Columbia River Maritime Museum looks to improve accessibility

Jul. 7—The Columbia River Maritime Museum has taken initiatives to make the museum more accessible.

Since the creation of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Belonging Task Force in May 2021, the Astoria museum has completed several projects.

Early steps were geared toward visitors with anxiety or autism. A Social Story is a project that creates a preview of what visitors can expect when they arrive, like what times are busiest and which exhibits are loudest.

Sensory backpacks filled with noise-reducing headphones and small self-soothing toys are available to help visitors cope with stressful situations. They also come with verbal communication cards with desires and emotions for people who are nonverbal.

A sensory map shows visitors accessible parking, bathrooms and the different lighting and sound levels in rooms.

Julia Triezenberg, an education supervisor for the museum who serves on the task force, said the projects benefit everyone.

"It was initially a move to make the museum more accessible and a little bit less intimidating for people who might feel overwhelmed by the galleries," she said. "And then it evolved into something where it's really just a nice kind of walk-through of the museum experience."

Other services include a virtual verbal description tour and a self-guided audio and tactile tour for people with visual impairments. Visitors can touch objects like a survival suit and a torpedo.

Caroline Wuebben, the museum's communications and marketing manager, said part of the idea for the tours came from a day where museum staff simulated visual impairments by blindfolding themselves and taking a tour. Next, they want to experience the museum from the perspective of people in wheelchairs.

Triezenberg said it's important to talk to specific communities about how to improve the museum, but experiences like these give staff some understanding.

"There's a certain level of empathy that comes from doing these tours and actually feeling what it's like to move your hand along the torpedo or changing the surface of the floor as you move from tile to carpet," she said.

The museum also recently received an Oregon Heritage Grant from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to create a Spanish audio tour for the Brix Maritime Hall and the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Missions Gallery.

The museum will be working on completing the translations in the next nine months or so, Triezenberg said.

Wuebben said the museum has always had accessible features, like wheelchair lifts and a push-button entry at the front door. However, those features were not communicated well to the public.

"Putting that into under the heading of accessibility for people that are looking for those features, they now understand that we recognize what accessibility is," she said.

Triezenberg said there are many ways businesses can make spaces more accessible without high-budget projects.

"You can do the little things or expand on what you already have at your place of business and make it a more accessible place for people," she said.