Inclusive Travels in Ukraine:

The project "Inclusive Travels in Ukraine: accessibility of museums of Ukraine" seeks to help everyone choose the museum where they can physically accept and provide the necessary services in an accessible form. To do this, we collect a database of museum institutions with a detailed description of the conditions for the reception of visitors from among low-mobility groups and people with disabilities at each facility.

The project is implemented by a team of like-minded people, which brought together IT specialists, tourism experts, specialists in universal design and community activists with experience in implementing inclusive projects with the financial support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

The Museum Fund of Ukraine has more than 2,500 museums, reserves and other museum-type institutions of various forms of ownership and subordination: state, communal, departmental, private. In addition to performing cultural, educational and research functions, museums are also an important part of the tourist infrastructure, have a significant impact on the tourist attractiveness of the regions, and in some places directly form tourist flows. But the level of inclusiveness of these cultural institutions remains mostly very low, which largely determines the low level of barrier-free domestic tourism in Ukraine as a whole.

Improving the legislation governing the adaptation of cultural heritage sites for the needs of people with disabilities and low mobility groups is among the tasks of the National Strategy for the creation of barrier-free space in Ukraine until 2030. But it is already possible to provide comprehensive information to the interested audience (communities of people with disabilities, young parents, organizers of children's tours and inclusive tours) about which museum institutions in Ukraine are ready to receive all categories of visitors who are already working in this direction. so far remain insufficiently hospitable. This information will allow any user to quickly and easily plan their trip to Ukraine or organize leisure in their community without the risk of facing an insurmountable obstacle, barriers to communication and the need to personally clarify all important details by phone.

To do this, we have created a site developed in accordance with web accessibility standards, which contains information about museums and reserves in all regions of Ukraine with a detailed description of the conditions for receiving visitors of all categories, as well as a simple and convenient system for searching and selecting them.

An objective assessment of the level of accessibility of museums is carried out according to the methodology developed by experts in the field of architectural accessibility, spatial inclusion and universal design in accordance with current state building codes and taking into account UNWTO recommendations. On the pages of museums that have passed this assessment, its results are presented in the block "Information on accessibility".

Details of the measurement results can be seen in the drop-down lists, and the generalized estimate for each parameter is represented by the corresponding mark:

– this parameter meets the basic standards of accessibility;

– the minimum level of inclusiveness on this parameter is provided;

– according to this parameter the object is inaccessible to less mobile visitors.

Using filters in the lists of museums by region or city, you can select only those museums that have an acceptable level of accessibility for three categories of people with limited mobility: wheelchair users, people with visual impairments, people with hearing impairments. Additional filters allow you to sort museums by individual accessibility parameters, such as the availability of inclusive parking or inclusive toilets. In this case, only those objects that have a "green" or "yellow" level of availability for the relevant parameter will be issued.

The "own assessment" filter allows you to select all objects that have an assessment of the level of availability. Anyone can also join the monitoring of the availability of museum institutions by clicking the "Fill in the availability level questionnaire" on the page of any museum that has not yet been evaluated, and by filling out an electronic questionnaire after taking the necessary measurements on the spot.

Additional source of information about the accessibility of objects in the future will be the feedback and comments of users of the site.