter is that almost all of us could benefit from something that is larger print, that is high contrast. Almost all of us could benefit from clear communication. When you make one small change with one community need in mind, it often has ramifications and can impact more than just one. So when you make a space wheelchair accessible, you make it easier for a mom with a stroller to also navigate that space. When you create a gender neutral bathroom, you create a place for dads to bring their kids or caregivers who might be out in the community and need a space that is neither a men's room or a women's room. Or when you create a picture menu for somebody that doesn't read, you also allow someone who might have extreme anxiety or might be an English language learner to also occupy that space and have the typical experience. When you do design something that you make sure you are testing that with a wide variety of potential users because you will learn very quickly if something is truly as close to universally designed as possible. So I think it's always never assume you've got all the answers. Make sure that you are testing things with all the variety of users that you hope to invite. This presentation was created by Access ISL, which supports efforts to make informal STEM learning opportunities more welcoming and accessible to everyone, especially individuals with disabilities. For more information, visit the Access ISL website, uw.edu slash d-o-i-t slash programs slash Access ISL. Access ISL is supported by National Science Foundation grant number DRL-1906147. Any questions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the federal government. Copyright 2022, University of Washington. Permission is granted to copy these materials for educational, non-commercial purposes provided the source is acknowledged.