Case Studies of Barrier-free Environments for the Elderly in National Museums of History

[[abstract]]The drastic increasing of elderly people calls for attentions to the rights of the elderly. Compared with ordinary people, the elderly are believed to have more inconveniences in motions and in learning due to physical and mental changes with age. Therefore, it should be top priority for museums to prevent the elderly from injuries or obstacles when using the space. To discuss the barrier-free environment, it should focus on the users themselves. Accordingly, this study adopts participatory observations and interviews to investigate the barrier-free facilities for elderly people in National Museums of History, and to analyze the characteristics of these elderly museumgoers, the ways they use the space and their spatial perceptions. This study discovers that the physical changes of these elderly museumgoers mainly consist in kinetic and sensory functions. The obstacles that they perceived in these museums’ barrier-free environments include public transportation, rest rooms, stairs, halls, lights, and demonstrations while they perceive no obstacles in using elevators. This discovery basically corresponds to the existing conditions of barrier-free facilities examined in National Museums of History. In view of the above-mentioned discoveries, this thesis offers two suggestions. For the museums, this thesis suggests that museums should improve the barrier-free environment on several parts that are especially perceived as obstacles for the elderly. For future studies, I suggest that they focus on the elderly with hearing problems or explore on dynamic museums that require practical operations by the elderly.