Ancient Peru takes ROM toward accessibility.

The ROM has made an important foray into accessibility with its latest exhibition, Ancient Peru Unearthed: Golden Treasures of a Lost Civilization. As part of a commitment to making the Museum accessible to everyone, the design team and the curator of the ROM showing of Ancient Peru have been working in consultation with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to help give visitors with vision loss a more concrete understanding of the show. Together they have developed five pedestal-mounted, touchable displays each emblematic of one of the show's five sections. In mid-May, three-dimensional tactile models will be placed at the start of each section, including a model platform mound and a model of the Sican Lord's mask, a potent symbol of the people's belief system.

"Producing the models is a good first step toward accessibility for the Museum," says curator Justin Jennings. "Normally what we display are artifacts that can't be touched because of preservation issues. Consulting with the CNIB has been critical in understanding what's important in making material understandable to those with vision loss--not just that it's 3D," he adds, "but that it's legible to different ways of sensing." The models will be produced in colour for those with partial vision, and labelled in English, French, and Braille. As well, pathways through the show are all wheelchair accessible and a four-page takeaway Spanish language guide is available.

"Making the exhibition more accessible isn't just a benefit to those with disabilities," notes Jennings. "In addition to being tools to assist those with vision loss, these models serve as teaching pieces for all visitors--adults and especially kids. Having the opportunity to touch items related to the ancient world opens a whole new way of experiencing the Museum."