To Matti Hammett, Accessibility Programs Manager at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS), “accessibility means working towards opening doors for audiences that may not have been historically focused on or prioritized.” Earlier this year, HMNS achieved recognition as a Certified Autism Center by theInternational Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), demonstrating their commitment to creating accessible and inclusive experiences.

Co-founder of Arts Access for All, Sherry Shirek is a passionate advocate and accessibility consultant in the Fargo-Moorhead area that straddles the border of North Dakota and Minnesota. Shirek recently produced “Artist First,” an accessible, multimedia arts exhibition featuring artists who identify as having a disability. 

Jill Rothstein is Chief Librarian of the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library in New York City, New York. She has presented at the National Library Service conference, Metro Libraries conference, and Harvard’s World Heritage Strategy Forum. Last year she became the first library staff to receive a Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) Award for Emerging Leaders. Here, she shares about the New York Public Library’s expansive accessibility initiatives, including their newest program, Dimensions.

VSA & Accessibility: You have worked at several New York Public Library branches in different positions, how and when did you start incorporating accessibility into your roles?
Jill Rothstein: When I was a children’s librarian and then branch manager at the New York Public Library’s 67th Street branch I joined a group of staff working on serving children with  disabilities. That was my entry into the work.

In 2019, the Jewish Museum in New York, New York launched new audio tours intended to illuminate the Museum’s collection. Funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the tours bring new perspective to a museum visit through artists’ voices, a variety of lenses grounded in Jewish traditions and rituals, lively conversations with grade-schoolers, and more. The tours are available via the web at Tours.TheJewishMuseum.org and are easily accessible for both on-site and off-site use.

 This month we speak to JiaJia Fei, Director of Digital, and Nora Rodriguez, Interpretive Media Producer, at the Jewish Museum about conception and creation of the tours. 

Founded in 2013, The A11y Project is an open-source, community-driven effort aiming to make it easier to implement accessibility on the web. Four main values guide the site; The A11y Project is open, communal, approachable, and authoritative. Similar to the mentality and the work many of VSA International Network members are doing, The A11y Project site emphasizes the importance of the accessibility community, “the web accessibility industry is small, but welcoming—we’re all in this together. Our successes build off each other’s efforts, and are performed in the service of others. We highlight people doing good work.”