Jump to: The Welcome Cart Accessibility Accommodations Accessibility Group Tours Accessibility Programs

Our Commitment to Accessibility

The Cincinnati Art Museum strives for inclusivity by increasing accessibility to its collection, programming, and resources. The museum seeks to eliminate barriers by accommodating the individual needs of all visitors.

The museum offers a wide variety of tours, programs, and accommodations to help make our collection accessible to everyone. As an institution, we work with our partners from the museum’s Accessibility Community Advisory Council to expand our resources for visitors with different needs.

The Welcome Cart

The Welcome Cart is a contact-free resource hub located near the front entrance of the museum. Here, visitors can borrow what they need to make the most of their visit and return items before they exit the galleries. The Welcome Cart is cleaned and stocked regularly.

Resources available on the Welcome Cart

Getting Around Social Narratives help visitors with sensory issues to prepare for their visit through pictures.

Fidgets are available for visitors who need to occupy their hands during their visit.
See Play Learn Kits are gallery activity totes designed to encourage creative discussion and learning in the galleries.

Sensory Headphones and Earplugs help visitors damper sound if they are by loud noises.

Highlights Braille Booklets include large-print verbal descriptions and label content.
They also contain tactile graphics and a QR code link to audio. Braille Booklets for the Near Eastern Wing are also available here.

Audio Content Bookmarks link to audio description resources and audio exhibition content via QR code. Accessible audio content may include detailed verbal descriptions of artworks and label information. Audio content is also available on Bloomberg Connects.

Time Timers are visual timers helping to indicate waiting time for people who have issues with transitions.

The Accessibility Guide is a large print map which identifies visual rules, loud and quiet areas, seating, low light, and natural light spaces.

We ask visitors to follow these parameters when utilizing the cart

• Choose the tools that interest you
• Borrow only what you need
• Use them in the galleries
• Return them to use the next time you visit

Accessibility Accommodations

Below is a list of accommodations the museum provides in person or online. For more information about accessibility programs or to request additional accommodations, please contact [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form.

General Accommodations

Accessible Parking spots are located outside the Main Entrance, the Dewitt Entrance (the ground-floor entrance off the back parking lot), and near Art Climb. Those visitors who cannot walk long distances can be dropped off at the roundabout in front of the Main Entrance. Learn more about Directions and Parking.

Accessibility Re-entry Tickets are available for visitors who purchase exhibition tickets and may need to cut their visit short. To request a re-entry ticket, please email [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form.

Service Dogs as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), are welcome in the museum. Service dogs are welcome to relieve themselves at one of the many grassy areas on the museum grounds. Ask staff for directions to the closest area for service animal relief.

The Accessibility Guide is a large print map which identifies visual rules, loud and quiet areas, seating, low light and natural light spaces.

There is a designated private quiet space on the Ground Floor across from the coat room. This space can be used for nursing mothers and as a calm down space. Gallery 116 serves as a semi-private space on the first floor. The Large Print Accessibility Guide identifies other quiet spaces in the museum.

Restrooms

First Floor Accessible Restroom is located in the northwest corner of the Great Hall. This restroom has a changing table and is accessible for mobility devices.

Ground Floor has the most accessible restrooms available. There is an adjustable universal changing station and a manual toilet and sink. Individual gender-neutral restrooms are also nearby.

Additional restrooms with some accessibility are available on the second floor near Gallery 213, and in the Mary R. Schiff Library and Archives. Changing stations are available in all accessible restrooms except those in the Library.

Elevators

Elevator A provides visitor access from the first floor near the Cincinnati Wing to the second floor near Gallery 214.

Elevator B provides visitor access from the first floor near the Terrace Café to the second floor near Gallery 210.

Elevator C provides visitor access from the first floor near Gallery 136 to the second floor near Gallery 108.

Elevator D provides visitor access from the second floor in Gallery 104 to the Mary R. Schiff Library.

Getting Around Museum Grounds

Art Climb includes three accessible platforms reached via pedestrian pathway and identified on the Area Map.

Wheelchairs and Strollers are available to borrow for free without reservations in the coat rooms near the Main and Dewitt Entrances.

Large Bags are checked in the coat room. If a bag contains medical needs, it can be inspected upon arrival and exit. Please remember to carry bags on your shoulder or front, for the safety of the artwork.

Benches are located throughout the museum. Seating areas are identified on the Large Print Accessibility Guide.

Visitors with intellectual or developmental disabilities

Prepare for your visit with our visual accessibility resources.

• Cincinnati Art Museum Rules (visual format)
• Social Narrative: Entering the Museum
• Social Narrative: Getting Around the Museum
• Entering and Exiting Checklist

Programs for families with developmental disabilities

Programs for adults with developmental disabilities

Visitors who are blind or partially sighted

Braille menus are available in the Terrace Café.

Braille booklets are available at the Welcome Cart.

Sighted guides, Audio Descriptions, and touch tours are available upon request. Please email [email protected] at least two weeks prior to schedule your visit.

Audio content is available on the Bloomberg Connects app or on the museum’s website.

Programs for Visitors who are blind or partially sighted

Visitors who are deaf or have partial hearing

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation is available for all public programs. Email [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form to request this service.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) captioning is available for select programming. Please contact [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form at least two weeks prior to the event to schedule these accommodations.

Assisted Listening Devices are available for visitors upon request at the check-in table for programs held in the Fath Auditorium.

Accessibility Group Tours

As scheduled, Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Free. Reservations required four weeks in advance.
Please fill out the tour request form at least one month in advance, and we will be in touch to schedule your tour.

Accessibility group tours are available for visitors who are not able to attend our regularly scheduled accessibility programs. Specially trained museum staff and volunteers are equipped to provide multisensory experiences for groups of all abilities. Visitors may request an accessible art-making program in addition to their tour.

Staff are trained to facilitate tours for any of the following:

• audio description and touch tours for visitors who are blind or partially sighted
• American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted tours
• tours designed for assisted-living facilities specializing in memory care
• tours for visitors who have experienced trauma
• tours for groups with developmental disabilities.

Accessibility Programs

Accessibility programs are designed for specific groups of the disability community. The museum makes all programming inclusive by providing accessibility accommodations upon request, like American Sign Language Interpretation Services or assisted listening devices. We ask visitors who need accommodations to contact us in advance at [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form.

Accessible programming is supported by the Patricia Kisker Foundation