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LACMA Museum Accessibility

Writer's picture: Annie KrollAnnie Kroll

Updated: Jan 10

Annie in a sculpture

Two weekends ago I went to the LACMA museum in LA to look at some art with my partner. The LACMA consists of two buildings with three main exhibits covering modern art, a train sculpture, and a large and a special gallery that this time focused on Mesoamerican and cosmology. The train sculpture is the coolest part, as it turns on periodically and cars and trains run through a course for several minutes. This week, I want to rate the accessibility at LACMA based on their website and my personal experience.

 

Disability In The Museum

Fruit still life
While and black dots on a canvas

Two paintings directly mentioned disability. The fruit still life mentioned how the artist switched subjects from portraits to still life due to chronic pain, and the optical illusion painting was said to be based on the artist's own hallucinations. This was very cool to see disability in art, I don't think I have seen that before in a museum. I rate the representation a 4/5 because while disability was not the direct subject matter in an obvious way, it felt realistic and representative of life with a disability.

 

Benches

Red, blue, black, and yellow chair

I feel like I say the same thing in all of these reviews, but I say it because it is true: the seating options at museums leave a lot to be desired. This art piece is the only chair in the museum offered to guests, and the few benches they have are often in the corner away from the art. Many rooms do not even have a seat at all. Having benches in front of the art would allow people to sit and view pieces for longer periods of time both for disabled people and for art study, and could be done in a way that is noninvasive. As it stands, I was left between choosing to not sit down and have foot pain, or sit and feel removed from the exhibit. Staff are given stools with a slight back, so it's understood that people want adequate seats, I just want to see that same courtesy extended to the guests. I give the seats a 2/5 because it isn't illegally inaccessible but it is the bare minimum.

 

Elevators

Sign saying the elevator is closed, to use a different elevator

The main large elevator was not in service, which is a bummer because it is very large and could fit multiple wheelchairs. However, there was a sign with an alternative elevator plan so all guests could still travel around the exhibits. Once in the exhibits, wheelchairs can easily fit throughout all of the different rooms. I appreciated the effort, as I could see that guests were considered. While ideally the elevator would just be working, it is important that establishments are able to adapt to situations that are out of their control in an accessible way. This gets a 5/5 for signage, the only thing that would have made it better was if the sign had a braille option.

 

Website Accessibility

Annie's reflection from a silver wall fixture

The LACMA website has accessibility notices for audio guides, service animals, accessible restrooms, estimated less crowded hours, accessible parking, and public transit. I will note that this time I was able to find an available disability pass, and special parking was also given to pregnant people and electric vehicles with charging stations. There are no notices for wheelchairs or autism social stories. I give this accessibility website notice a 3.5/5 because while the audio guides at the museum are in depth, blind people, autistic people, and people with physical disabilities seem left out in a lot of services. Most other websites I have seen have some notice of wheelchairs at the minimum as it is not always possible to bring your own.

 

Overall

Rainbow heart made out of ribbon

Overall, while I appreciated the disability representation, I did not enjoy the lack of benches while walking through the exhibits. Representation without accessibility isn't helpful if the people being represented can't easily view the representation. Disabilities that were not physical seemed left out of the accessibility services, and I really can't get over the lack of internal seating. If a video was not playing, viewers were lucky to get a seat in the corner of every third exhibit room. Overall, I give a 3/5 rating based on my experience with other museums and the contrast between representation and practical application.

 

Thank you for reading about accessibility at the LACMA museum. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to message me in the questions tab, or reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook. I hope to see you next week!

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1 Comment


Kristen
Nov 25, 2024

It's really fun that the two of you are exploring the museums in your area!

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