Philadelphia - Blind feel exhibits
Print Edition
Angel Ayala has never been a big fan of museums. Blind since birth, the high school student says the exhibits are so sight-dependent that he can’t enjoy them.
But he’s making an exception for the Penn Museum, an archaeology and anthropology center in Philadelphia that offers touch tours for the blind and visually impaired. Ayala can now feel the eroded limestone of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus and the intricate hieroglyphs on the statue of a pharaoh.
“When I touch things, it’s my version of a sighted person’s eyes. It tells me way more than a person describing it would ever,” Ayala said.
The institution, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania, began offering the tours last year in an effort to make their extensive collections more accessible. Museums should serve the community at large, and that includes the unsighted, said program coordinator Trish Maunder.
“Just because a person has low vision or can’t see, doesn’t mean that they’re not completely interested in culture or learning about ancient artifacts,” Maunder said.
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