Making art heard for vision impaired audiences

Galleries and museums could be doing more through co-design and collaboration to expand access for blind and low vision audiences.
a gallery space showing a painting under a spotlight and a tactile sculptural interpretation of it beside it.

The catchcry that the arts are ‘accessible for all’ is one that falls easily off the tongues of many in the sector. However, it seems there is more we could be doing, especially for blind and vision impaired people, to allow greater access to art in museums and gallery spaces.

Sarah Empey is an accessible design consultant with low vision who has been involved in creating safe, barrier-free, built environments for blind and low vision people for over a decade.

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ArtsHub's Arts Feature Writer Jo Pickup is based in Perth. An arts writer and manager, she has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for media such as the ABC, RTRFM and The West Australian newspaper, contributing media content and commentary on art, culture and design. She has also worked for arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, STRUT dance, and the Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub of WA, as well as being a sessional arts lecturer at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).