By Anikó Miszné Korenchy , GEM Hungary Rep

This conference, excellently organised by Leeds City Museum, gave a useful overview of the achievements in UK museums regarding access for SEND audiences, but also showed me how diverse and complex this area is.

The two keynotes by Dr Joanna Grace and Sam Bowen both proved that the most inspirational and influential results are often achieved by people with “lived (and loved)” experience. It is good to back up experience with research and diplomacy, and the understanding of and empathy for the SEND groups we work for and with (!) will enable better outcomes.

The four workshops provided practical tools to increase access and inclusion in museum learning practice. For example, the GEM workshop, led by Sam Bowen and Sarah Oswald, offered their top ten tips for making interpretation more accessible. The first piece of advice – “Start with an audit (to look at what you already do and what is still missing)” – strengthened my belief that the Accessible Museums project we have initiated in Hungary is on the right track because we are helping museums with SEND audits.

The other piece of advice closest to my heart was the one that highlights the importance of enabling personal meaning-making, “because interpretation isn’t about telling but relating”.

The workshop by Leslie Palanker-Jermyn was a fun hands-on session creating our own sensory picture with Foley art and various resources. A similarly hands-on session was led by Jamie Prada, who talked about the Wolfson Project of developing sensory trails at the British Museum. This session presented excellent ideas on using objects as a source for sensory activities and drew us into thinking about the messages a curator would want to convey about an item. Furthermore, it motivated us to come up with creative ideas while using scents and different tactile objects.

Emily Elsworth’s interesting session on the difficulties autistic people encounter in the workplace challenged us to imagine ways of creating an accessible working environment. But Emily also warned that we should “never assume that one size fits all”, so it is important to discuss solutions in a supportive way.

The varied programme also included spotlight sessions where different organisations could showcase their projects or overall operation. To me, the ones on supported internships and the PINC Colleges were the most refreshing, because neither supported internships nor special colleges operating at heritage sites exist in Hungary—but they could be truly influential, as they take advocating for SEND people to a higher (local governmental) level. The spotlight sessions on the Amelia Scott project, the GLAM–Iffley Academy in Oxford, and the Snapshot Project in Bradford all emphasised the importance of good working relations with local SEND community groups. It was key in all these projects that different disability groups were consulted and involved in the co-creation process.

Discussion groups were also organised on various topics, again shedding light on the sometimes disheartening but often successful work of museum professionals across the UK.

I really appreciated the colourful menu of topics and also how accessible this conference was—with an easy-to-understand guide to the venue, fidgets on each table, StageTEXT providing live subtitles, and more. The stimulating visits to different museums, and the drawings by Tom Bailey which summed up the main conclusions, also added a special spice to the event.

This event had everything that a good conference must have. I was amazed at how much enlightening information can fit into such a short time! I came away with the feeling that it is extremely difficult for a museum to be fully accessible, but it is a worthwhile pursuit because “it is wonderful to see how freedom and equality elevate men”. (Mary Seacole)