Yusuf Ali Osman, who is registered blind, says the museum broke the Equality Act by offering no audio-described tours of the exhibition.
The British Museum is to put on a tour with live audio description for blind visitors to its Bayeux exhibition. The change follows legal action by a registered blind man from Croydon, who says the museum discriminated against him.
Yusuf Ali Osman says the museum breached the Equality Act by offering no audio-described tours of the show, which opened in September. His solicitors, Leigh Day, set out his case in a statement on 30 September.
According to his lawyers, Mr Osman contacted the museum in July to ask whether live audio-described tours would run once the exhibition opened. The museum told him they would not be part of its current programme. It explained that the number of hours each week the work may be exposed to light is restricted, which limits how many people can be let into the gallery.
Mr Osman said he wanted to visit and experience the work for himself. He accepted that there were strict conditions on how it is displayed, but called it disappointing that blind visitors had been offered no audio-described way to experience it.
Kate Egerton, who handles discrimination cases at Leigh Day, said her client was asking for the same opportunity that sighted visitors have.
The firm sent the museum a pre-action protocol letter on 24 September. Mr Osman wants damages and a declaration that he was discriminated against. He is also seeking an order requiring the museum to change its policies and make sure relevant staff are trained in disability awareness.
The museum has now said a live tour with audio description will be held in person, and that one may also be added to the exhibition app. A sensory map will be available, along with dedicated tours during the run, the audio-described ones among them. For now, the exhibition page lists a large print guide for visually impaired visitors among its accessible resources.
A museum spokesperson said it was committed to making the exhibition as accessible as possible and had worked with specialist access consultants. Further access options were being explored, the spokesperson said. Leigh Day said it had received no official word from the museum about a change of policy and was keeping the action under review.
The museum says a live tour with audio description will be held in person. One may also be added to the exhibition app.
The museum said limits on how many hours a week the work can be exposed to light restrict how many visitors can enter the gallery.
Damages, a declaration that he was discriminated against, and an order for the museum to change its policies and train relevant staff in disability awareness.
The exhibition page lists a large print guide for visually impaired visitors.
The stage musical based on the 2014 film, about lesbian and gay activists who raised money for striking Welsh miners, comes to London after two sold-out…
The canalside park opened in 1960 on land once covered by a white lead factory and its terraced streets. It took until the late 1970s to…
A 27-metre batik hangs above the nave of St Cyprian's in the Bagri Foundation's first Springboard show, the artist's debut in the UK.
Magritte's paintings hang beside work by more than 40 other artists, from a Jeff Koons locomotive to a bird with a woman's face.
We use strictly necessary cookies to run the site and to remember this choice. With your permission we would also use analytics cookies, to count visits and see which stories are read, and advertising cookies, so the adverts that pay for How2London can be shown and measured. You can accept all, reject all, or choose for yourself. Read our cookie policy and privacy policy.
Needed for the site to work and to remember your cookie choice. Always on, no consent required.
Google Analytics 4 counts visits and shows which stories are read. Without consent it runs without cookies.
Google AdSense cookies, used to show and measure adverts. Our own How2London banners need no cookies and are shown either way.
