Making art and culture accessible and experienceable for everyone is a key objective for museums on the way to an inclusive society. As places of encounter, they are required to actively engage with accessibility, inclusive communication and design for all. The majority of Austrian museums are not only barrier-free, but also offer a wide variety of inclusive information and communication formats. However, these offers are often not sufficiently known and a comprehensive overview has so far been lacking. This guide closes the information gap between supply and demand. ICOM Austria has invited all museums that have been awarded the Austrian Museum Quality Seal to make their data available. The basis for data collection was a structured questionnaire, created on the basis of international guidelines and in accordance with the criteria of the Austrian Museum Quality Seal, where accessibility and inclusion are already an important component. Some museums have a wide range of educational offerings, while others can currently only ensure barrier-free physical accessibility for all people. But this is also valuable information. And perhaps with the new guide we can even encourage museums to improve and expand their offerings to enable visitors to have more inclusive museum visits.
by Bettina Leidl
ICOM Vice President, Director Museumsquartier Vienna