A Reflection on Access for All

24 September 2024

Blog

24 September 2024

Blog

Maggie is both a member of Action for M.E. and a volunteer at Brunel’s SS Great Britain in Bristol. Living with the challenge of M.E./CFS has provided an insight into what museums and visitor attractions can do to help meet that challenge.

What puts us off going for a day out? Especially at a large visitor attraction? There are many things that can impact a person living with M.E./CFS: crowds, noise, bright light, nowhere to rest. So it’s a welcome change to find a first-class museum and visitor attraction that completely understands our challenges. Welcome to Bristol, and Brunel’s SS Great Britain!

Maggie with Mr Brunel standing in front of the SS Great Britain.

What’s special about the SS Great Britain?

This was a revolutionary ship: the first ocean-going passenger liner to be built of iron, powered by steam and driven by a screw propeller. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the second of his three record-breaking ships and was launched in Bristol in 1843, first as a luxury liner crossing the Atlantic to New York, then as an emigrant ship taking people to new lives in Australia, and finally as a cargo ship taking coal from South Wales to San Francisco. Altogether it encircled the planet 32 times in its long working life.

After sustaining severe damage in a storm off the Falklands Islands it was written off as a working vessel. The SS Great Britain was used for many decades as a floating warehouse before being towed to a remote cove, scuttled and abandoned for the sea to break up. But the ship survived, and in 1970 an audacious rescue saw it towed 8,000 miles across the Atlantic back to the very dock in Bristol in which it was built.

And so began the next stage of the ship’s life as a museum and visitor attraction. Brunel’s SS Great Britain has won countless awards, both for the quality of the refurbishment and recreation, inside and out, as well as for the friendliness of the staff and volunteers. On TripAdvisor, it is listed as the No. 1 ‘thing to do in Bristol’. So, what’s it like to visit?

Aids for people facing various challenges

The SS Great Britain team recognise that not all visitors are equally able to cope with the rigours of navigating a large site, especially on busy days. Here are some of the ways they ameliorate the experience:

Lifts: all the museum buildings, plus the dry dock and the ship itself, are equipped with lifts that reach every level. A visitor with mobility issues need not miss out on anything.
Wheelchairs: these are available for hire at the admission desk. If you bring your own wheelchair, there’s an information sheet giving the dimensions of corridors and passageways on board the ship, and weight limitations for each of the lifts.
Toilets: there is an accessible toilet in every building and on the ship.
An access map shows the ship and the museum buildings, listing points of potential difficulty such as narrow doorways and areas of reduced headroom, cobbled surfaces, trip hazards and the like, as well as the location of seating, step-free access routes, the lifts and the accessible toilets.
Other information guides cover items that some people might find triggering, such as the mannequins that demonstrate life as a passenger or member of crew. There are downloadable guides on where all the mannequins are located, and where the sounds and smells (there are a lot!) can be found, so that nobody need be taken by surprise with any sensory triggers.
Companions accompanying a disabled visitor are admitted free of charge.

All of this should be standard fare for visitor attractions these days, but Brunel’s SS Great Britain goes a step further.

What help is there for people living with M.E./CFS?

There are aids and initiatives originally designed for people with neurodiversity, but which can be a boon to people living with M.E./CFS. If a noisy environment is a problem, you can borrow ear defenders at the main desk when you check in. If you are feeling overwhelmed by crowds and bustle, there’s a quiet room that you can ask to rest in, for as long as you like. (As admission to this room is via the staff, you can be assured that you won’t be disturbed by other visitors popping their heads around the door!)

One of the greatest initiatives, though, are the Calm Session which were originally created with neurodiverse visitors in mind. These operate on certain days throughout the year rather than on a fixed schedule, so you’ll need to check the for the dates here. In these sessions, capacity is limited so that the site is quiet and calm. The audio, visual and smell effects will be turned off or at least reduced as far as possible. If you book ahead but can’t make it on the day, you will be offered an alternative day or given a refund.

Anything else?

My own personal recommendation, for when you are out and about is this: equip yourself with a stool rucksack. These are usually aimed at people going fishing: the rucksack has an integral fold-out stool that allows you to sit anywhere you need to. (They aren’t the most comfortable, but sometimes there’s no alternative!) The mere fact of knowing that I could sit and rest whenever the fatigue hit was an enormous help in getting through the challenge of a day out.