Today we are excited to share a guest news piece by Emily Malen, who has just completed a Masters in Heritage and Interpretation at Leicester University.
“In 2018 I chose to undertake a Heritage and Interpretation Masters Degree from Leicester University. A culmination of completing a degree in History of Art back in 2005 – then working in Special Educational Needs (SEN), before moving into Theatre 15 years ago and forging an Access Development role – all helped to pave the way for my decision.
As part of this two-year distance learning course, I selected a dissertation topic in early 2020. Combining a love of all things outdoors and passion for inclusivity, it became apparent that the subject matter of experiencing outdoor heritage sites amongst people with sight loss was something that I wanted to research further.
My dissertation study grew out of consideration of the social model of disability rather than the medical model; focusing on how someone’s access priorities can be addressed. I wanted to challenge the assumption that certain activities are closed off from people with sight loss due to the perception that a beautiful view outdoors can ‘Take someone’s breath away’ and is very much a visual experience.
I wanted to explore how the senses and benefits of being outdoors and experiencing heritage can be an activity for people with various degrees of sight loss to participate in. Therefore, I chose to answer the research question of ‘That Moment When Nature Takes Your Breath Away: How does the non-sighted visitor experience the outdoor heritage site and can it be improved?’
As many may be familiar with, a literature review forms part of the dissertation project and this process brought me to the website of Sensing Nature and the topic of how individuals experience the outdoors. It was clear that this work should feature in my project.
I used Sarah Bell’s research as a basis and ventured into more typically unsafe environments of outdoor heritage sites, such as caves, in contrast with a National Trust countryside park. For my dissertation I selected the case studies of Creswell Crags and Clumber Park to critique this in practice.
In addition, Sarah’s recent work with Anna Fineman, as part of the Nature Narratives project, helped me to identify further possibilities at these two heritage sites, such as exploring audio description and visual awareness training for staff members; and how safety concerns should be tackled by organisations rather than used as a reason not to develop experiences for non-sighted visitors.
My research paper applied Anna’s principle that outdoor sites are “naturally inclusive environments” where so much is experienced non-visually; many people can experience feelings of wellbeing through a sense of escape from the built environment, and all new visitors require support of some kind when experiencing unfamiliar territory.
My dissertation project also involved data collection to understand what motivates individuals to explore the outdoors and any barriers they face to participation. I was very privileged to meet with members of the National Federation of the Blind (Nottingham Branch) who gave their time to discuss their own experiences.
Throughout this research project, it became clear that emotions played a pivotal role in the outdoor heritage site experiences of non-sighted visitors through many facets. Notably, an important emotional barrier to address is ‘threshold fear’ and any barriers that negatively impact upon the decision to visit in the first place. When done right, the culmination of various accessible facilities can enable non-sighted visitors to have the best possible experience and can also influence their feelings about an organisation.
The moment when nature takes your breath away may be experienced to its fullest potential amongst non-sighted visitors when the outdoor heritage site becomes a flexible space, open to change and responsive to visitor needs. To assist with this, organisations should have a balanced approach to facilitate all visitors’ access to outdoor heritage sites through core organisational aims and objectives, as well as completing benchmarking processes and staff training to ensure best practice.
Sensing Nature’s work and research were invaluable in helping me develop my ideas and conclusions for my dissertation, and I am immensely grateful for such work in this important area.”
