Expanding Accessibility in Museums: A Conversation with Finnegan Shannon

I sat down with Finnegan Shannon, a disabled artist and activist, to get a better understanding of their perspective on disability and accessibility in museum and art spaces. I was drawn to their work entitled “Do You Want Us Here Or Not” which critiqued the lack of places for rest in museums, ultimately creating inaccessible spaces. Below are a few themes we explored in our conversation.

[The interview excerpts below have been edited for length and clarity.]

1. Accessibility is a curatorial choice

Throughout their work, Finnegan has found that decisions about accessibility within exhibitions are often made by curators, something we as evaluators have also encountered. 

Claire: What was it like for you working with museums to approach and challenge how museums and curators install and use your art? 

Finnegan: I started that project [Do You Want Us Here Or Not] because I was feeling frustrated with the way that seating was being placed in museums. I had done some research and from conversations that I was having was learning that it's often a curatorial choice. Curators have these ableist imaginings of what an exhibition space should look and feel like, and that places to rest are not part of that. I realized that I could work around that by making artworks that were also functional as seating. My goal with that project is really for them [the benches as artworks] to not be needed anymore.

2. Accessibility consultants aren’t always taken seriously

Consultants are key in many different fields of work, and museums are no different. However, an unfortunate issue that museums and consultants may find themselves running into is the lack of follow through on accessibility consultants’ advice. This frequently is the result of money and power structures. Interestingly, artists may have more sway.

Claire: What challenges have you experienced in advocating for accessibility in museums?

Finnegan: I think consulting structures are so tricky because the framework of the consulting sets so many boundaries around what's possible. I actually feel like when I come in as an artist, I have a lot more flexibility and freedom to ask for things that I need if they’re for my art practice rather than for accessibility. It has to do with the power structures within the museum and the way that curatorial work is prioritized over education, access departments and things like that. I think I’ve often felt frustrated by the narrowness of the scope of the consulting. 

One of the things that I’m saying over and over is that people have this assumption of “We’re gonna do everything that we’re doing now and we're gonna do it accessibly.” Which I think is a total fantasy and is actually not a genuine engagement with what accessibility is or needs. The process of thinking through how to make an exhibition or a space accessible should be like a transformative process. I feel like I often run up against a funding structure that has so much pressure to do more and to do it bigger and to do it faster. There need to be more resources to do accessibility well and people on staff need more capacity.

3. Successful accessibility is rooted in fluidity and creativity

Creating accessible and inclusive spaces is not a process with a clear beginning and end. Finnegan points out that creativity and an iterative approach are key elements to fostering welcoming and accessible spaces.

Claire: How do you envision accessibility and inclusion in museums as a disabled artist, but also as a visitor? 

Finnegan: I'm most excited by thinking about accessibility in ways that I’ve experienced with other disabled people, which is thinking of access as a really generative force, and thinking about access that is really creative. That is really rooted in relationships. Thinking about specific audiences or needs or things like that. It’s…something that's really fluid and changing. I think there's often a temptation within institutions [museums] because of the kind of stress and timelines that are put on people who work within those spaces. [Staff] feel they need to figure it out and get it done, instead of having the time and resources to have a really iterative process and a really ongoing relationship to what it means to have an accessible space...I think it’s a classic thing that there is some protocol set up, but then there isn’t actually the maintenance there to make sure that everyone who needs to know about that actually knows about that.

4. Accessibility is intertwined with every aspect of the museum experience 

Something I [Claire] do myself as a disabled person, and someone who loves design, is evaluate how accessible a space is for me and others when I first enter it. My disabled friends often do the same thing! I was curious if and how Finnegan does this, and what that may look like in a museum setting. What they told me should be considered when museums are evaluating their own accessibility.

Claire: When you’re entering a museum space, how do you evaluate its accessibility?

Finnegan: I definitely am always noticing what assumptions, the kind of choices that have been made, are saying about who is expected there. For me, it definitely starts before I go—what information is available on the website, what kind of access protocols are being outlined there? When I get to a space I’m thinking about signage, thinking about what kind it is. Do I clearly understand where to go for the price of admission? Are there stairs? If stairs are the prominent mode of engaging, is there an alternate pathway? Is that pathway really being treated as a place for people to traverse or is it tucked away? Are there wheelchairs or stools to borrow? What’s on offer in terms of verbal description tours…are there tactile elements in the space? Are there places to sit and rest within the exhibitions? Are the bathrooms accessible? Are the bathrooms gendered? 

5. Hire and support disabled people!

Having a diverse staff, including disabled people, who feel safe and supported at work will create room for meaningful accessibility work in all aspects of the museum. Disabled people know the challenges that they personally face, what would be helpful to them, and can often apply this lived experience lens to their work. However, museums have to be dedicated to creating a safe, supportive work environment for everyone in order for people to feel comfortable being open!

Claire: If you have any thoughts about what you would like museum evaluators to add to their lens when they’re working with museums, or if there’s anything you could tell a museum and they would absolutely do it to create accessibility, what would that be? 

Finnegan: It’s really important to not just think about disabled people as audiences. I’m sure most museums have disabled employees, whether or not those people feel comfortable communicating about those needs, being out as disabled at work, or have an understanding of themselves as disabled. Many other disabled people have written about this (for example, I'm thinking of Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha). I can tell when I'm coming into a space and someone has done accessibility because they think it’s the right thing to do for disabled people. They hold it as this act of charity or something like that, instead of actually understanding disabled people are everywhere and a part of everything and should be in positions kind of all throughout these spaces. And I think I’ve also just personally witnessed how powerful and transformative disabled artists can be in terms of creating something that is meaningful for other disabled people. [Museums need to be] thinking of access work not as separate from, but instead enmeshed in [staff and visitor experiences]. 

About Finnegan: Finnegan Shannon is an artist. Some of their recent work includes Anti-Stairs Club Lounge, an ongoing project that gathers people together who share an aversion to stairs; Alt-Text as Poetry, a collaboration with Bojana Coklyat that explores the expressive potential of image description; and Do You Want Us Here or Not, a series of benches and cushions designed for exhibition spaces. Learn more about them and their work at https://shannonfinnegan.com/