ADA Business Connection: Maintaining Accessibility in Museums

Introduction

According to the Institute for Museum and Library Services, there are about 17,500 museums across the United States that care for more than 750 million objects and live specimens in order to engage the public in learning about everything from artists' masterworks to the composition of an atom to the history of barbed wire. (1,2) These museums - a term used broadly to include zoos, historic sites, botanical gardens, aquariums, planetariums, children's museums, and science and technology centers -- range in size from a small historic house to a large art museum with a related range in annual budgets from a few thousand to several hundred million dollars. (2)

Regardless of size or income, most museums have legal obligations to provide and maintain accessibility for visitors with disabilities: Privately operated museums are covered as public accommodations under title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); museums operated by state or local governments are covered by the ADA's title II; and museums that receive Federal funding - whether they are covered by title II or title III -- are also covered by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.