Low Revs – sensory friendly at Silverstone Museum, Sept 23

Silverstone Museum replicates the noise, adrenaline, and excitement of motor racing, but staff are aware that this can be an unsuitable environment for some visitors. We welcome many SEN education groups (both child and adult learners) to Silverstone Museum, and it has been a passion project to introduce sensory friendly events here, to enable everyone the opportunity to enjoy the …

The Great Exhibition Road Festival and autistic families

In June 2019, my dad, my 6 year old autistic son Samuel and I went to The Great Exhibition Road Festival without knowing what to expect. Now for the first time since Covid, the festival is back on this coming weekend. I have been asked to write this blog to show how inclusive this festival actually is for SEN families. …

Autism Access at the Cartoon Museum, April 2022

For World Autism Day we have a fantastic new blog from Amba who is the Community Outreach Officer at the Cartoon Museum. She tells us about her own reasons for wanting to improve access to the London museum and shares the work she is doing with autistic audiences: Growing up I benefitted from museum outreach programmes, and while I ended …

Sensory Friendly Backpacks at V&A Dundee

By Peter Nurick, Communities Producer, Access and Learning Earlier this year V&A Dundee introduced Sensory Friendly Days, supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and designed to welcome visitors who may benefit from a more relaxed sensorial environment. As part of these events, the museum unveiled brand new, updated sensory friendly backpacks to enhance the experience for visitors. The …

Autograph Gallery, London: On adapting our Family SEND Workshops for Lockdown, April 2021

At Autograph we focus on exhibiting and publishing photography, which explores issues related to identity, diversity and human rights. We are strong advocates for representing and including people who are marginalised and have built our organisation around supporting those who have historically been excluded from participating in the arts. In 2017, we joined a radical UK-wide project highlighting the extraordinary …

Working with SEND Learners at The Red House

A Partnership Project between Autism in Nature and Britten-Pears Arts Joe Carr, Collection and Learning Curator Background The Red House is the historic home of the composer Benjamin Britten and his partner the singer Peter Pears, located in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. It comprises the historic house, kept as Britten and Pears knew it; Britten’s composition studio, similarly in its original state; …

Engaging children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) virtually through lockdown

During the Covid 19 lockdown University of Cambridge Museums wanted to engage remotely and maintain relationships with our pre-existing audience of children with special educational needs and disabilities. According to government statistics in January 2020 12.1% of all school pupils have a special educational need, and we have two main programmes for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Arts Pioneers, for …

Supporting teachers and students from Autism Spectrum Condition specialist schools to engage with the Natural History Museum, March, 2021

Championing diversity to create an inclusive organisation is a core value for the Natural History Museum and will help us achieve our strategic priority to engage and involve the widest possible audience. To build on the Museum’s knowledge of how to engage neurodiverse children and their families, the Audience Research and Insight Team teamed up with Access and Inclusion Advisor, …