What changes when museums invite visitors not only to look, but also to touch, listen, move and explore?
Presented by accessibility researcher Dagmar Reinhardt and lived-experience expert Annmaree Watharow, this webinar examines how creative, tactile and multisensory strategies can transform museum access for Blind, low vision and DeafBlind audiences. Drawing on Museum for Touch, a research initiative at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, the presentation demonstrates how accessibility can become a catalyst for new forms of interpretation, participation and discovery.
The program combines direct touch, embodied learning, audio description, storytelling, tactile mapping and three-dimensional reproduction. Across workshops in the Roman and Greek, Egyptology and Macleay Natural History galleries, participants encountered original sculptures, authentic artefacts, natural history specimens and specially developed tactile and 3D-printed models.
Visitors explored statues of Hermes and Hathor through touch and embodied posture, using their own movements to understand sculptural form. A 3D-printed canopic jar became a tactile pathway into Egyptian burial practices, gods and hieroglyphs. Shark teeth and jaws, bird beaks, abalone, barnacles and shells prompted conversations about predator–prey relationships, adaptation and ecological symbiosis. Tactile maps incorporating Braille and plain-language labels supported orientation, confidence and more independent exploration.
These creative strategies move beyond simply translating visual information into words. They activate the body, encourage dialogue, connect objects with stories and enable visitors to construct knowledge through multiple senses. Developed collaboratively with Blind, low vision and DeafBlind participants under the principle “Nothing About Us Without Us,” the workshops demonstrate the importance of lived expertise in shaping meaningful access.
The webinar will share practical insights from this work and explore the potential role of the DeafBlind Creative Arts Network. Join us to discuss, question and collectively imagine creative museum experiences in which everyone can participate.
To watch recordings of previous webinars and keep up with Network activities, join the Facebook group: Deafblind International Creative Arts Network.
To join the Network or find out more, email SHOW EMAIL.
We look forward to welcoming you!