Why is it important to train Museum Staff?
Museum staff needs to be trained regarding their appropriate attitude toward visitors suffering from various conditions, taking into account particularly the fact that not all disabilities are visible. It is therefore of utmost importance to avoid offensive attitudes and to show the due respect to all visitors.
Museum staff also needs to be trained in matters connected to digital accessibility, both those in charge of designing the museum website and those providing the content. Official regulations/ recommendations regarding digital accessibility of museum website are unequal from one country to another, or even lack entirely, therefore the information itself does lack too.
How to provide this training? Where to start?
Training needs to be provided first to the management and leading roles within the museum organisation, so that the topic of accessibility can be taken into account in the phase of designing exhibition spaces.
Moreover, all staff interacting with the public needs to be trained, whatever their role in the organisation, from guardian, attendant, ticket office, museum office, info desk officer, educator, mediator, lecturer, etc.
The way of acquiring such knowledge for managers and leading positions within the cultural sector can vary, from the own research and investigation of the topic to identifying the right courses. For the executive roles, their participation in various training courses is first the responsibility of the department coordinators, of those leaders who decide what is the training policy within an organisation.