Securing AsIAm Autism Friendly Accreditation

Metal sign displaying the AsIAM autism accreditation certificate issued to the Hunt Museum. The sign hangs on the railings outside the Museum. In the background are large gold letters spelling the words Hunt Museum. They hang on the front of the building
AsIAM Autism Friendly signage located at the entrance gate to the Museum

In late October 2023, the Hunt Museum achieved AsIAm Autism Friendly Accreditation status. We display signage at the museum’s gate promoting it because it conveys this message:

“You are welcome here and we are working to meet your needs”

Year I Accreditation

As part of the accreditation process, we produced a Charter of Inclusion which outlined our commitments to the autism community and the actions that we would deliver to fulfill these. Delivery of staff and volunteer training in autism understanding was prioritised. Some actions outlined in the Charter related to sensory audit findings by AsIAm. For example, they recommended provision of a quiet space for self regulation in the Museum, an action we completed in April 2024.

Access our Year 1 Charter of Inclusion by click here

A female workshop facilitator supports a young autistic boy to construct the frame for his willow lantern.

With support from AsIAm, we produced a range of pre-visit resources, including sensory maps and visual stories which are available in the Autism/Neurodiverse section of the Hunt Museum’s Visitor Accessibility page. You can access this page by clicking here.

To support participation in our events and workshops, we provided autistic participants with social stories which detailed information about who they would meet, what activities they would do, as well as information on the accommodations available.

These resources enabled autistic visitors to plan their visit, and helped to reduce the anticipation anxiety that many experience before visiting a new environment.

Access a sample social story by clicking here.

To access the sensory map of the Museum created in Year 1, please click here.

Year II accreditation

In October 2024, we worked with AsIAM to review and update our Charter of Inclusion. To access it, please click here. It reflects many of the actions already completed through the Inclusive Museum project including:

  1. The upgrade of lighting in the Permanent Collection, reducing glare, reflection and shadows around objects, delivering a more comfortable sensory environment
  2. Provision of a quiet sensory space in the Museum
  3. Provision of sensory aids including fidgets and ear protectors
Pictured here are the colourful range of fidgets and ear protectors provided by the Museum

Our Year II Charter is informed by short, medium and long term goals which we have identified in conjunction with AsIAm and our Inclusive Museum Autistic Persons Working Group.

Short term objectives include:

  1. Running regular low sensory hours at the Museum.
  2. Providing refresher autism understanding training with staff and volunteers.
  3. Producing new and more detailed sensory maps of the Museum. (This action is underway. Please click here to access the maps which we are currently piloting).

Medium term objectives include:

  1. Providing a more supportive and structured volunteer experience for autistic people.

Longer term objectives include:

  1. Development of a multisensory trail to aid with wayfinding in our open plan Permanent Collection galleries. It will also help to minimise opportunities for sensory overload by focusing the users attention on a limited number of objects.

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