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The Getty- Accessibility

Writer's picture: Annie KrollAnnie Kroll
The Getty


I recently went to the Getty, which consisted of 3 main museum buildings, a floral garden, a view of a cactus garden, and a tram system to get guests to and from the museum. Entrance to the Getty is free, but parking is $25 which places the cost around other museums. This week, I want to rank the Getty's accessibility.

 

The Tram:


Tram

First, I want to talk about the tram, which visitors take to enter or exit the Getty. The tram system had some of the best seating and available accessibility out of the whole museum. There was available disability parking before getting to the tram, so that helped limit the time to get from parking to the tram. Once at the tram, wheelchairs were available for guests to use based on availability. These wheelchairs unfortunately were not seen, at least out in the open, anywhere else at the Getty. There were also lots of tables with umbrellas so guests could sit and wait from others to arrive, rather than stand. The tram also had seats for some guests. I tried to time it so that I could be one of the people in front, and rush to grab a seat. The only not accessible thing was the lines to both arrive at and leave the museum. The lines were long, with nowhere to sit for guests who might have foot or leg pain except for on the tram station right before the tram arrives. When the line is half an hour, only being able to sit for the last 5 minutes is only so helpful. I had to sit on the floor by the end of the day, which was not comfortable. I give the tram a 3 out of 5, because adding seats near the line could be easily fixable and the rest of the experience was not impossible if you are okay with crowds.


 

The Gardens:


Annie standing under an arch way

The gardens were nice. Ramps were provided for everyone to access, and there were plenty of seats near the cafe at the top of the gardens. This area was small compared to the museum buildings, and had some of the best places to rest out of the whole property. However, this was one of the few places you could buy food, and the tables were not close enough to interact with much up close so the resting felt removed from the plants. I did really enjoy the flowers, and liked seeing that ducks had duck ramps to let them have access to the water. The gardens get a 3/5. I had access to ramps and the flowers were pretty but fitting a wheelchair through the gardens seemed challenging.


 

The Exhibits Intro:

Annie taking a selfie in front of a boat painting

Next, I want to talk about the exhibits. Overall, I liked how the elevators were set up, there was always an alternative method to access something besides stairs, and when seating was available it was comfortable. My main complaint about the Getty is there is not enough seating. The art was also tall, so being in a wheelchair could result in looking up a lot. I think it would be nice to lower at least some of the art just slightly for wheelchair users. The rooms also had a lot of echo, which made it hard for me to figure out how loud I was talking. I already struggle to tell how loud I am talking, but the echo made it worse.


 

Seating:

Bench with 4 cushions

When seating was shown, the best option apart from one room had a four cushioned panel with wood at the end. The galleries with this type of seating had more than four paintings, so there were not enough seats per painting. Then, if you weren't looking at painted art, the seating was worse. Rooms with furniture or other older home decor had no seats. Sometimes they would taunt me with a chair on display, but no chairs for visitors to sit in. In rooms focusing on sculpture, the seats became individualized round cushions, and there were only four for the whole exhibit. The seating was awful, and I do not understand why. I will admit I am not totally in art culture and don't know how to properly view art, but I still think viewers want to be comfortable. I give this accessibility a 1.5/5, there is plenty of unused space for seating that instead is used to make the room look bigger. The seating was so bad that some exhibits had no seating availability for the whole themed section. I should not have had to sit on the floor as many times as I did.

Overall Review:


Painting of someone yawning

Blue flower painting

The Getty offered audio descriptions on it's website to learn more, which seemed helpful for guests who could benefit. Many of the paintings and sculptures were pretty, and it was easy enough to stroll past the ones I was not very interested in. There was a place where viewers could touch different stones the sculptures were made out of, which was very helpful because I wanted to touch things and could not. This museum also has more ancient art rather than modern art, so be mindful of that. According to the Getty online website, ASL interpreters can be requested for events, multiple listening device tools can be accessed, and text transcriptions can be created. Blind attendees can get visual descriptions and light dimming for certain exhibits. Guests with mobility aids have access to the tram, accessible bathrooms, manual wheelchairs, and wheelchair seating for events. I found the mobility section to be accurate except for one area where the only accessible bathroom was out of order. The place I see the largest gap is for guests like me. I can walk, but I need places to sit. If I don't walk at all, my hereditary spastic paraplegia can progress. But if I walk the whole time with no breaks, I can injure myself. This trip, I ended up crying both at the museum and on the way home because my foot pain was so bad. For those of you who know me, crying because of pain is not a normal occurrence for me. The lack of accessible seating in the exhibits left my feet hurting so much that I was in horrible pain I could not get rid of. I normally try to average out all of my ratings for a final rating, but I broke those rules because the exhibits are 80% of the museum, and the tram and gardens make up about 20% of it. While the Getty has bare bones accessibility to get a 2/5 and not violate ADA laws, it will not get any higher of a rating because true accessibility should look at disability as a whole, not just checking off a bare bones wheelchair box. If a disabled guest if left in physical pain at the end of the day because they could not accommodate themselves with the options provided, I think the accessibility can be improved upon. There is also no autism accessibility listed on the website, which I have now come to hope for because places like the Huntington Library can and do offer services. I hope the Getty can look at their infrastructure and try to find ways to accommodate physical disability in more ways than just those who use a wheelchair. Disability can look so many ways, and I hope accessibility to public educational places like museums will only improve.


 

Thank you for reading about my accessibility rating of the Getty! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next week!

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