Reconceptualizing inclusion in museum spaces: a multidisciplinary framework

This paper describes an exploration into technology design to make cultural spaces accessible to people with mild or moderate intellectual disabilities (IDs). We start by considering the role technology can play in promoting the  engagement and enjoyment of cultural heritage and move on to explore how to design for rewarding user experiences in that context. For that purpose, we bave recruited a multidisciplinary team of experts, including researchers in Users Experience (UX) research, psychology, and education, to work together with practitioners skilled in the  care of people with IDs. Crucial members of our research team are a small group of people with IDs who bave been working with experts in education over the  years and bave an established emotional relationship with them. Together, we set out to learn from each other while exploring the  design space for producing technical solutions to enhance accessibility, usability, and the overall quality of the  interaction with content available to museum visitors. We describe the lesson learned in terms of the framework we devised, reflection its implications and suggest possible steps towards designing tools to enhance accessibility and engagement.