[Artists-Making-Art] The Quest to Create the Most Accessible Museum in the World -- The refreshed museum of the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, is slated to open in 2026 with a novel invitation to visitors: please touch.

[David Andrews]

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><https://www.afar.com/magazine/the-dot-experience-wants-to-be-the-most-accessible-museum>Original 
>Source
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><https://www.afar.com/travel-inspiration>Travel 
>Inspiration<https://www.afar.com/travel-inspiration/art-and-culture>Art 
>+ Culture
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>By <https://www.afar.com/authors/leona-godin>M. Leona Godin
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>   •  January 03, 2025
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>The Quest to Create the Most Accessible Museum in the World
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>The refreshed museum of the American Printing 
>House for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky, is 
>slated to open in 2026 with a novel invitation to visitors: please touch.
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>Woman in orange shirt touches large incense burner on tabletop,
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>A diverse team of blind and low-vision 
>prototypers worked with 
><https://www.aph.org/blog/solid-light-sets-the-stage-for-inclusivity/>Solid 
>Light, the exhibit design firm that is helping 
>the Dot Experience set new standards in museum accessibility.
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>Courtesy of the American Printing House for the Blind
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>The first time I ever touched a historical 
>artifact was in the Egyptian wing of the 
>Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 
>Running my fingers over the ancient 
>hieroglyphics carved into the sarcophagus felt 
>transgressive and delicious. A security guard 
>had given only me permission, and my sighted 
>partner observed that other visitors watched 
>with a mixture of fascination and envy. While 
>many museums now offer “touch tours” for 
>blind visitors, which may include opportunities 
>to interact with art and artifacts using 3D 
>models or tactile images, these typically offer 
>access to only a tiny fraction of a museum’s 
>collections and occur only occasionally. For 
>most cultural institutions, accessibility remains an afterthought.
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>Enter <https://thedotexperience.org/>the Dot 
>Experience: the forthcoming, completely 
>redesigned, and expanded museum of the 
><https://www.aph.org/>American Printing House 
>for the Blind (APH) in Louisville, Kentucky, 
>which aims to become the most accessible museum 
>in the world. Slated to open in 2026, the Dot 
>Experience will chronicle APH’s long history 
>and introduce visitors to the struggles and 
>successes of historic and contemporary blind 
>people through the excitement of an attraction, 
>the behind-the-scenes insight of a factory tour, 
>and the deep knowledge of an educational center. 
>At its heart is a commitment to inclusivity, 
>inviting visitors to rethink perceptions and 
>biases regarding blindness and to help reimagine a more equitable world.
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>The Dot Experience is named for Louis 
>Braille’s revolutionary tactile reading and 
>writing system, a fitting tribute from an 
>organization that has been manufacturing Braille 
>books and accessibility tools since 1858. The 
>blend of history and modern innovation at APH 
>extends to the Dot Experience, where the 
>first-person accounts of everyday blind 
>people—”students, artists, advocates, 
>innovators—intersect withh those of historic and 
>iconic blind figures. Among its artifacts are an 
>extremely rare copy of Braille’s 1829 book 
>that introduced his tactile reading system, a 
>piano that Stevie Wonder played at the Michigan 
>School for the Blind, and Helen Keller’s personal desk and Bible.
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>One reason most museums maintain a strict ‘do 
>not touch’ policy is to preserve artifacts; 
>frequent handling accelerates wear and 
>degradation. For blind visitors, this can feel alienating.
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>One reason most museums maintain a strict “do 
>not touch” policy is to preserve artifacts; 
>frequent handling accelerates wear and 
>degradation. For blind visitors, this can feel 
>alienating—a barrier to cconnecting with the 
>history and culture behind those glass cases. 
>The Dot Experience addresses this challenge by 
>creating accessible, multisensory experiences, 
>such as media pods and 3D replicas, throughout the museum.
