Towards Inclusive Heritage: How Can Museum and Heritage Sites use Audio Description to Facilitate access to their Gardens for all Visitors?

事实证明，使用绿色空间可促进身心健康（世卫组织，2016年）。这一点，再加上花园的文化遗产，意味着这些都是每个人都应该能够访问和享受的宝贵场所。《平等法》（2010年）对此提供了支持，该法规定，服务提供者，如花园或博物馆，有责任作出合理调整，以提供获得该服务的机会。对于盲人或部分失明（BPS）的人，音频描述（AD）是一种方便访问电影，电视，剧院，博物馆和画廊的方式。广告是一种“口头评论，为那些无法自己感知的人提供视觉信息”（Fryer，2016：1），帮助人们建立电影，戏剧或展览的心理画面。屏幕广告是完全专业化的（Fryer，2016），有全面的研究和描述者指南。然而，博物馆广告处于相对早期的发展阶段（哈钦森和Eardley，2019），而花园广告可以说处于更早的阶段。两者都是基于有限的指导方针（如RNIB，2010和ADLAB，2014），但更多的研究已经在博物馆的背景下进行。本研究将受益于对屏幕广告的广泛研究，以及对博物馆广告的有限研究。虽然有一些成功的音频描述花园的例子，包括切尔西物理花园的多感官音频描述之旅（音频描述协会，2014），但进入音频描述花园的途径是多种多样的，几乎没有指导或研究来告知应该采取什么方法。这意味着，对于英国估计有200万人患有视力丧失（RNIB，2019），花园的访问服务有限。因此，虽然需要进一步研究，以了解如何最好地提供访问花园，也有机会考虑如何访问花园可以是包容性的，而不是为BPS观众提供单独的服务。

Access to green spaces has been shown to promote physical and mental health (WHO, 2016). This, combined with the cultural heritage of gardens, means that these are valuable places that everyone should be able to access and enjoy. This is supported by the Equality Act (2010), which states that service providers, such as a garden or museum, have a duty to make reasonable adjustments in order to provide access to that service. For blind or partially sighted (BPS) people, audio description (AD) is a way of facilitating access to film, TV, theatre, museums, and galleries. AD is a 'verbal commentary, providing visual information for those unable to perceive it themselves' (Fryer, 2016: 1), helping people to build a mental picture of a film, play or exhibition. Screen AD is fully professionalised (Fryer, 2016), with comprehensive research and guidelines for describers. However, museum AD is at a comparatively early stage of development (Hutchinson and Eardley, 2019), and garden AD is arguably at an even earlier stage. Both are based on limited guidelines (such as RNIB, 2010 and ADLAB, 2014), but more research has been undertaken in relation to AD in the museum context. This study will benefit from the extensive research into screen AD, as well as the limited research in museum AD. Whilst there have been some successful examples of audio described gardens, including a multi-sensory audio-described tour at the Chelsea Physic Garden (Audio Description Association, 2014), access to audio described gardens is varied, with little guidance or research to inform what approach should be taken. This means that for the estimated two million people in UK living with sight loss (RNIB, 2019), access services at gardens are limited. So, while further research is required to understand how best to provide access to gardens, there is also an opportunity to consider how access to gardens can be inclusive, rather than providing a separate service for the BPS audience.