New audio offering helps visually impaired picture museum exhibit at KU

Audio-Reader, Dole Institute win award for description program

Nancy Johnson can see enough to get around, plus some colors and shapes. But reading text in a museum exhibit?

“No way,” said the Topeka resident. “I go with friends who are willing to read the information that’s there and who will tell me a little bit about it. I would never go to a museum by myself, because I don’t see enough to get it.”

Johnson was with a friend when she visited “Celebrating Opportunity for People with Disabilities: 70 Years of Dole Leadership” at Kansas University’s Dole Institute of Politics, but technology incorporated into the exhibit allowed her to take it in more independently.

KU announced Monday that the Dole Institute and KU’s Audio-Reader Network won a 2016 Audio Description Achievement Award for an audio description program they worked together to incorporate into the exhibit.

Bestowed by the American Council of the Blind and its Audio Description Project, the award honors outstanding contributions to the establishment or continued development of audio description programs. 

“No one should have to give up attending arts and culture events because they lose their sight,” said Jennifer Nigro, volunteer coordinator for Audio-Reader.

Audio tours of museum exhibits are common, but even those are usually geared toward a seeing audience.

“Celebrating Opportunity” comes with audio recordings that include not just information but also descriptions of exhibit pieces that the target audience is unable to see for themselves.

Each panel of the exhibit features a QR code, which an attendee or a companion can scan using a smart phone and hear a recording of Audio-Reader volunteer Doug Washburn describing images and talking about their significance, Nigro said. Users just need to download a QR code-scanning app on their phones.

“I’m pretty sure that this is the first audio description of a museum exhibit here,” Nigro said. “Visitors who are unable to see or read standard print can still experience the visual elements.”

“Celebrating Opportunity for People with Disabilities: 70 Years of Dole Leadership” remains open at the Dole Institute until July 10.

Nigro said Audio-Reader plans to record and implement the same description program for another Dole Institute exhibit opening later this year.

Audio-Reader provides recordings of newspapers, books and magazines to people in Kansas and parts of Missouri who are blind or have other visual or physical impairments that prevent them from reading normal printed materials. For more information, call 864-4600, 1-800-772-8898 or go online to reader.ku.edu.

Johnson said the Dole Institute exhibit, along with a newer effort to provide descriptions at area theater performances, are examples of Audio-Reader broadening its reach.

“Being able to turn a radio on and get the newspaper is wonderful, but they’ve gone beyond that,” she said. “Audio-Reader has done a really great job of getting out into the communities.”