Like non-disabled people, people with disabilities want to take part in guided tours or separately and independently participate in cultural events and exhibitions. Public utility facilities, and particularly cultural facilities, still fail to include amenities for people with various disabilities on the agenda, and they are yet to be found in every facility. People with disabilities face a number of handicaps, and sometimes even exclusions, which prevent their active participation in many events, or simply an ordinary visit to exhibitions.
Being self-contained and using solutions enabling, for example, independent passage through an exhibition, are especially important for people with disabilities. In cultural venues or other public institutions, it is particularly important that everyone, regardless of their level of fitness, can move around the facility and that it is accessible to everyone.
One modern solution is audioguide and tour guide systems, which are a significant facilitation for people from various groups: with visual impairments, children and the elderly, with disabilities, with hearing aids. Audioguide systems enable all these people to visit museum exhibitions or to participate in guided tours independently, without the need for assistance.
The above devices are designed with the needs of people with various disabilities in mind. They are equipped with easy-to-read, high-contrast displays, as well as tabs on the keyboard or the housing, which make it easier for the blind and visually impaired to operate the system. Sound adjustment and its broad range are especially helpful for hearing impaired people who can adjust the receiver’s volume according to their individual preferences and do not need to concern themselves with not hearing the guide or the broadcast. The devices are designed to lie securely in the hand and be operated by, for example, people with physical disabilities.
Broadcasts from audioguide devices can start automatically, thanks to which people with various disabilities can visit exhibitions and listen to recordings without the help of third parties. They can guide visitors around the facility, allowing smooth movement and enjoying all the exhibits.
One of the next solutions that can significantly improve the quality of a visit to the facility itself is an induction loop. An induction loop is a hearing aid system for people with hearing impairments who use hearing aids or implants. It allows noise-free and distortion-free sound to reach the ear of a hearing impaired person. The induction loop can be installed in certain spaces, e.g., run under the carpet in a conference room; it can also come in the form of a neck lanyard, attached directly to the tourguide or the audioguide device.
Many tour guide systems are equipped with the HAC – Hearing Aid system Compatibility – thanks to which people with hearing disabilities can perceive sounds without the additional element in the form of the previously mentioned neck induction loop.
Often times, blind people do not participate in sports, cultural events, film screenings or other performances. Here, help is provided by audio description for people with visual disabilities. It is a form of communicating art and describing what is happening on the stage, pitch or screen. Mobile tourguide and audioguide systems allow blind people to fully participate in the meeting.
Clearly, there are a number of amenities and opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in cultural and sports events, go to a film screening or a guided tour, and to visit a museum exhibition. Tourguide and audioguide systems can prove an invaluable facilitation and sometimes the only possibility for a person with a movement, sight or hearing disability to independently take part in a number of activities which, until recently, have been available only to non-disabled people.