How to Speak about Accessibility?

The museum is a place for the preservation and recreation of historical, cultural and social memory. By attracting representatives of different social groups, ages, genders, nationalities, with and without disabilities to the spheres of culture and education, museum institutions unite and develop society.

The Holodomor Museum team collaborates with research institutes, art and educational centers. Then all the achievements and developments are included in the excursion and educational programs of the museum, as well as the curricula of schools and universities.

In 2020, we began work on the “Touch the Memory” project together with the NGO “Cultural Geographies” and Olha Svet. Our goal is to adapt museum developments for visually impaired people. For the first time in Ukraine, visually impaired visitors will learn the history of the Holodomor directly from primary sources: tactile photographs created on the basis of the museum collection, and memories of Holodomor witnesses collected within the framework of the Oral History of the Holodomor project.

We will create a series on museum inclusivity to help create accessible spaces in Ukraine.

This resource focuses on terminology to use when talking about inclusion and the experiences of people with disabilities.

All materials were developed by the NGO “Cultural Geographies”.

TERMINOLOGY

A person, not their disability is of first importance. Therefore, instead of “a blind person”, “a wheelchair user”, the following phrases should be used:

• a person with a disability;
• a person with visual / hearing impairment;
• a person with a violation of the musculoskeletal system;
• visually impaired person;
• hearing impaired person;
• a person with cerebral palsy / in a wheelchair / with autism, etc.

The Holodomor Museum’s program “Touch on Memory” focuses on working with people with visual impairments. The result of the project will be an interactive lesson, excursion and exhibition elements designed for people with visual impairments.

When working with people with visual impairments, the following terms should be distinguished:

Visually impaired visitors

Totally blind people do not distinguish light and darkness, or completely do not have the ability to see.
Blind people with residual vision distinguish between light and darkness, the contours of an object, see in separate parts of the field of vision.

Visually impaired people have severe visual impairment that cannot be corrected with conventional eyepieces and contact lenses. It reduces a person’s ability to perform certain tasks.

People with reduced vision have problems with the visual perception of information, which can be corrected (partially or completely), may have binocular vision disorders.

Osvitoria Media and Toronto Television also wrote about the rules and etiquette of communications.

Each of us has our own special needs and characteristics. It is important not to emphasize them, but to focus on the individuality of the person. We all have the same rights and opportunities, so we need to create spaces that are accessible to everyone.