Interfaces de acesso a museus digitais voltadas a pessoas com deficiência visual

Abstract

Access to digital museums by people with visual impairments faces physical, attitudinal, communicational, and aesthetic barriers, impacting their experience of interacting with digital exhibitions. In light of this challenge, this study seeks to answer fundamental questions about accessibility: How do museums engage with this audience in digital environments? What resources are made available? What is the current landscape of accessibility in digital museums in Brazil? What interfaces are specifically designed for these users? And finally, what is the experience of a visually impaired person in these spaces? To address these questions, the research has the general objective of investigating the existing interactions between digital museums and people with visual impairments. Specifically, it aims to identify the norms and legislation that address the topic; to identify national and international museum initiatives and how they approach accessibility in digital environments for people with visual impairments; to understand the accessibility requirements for blind individuals that should be met during visits to digital museum environments; and to propose a system that enhances their experience by expanding the forms of interaction with the digital content offered by institutions. This would make navigation and understanding of museum pieces more accessible, thereby reducing the barriers imposed by social and technological contexts, as provided for in the Inclusion Law (No. 13.146/2015), and minimizing the impact of visual impairment on users’ cultural and social experiences. The methodology used is qualitative bibliographic research, employing the concept of cultural performance studies as an interdisciplinary path of investigation. It is validated that only through discussions about care, interdependence, and the potential of the bodies of people with disabilities can accessibility—in any form—be considered a tool for inclusion in museums and cultural spaces. Disability can be seen as another way of seeing the world—a different style, condition of life, identity—that requires a (re)arrangement to exist. Historically, this audience has been excluded from essentially visual artistic spaces. When fully considered, accessibility expands the presence and recognition of these individuals in museums, making visible what was previously rendered invisible. This way of perceiving visually impaired individuals and accessibility offers a path for museum institutions to assume a transformative role, rejecting hegemonic standards of normality that reinforce exclusion and create inequalities. It also enables learning from the multiple meanings and places of experience, respecting individual and unique life stories, and making museums and society more open to understanding these experiences in their full diversity.