Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone!
I'm ResearchBunny, and I'm a postgraduate student working in the Museum field. I'm not on the spectrum myself (at least not diagnosed, although I have some traits) but I have family and friends with diagnoses and I'm really trying to advocate for them in my work. And by them, I also mean you! And all of us!
At the moment I'm working on a project making recommendations for the designing of a new gallery at Eureka, the National Children's Museum in Halifax. It's going to take a good few years in the process but they're hoping to make the design as autism-friendly as possible.
This is pretty much the last phase of my work with them and I've developed a questionnaire to try and find out exactly what you, the community, would want from that sort of gallery. Now that I've introduced myself I was hoping someone could tell me what would be the most appropriate place in the forum to explain my research and post a link to my questionnaire.
Is it ok to post that sort of stuff in this forum? I don't want to contravene any rules or step on anyone's toes - I just want as many diverse responses as possible, so I can make my report to the museum as representative of what people actually want as possible!
So, that's me! Hello, and I hope we have fun getting to know each other!
@researchbunny - Longman is correct, about the research request.
If you follow the link below, it will has a link to how to approach research requests;
community.autism.org.uk/rules
I hope this helps?
Kind regards, Coco - Moderator
You might look at the issues surrounding autism friendly cinema.
Museums and galleries are very rigid - don't make a noise, only sit in one allocated place (don't sit on nearly everything else), don't run around, don't disturb others.....
Autism friendly might allow someone to vocalise their feelings, to express themselves in movement, to stand or sit where they feel comfortable, to move around.
At the same time I'm concerned that your mission might be just about inclusion - well autism is a label, how do we include it? It is harder to define autism inclusion than say...wheelchair inclusion. There is a danger of approaching autism as a problem to be overcome in a gallery, rather than a way of looking at the world that needs a distinctive approach.
Why not contact a local autism specialist school to bring children in to an existing gallery and ask for their feedback?
I'm often puzzled why galleries nowadays are so stiff and sterile. Also there is this tendancy to create deigned displays which tell a story with pictures rather than display much in the way of actual objects. These tend to 'spoonfeed us' brief visual inputs rather than any real knowledge, and are very much about putting a spuin on knowledge that is often patronising and doesn't understand people's real needs.
Someone on the spectrum might actually appreciate a cabinet with lots of different items to study.
Whether interactive displays would have appeal I am less certain. Galleries aimed at young people often involve sticking hands in little holes, or lifting a lid and sniffing, or performing a simple mechanical task. Someone on the autistic spectrum might have quite different reactions to smell and touch opportunities, that would make such methods inadvisable.
Sounds again could have adverse effects. A gallery with lots of overlapping and garbled sound recordings might be unpleasant for some. There are a lot of natural history displays in Information Centres at national parks or gardens etc., which are an anatheama to me. They are noisy, with both recordings and people using a cafe, especially with lots of kids. I cannot view the display boards without standing back and getting in someone else's way. There are masses of text in not very large print and silly drawings that I cannot relate to anything I've seen. I'm left wondering who designs these places. Obviously not someone on the spectrum.
You say you are a postgraduate. You should therefore be some way towards having skills in finding out, rather than asking other people to provide. Research skills involve building up an investigative approach, so important for someone working in museums.
Under Community Rules item 6 it says you shouldn't, and in any case you should ask the Moderators of a site first before proposing reasearch.