Understanding the Multilingualism and Communication of Museum Visitors who are d/Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Abstract The current conversation of multilingual engagement in museums often focuses on people who use spoken languages. Deafness, and visitors who use signed communication, such as American Sign Language (ASL), is instead placed in the realm of disability engagement. Drawing on relevant literature and contextualized by data gathered through recent visitor research at the Museum of Science, Boston, this article defines how people who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing are a diverse audience with a range of language and communication needs, argues that museums currently support only a subset of this audience, and lays out potential methods for better supporting the needs of all visitors who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing. Three categories of d/Deaf or hard of hearing visitor groups are described, including “Spoken-Focused,” “Simultaneous Language,” and “ASL-Focused.” Whereas written resources support “Spoken-Focused” groups and sign language resources support “ASL-Focused” groups, multilingual groups in which visitors use both ASL and English require further support. In order for museums to better prepare for and engage visitors who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing, museums should not conflate hearing loss with ASL use and understand that there is a wide range of multilingual and communication needs within this diverse audience.