Accessible Programming and Inclusive Hiring: An Interview with Vanessa Jones
Vanessa Jones is the first person to hold the position of Access Programs Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. Although she has been a paraplegic wheelchair user since the age of 18, Jones’ diverse career in the arts didn’t begin with an eye towards accessibility.
“My story is a bit interesting because it defies assumptions or expectations that people who are not in the disability community might have,” Jones shares. “People see me in the role as advocating for arts and access now, but that hasn't always been the case.” Jones developed a love of culture from a young age, finding herself drawn to foreign languages and humanities in high school. “In my own journey, when I became disabled I didn't feel like I had to be defined by that and I continued to pursue the same career goals and interests I always had. I felt I could advocate just in the way I lived my life, in expecting to participate.”
Following her interests, Jones pursued her graduate degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, England. Founded in 1932, the Institute is housed in an older building in London, and Jones was the first student to use a wheelchair. “It wasn’t very accessible; it was a challenge; just my being there was important in raising awareness. That staff there were very welcoming and supportive, even if they couldn't remove the architectural barriers,” she says while explaining the accommodations the school made in support of her education. (The Courtauld Gallery is currently closed as it undertakes Courtauld Connects, an ambitious transformation project to make The Courtauld accessible to more people.)
After receiving her Master’s degree in Art History, Jones did a curatorial internship at the National Gallery of Art, where she discovered museum education. “This was a big paradigm shift for me, my orientation shifted from a focus on research and the art to the needs of the public,” says Jones. She worked in museum education in a variety of roles at several institutions before leaving the workforce to have children.
Upon her return to the field several years later, Jones found that more and more museums were doing accessibility work. “On the programmatic level, in terms of thinking about our audience and recognizing that for some audiences we need to design our programs very purposefully, that’s what I want to do,” she explains of finding the next step in her path. “I want to combine my museum background and education with my own personal experience of being a person with a disability and experiencing barriers to participation.” Jones met the woman who would become her boss at a workshop, and the Smithsonian Institute hired her on a contract basis before creating the full-time role.
It sounds like the stars aligned for Jones as she tells her story, but she encountered obstacles along the way, many of which are examples of “the space between accessibility and equal access.” Jones shares stories of several interviews that included slow freight elevators for public access, and accessible front-of-houses for inaccessible offices. “It’s hard to know why you don’t get hired and there’s often a myriad of reasons,” Jones says of her job hunt, “but I do wonder sometimes if potential employers were afraid they couldn't accommodate me within their work space.”
Working with the central accessibility office of the Smithsonian Institution and the communities she serves, Jones has grown her role at the National Portrait Gallery. She’s introduced programs ranging from Portrait Signs (America Sign Language gallery tours) to a monthly program for visitors with memory loss. “There’s already a lot of great work being done out there. There are a lot of people, not enough, but people thinking and doing. There are best practices. Find them and adapt them to your context,” she says to those looking to increase accessibility in their own institutions, “the other thing is you have to talk to your audience and talk to your visitors, it’s by and for.”
Similarly to programmatic accessibility, Jones is adamant that inclusive hiring requires active engagement. “You have to promote your jobs to those communities, you have to allocate resources for accommodations, you have to be explicitly inclusive in your language,” she states. “Bringing a real consciousness to your hiring practices is important.”