Natural History Museum in New York City Accessibility

I just returned from a trip to New York and saw many different sights. This week, I want to rank the accessibility of the Natural History Museum in New York.

Internal Accessibility for General Exhibits

For me, the biggest pro of The Natural History Museum as someone with a disability was its great elevator system. The elevator is giant, has postings on each floor of what exhibit is where, and is used as a main transportation point. The museum has five floors, with at least 4 of those floors open to the public. It was really nice not to have to hunt for an elevator and not stand out for taking the elevator instead of the stairs. Other museums should take note of this elevator experience; it really stood out to me.

My biggest con with the general accessibility was the lack of seating for most exhibits. From what I saw, seats were based more on whether someone wanted to sit and draw rather than if a guest needed to rest. Many of the taxidermy rooms had benches at the center of the room, while many of the interactive exhibits did not. This left me walking and moving a lot when I would have sat down more if I could. Disabled children come to these museums, too, so inclusion at all levels would be great.

One great thing when it comes to accessibility is pricing at many New York museums. For New York residents, you can pay what you want with any proof of residence. This allows more people to come and learn regardless of income. As a tourist, I did not get that discount, but I was able to save some money with a student rate by showing my college ID.

The bathrooms were also plentiful, and all floors had at least one ADA stall. There also were multiple places to eat food with varying menus, so guests could hopefully find somewhere to eat. However, I did not see anything about gluten-free food or super healthy food. With that being said, so far, this has been the best attempt I have seen to be accessible in multiple places.

On their website, I saw that social stories could be provided for guests who need a walkthrough of what going to the Natural History Museum was like, sensory bags could be provided for guests, discovery sessions could be booked in advance, and stools could be borrowed for presentations that do not have seats. I did not see that stools could be used throughout the museum anywhere, but the fact that they have stools is a start. Tactile exhibits have been listed for blind visitors, and audio descriptions have been made for some exhibits for deaf guests.

Specialty Exhibits

I saw two specialty exhibits: The Butterfly Garden and the Secret World of Elephants.

The butterfly garden was a small room with butterflies and plants. Most of the children I saw seemed to be in this room with me. I stayed here the longest out of all the rooms because I like animals. While a wheelchair could fit in this room, it was pretty narrow and crowded, so maneuvering was a bit challenging. There also were no seats, so my time here was dictated by how long I could comfortably stand and walk around. I feel like a broken record when I say this, but museums need more seats. This room was hard for me because it was my favorite subject matter and one of the least accessible spaces I saw.

The Secret World of Elephants was a very cool exhibit because it talked about how there were 200+ elephants at one time, and now there are only 3. I wish there were more seats, as you could not sit down at any point. However, this room was on the smaller side and was wide, so wheelchairs could easily fit. This exhibit mainly talked about the importance of protecting elephant habitats and basic facts, like how they consume a lot of water (see below):

Overall:

I give the Natural History Museum a 4.7 out of 5. So far, this has been the best sense of accessibility I have seen, with a wide range of accommodations for what I need. My main critique is that there still needs to be more seating than is currently offered. My other main reason for not giving a 5 out of 5 is that more work needs to be done for blind guests to have an immersive experience.

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Thank you for reading about the accessibility of the Natural History Museum in New York City. If you have any questions or comments, please comment on the blog, reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook, or email me at Anniekrollblog@gmail.com. I hope to see you next week!