Why come to the museum with a stroller - not a whim, but the right
Alexandra Savina
Online public discussion flares up about the availability of public spaces for young mothers. The reason for her was the post of special Kommersant correspondent Olesya Gerasimenko, who on her Facebook page told how she was not allowed to go to the Garazh Museum of Contemporary Art at the Piravarov exhibition of modern art — even the Metro newspaper wrote about the incident.
According to the journalist, she learned that it was impossible to go to the museum with a baby carriage, after she had purchased a ticket. “Of course, I put Aglaia in the sling and Pivovarova showed her nothing was washing her head or something. At the same time they looked at the narrow passages the administrator was going through, they would even fit in a twin carriage. including in the galleries and museums of Amsterdam - that, they say, is urban, narrow, convenient. But then Holland, or “Garage”, "she wrote.
The same carriage with which Olesya Gerasimenko and her daughter were not allowed to go to the exhibition of Victor Pivovarov
At the same time, the Garage Museum is not in principle against visitors with children: the building has a room for mother and child with a changing table, which is rare for Moscow museums, and in the museum cafe there are child seats. A visit to the museum with baby strollers is really prohibited by the rules, but guests are offered to use the slings provided in the museum’s wardrobe.
The administration of "Garage" focuses on European museum traditions and advocates an inclusive approach. The museum building is adapted for visitors with disabilities, including those who move in a wheelchair: the entrance is equipped with ramps, it has elevators (though, to use them, you need to contact the museum staff), visitors are allowed into the museum conductor. But museum staff hold a clear line between wheelchairs for people with disabilities and prams.
“A baby carriage is a means of transportation, and a wheelchair is a means of rehabilitation,” says museum director Anton Belov. “The difference between these two carriages is exactly the same as between a dog and a guide dog for blind people. With dogs, entry to the museum is prohibited, and with guide dogs it is possible, since it is exactly the same means of rehabilitation for blind people and a necessary means of transportation. "
The answer of Anton Belov, given on Facebook, but obviously expressing the official position of the Garage, shows that the administration, on the one hand, seeks to make the museum environment inclusive - builds ramps, puts elevators and changing tables indoors. On the other hand, all this will remain in the field of compliance with the formalities, if you do not fully understand the essence of the problem and do not consider the similar needs of some of the visitors (despite the fact that most urban museums meet them).
Is a baby carriage a luxury rather than a necessity? The law classifies parents with prams to the category of disabled citizens, which also includes people with disabilities, so why aren't they equal in rights when it comes to a museum? Alas, the baby sling cannot always replace the stroller: not all models can be used from a very young age, a woman is not always able to carry a child for several hours in a sling or in her arms (and you need to get to the museum, and not always drive), not to mention the fact that children often do not like and do not want to be in a sling.
It is all the more strange to encounter such a point of view of the administration of a progressive museum, striving for inclusiveness and accessibility. Of course, it is difficult to talk about inclusiveness in a country where public spaces are not, in principle, designed for people with limited mobility, and underground passages, features of sidewalks and cars parked in inappropriate places create for them a whole obstacle course.
Many museums were designed without taking into account the fact that visitors with wheelchairs could be in them - but does this mean that city and museum spaces should not change and build a new reality? Yes, a visit to the museum is a form of leisure (as opposed to, say, a necessary trip to the grocery store), which, at first glance, could be postponed until better times. But should the parents of a newborn really remain in isolation and give up some opportunities until the infant grows up and learns to walk on its own?
Photo: Kiddies24, Olesya Gerasimenko / Facebook