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>“In most museums, if a curator were designing 
>a tour for blind visitors, they might select two 
>or three objects to replicate out of an entire 
>gallery,” says Jo Haas, vice president for 
>museum advancement. At the Dot Experience, all 
>exhibits in the 28,000-square-foot museum will 
>feature a tactile component—whether reeplicas or sturdier originals.
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>This ethos of inclusivity extends to every step 
>of the design process. A diverse team of blind 
>and low-vision prototypers offers feedback to 
><https://www.aph.org/blog/solid-light-sets-the-stage-for-inclusivity/>Solid 
>Light, the exhibit design firm that is helping 
>the Dot Experience set new standards in museum 
>accessibility. When prototypers tested a replica 
>of Helen Keller’s silver scroll holder—a gift 
>from Indiaa—it was initially mounted flat. This 
>made it difficult to feel its full dimensions. 
>At their suggestion, the design team remounted 
>it with pins, enabling visitors to put their 
>hands all the way around it. Similarly, the 
>scroll’s engraved text was found to be too 
>small to be appreciated by touch, so the replica 
>was reimagined with embossed characters instead. 
>In this iterative process, everyone involved is 
>learning the complexities of creating an inclusive multisensory experience.
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>Inclusive design at the Dot Experience doesn't 
>stop at 3D replicas. From tactile maps and 
>Braille wall text to ASL interpretation, audio 
>guides, and wheelchair-friendly pathways, the 
>museum is shaping what a truly inclusive 
>cultural space can be. “What’s 
>groundbreaking,” Haas says, “isn’t just 
>the use of replicas—it ™s that every printed 
>sign has a Braille companion piece, right there 
>alongside it. It allows you to come in and have 
>autonomy in what you're interested in 
>exploring.” This autonomy is rare and 
>delightful, especially for blind visitors like 
>me who have often been limited to a few select objects in galleries.
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>Access isn't just about compliance. When 
>prioritized, it can inspire creativity and 
>enhance the experience for all museumgoers. As 
>those onlookers in the Egyptian gallery at the 
>Met suggest, blind visitors won't be the only 
>ones who will enjoy interacting with the many 3D 
>models. “Even if you can see it, you can’t 
>touch it,” Haas says. And that’s the 
>brilliance of the Dot Experience: what begins as 
>access for one group often benefits everyone. 
>Think of curb cuts, originally designed for 
>wheelchair users but now essential for strollers 
>and suitcases. Or audio-described films, created 
>for blind audiences but enjoyed by professional drivers and multitaskers.
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>By being born accessible, the Dot Experience is 
>modeling a future where museums embrace 
>multimodal and multisensory design as well as 
>diverse and inclusive programming. In advance of 
>its opening in 2026, Haas and others at the Dot 
>Experience plan extensive outreach in the 
>Louisville community and beyond. “Part of the 
>work that we will also do in 2025 is really 
>begin to expand the awareness that people have 
>about this project,” Haas tells me. What they 
>are learning and demonstrating through this 
>process is “not just about museum things.” 
>Cultural, entertainment, and educational centers 
>alike can benefit from the approach the Dot 
>Experience is taking toward accessibility and 
>inclusive design. Reflecting on the potential 
>influence of the museum, Haas's enthusiasm feels 
>galvanizing: “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we 
>actually spurred a change? Or an update in policy?”
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><https://www.afar.com/authors/leona-godin>M. Leona Godin
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>M. Leona Godin is the author of There Plant 
>Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of 
>Blindness and the founder of Aromatica Poetica, 
>an arts and culture laboratory for the 
>advancement of smell and taste. She creates 
>multisensory performance journeys that explore 
>the rich potentials of synesthesia and 
>disability aesthetics, and she is a curatorial 
>researcher for the forthcoming Museum of the 
>Blind People's Movement. Her writing has 
>appeared in such venues as The New York Times, O 
>Magazine, Literary Hub, and ARTnews.
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