The W‐ICAD model: Redefining museum access through the Workshop for Inclusive Co‐created Audio Description

Abstract

This research describes the development of the Workshop for Inclusive Co‐created Audio Description (W‐ICAD) model. Research from psychology and neuroscience explains why the assumption that vision is necessarily sufficient to be able to engage with collections is problematic, and why inclusive museum audio description (AD) (referred to as visual or verbal description in the United States) might begin to provide a solution to this problem. At the same time, the growing recognition of the need to diversify voices and narratives within the international museum sector demands a re‐imagining of how museum AD is created, and who creates it. Underpinned by the axioms of Blindness Gain and created through an iterative action research process by a joint UK‐US team of researchers and museum professionals, in collaboration with a broader team of co‐creators, the W‐ICAD model provides museums and the cultural sector with a tool for producing co‐created AD, created by blind, partially blind and sighted individuals for use in museums by blind, partially blind or sighted audiences. The applications for this model are discussed.