13th August 2018
I absolutely love museums and exhibitions and I think this is partly down to me being Autistic. It is well documented that Autistic people love to collect facts and information and then also to relay those facts to other people. This is especially true about facts related to interests that we have. Facts are collected from many sources such as the internet, books and other people, but for me personally there is no better place than a museum. In fact when planning to go on holiday or anywhere new, I will always spend some time looking at what museums are in the area and what exhibitions might be on. I am also prepared to travel to see an exhibition that interests me, which goes against my hatred of travelling.
So what is it about museums? I just love the way that they present information to you, the way they display artefacts or stories in a way that is conducive to learning. They provide a more personal way to learn about history, science, art and culture. For example, you could search the internet to find out about John Harrison’s maritime clocks, but it’s great to go to the Greenwich National Maritime Museum to see them in real life and learn about them from firsthand experience. Autistic people often see things in more detail, so to be able to experience them in real life helps to get a better understanding than simply learning the facts online.
Also museums can feel like a safe place for Autistics to indulge in their special interests in a public way. What I mean by this, is say you have a intense interest in fashion, then visiting a museum like the Fashion Museum in Bath, gives you the chance to really indulge yourself in this interest. There can be sensory issues especially in popular museums such as the ones located in London, like the V&A, normally because of how crowded they are.
However, I also think museums can be good places to avoid sensory overload. Often they can be darker inside (in order not to damage the artefacts on display that might be harmed by light) and there are many places to hide. Galleries can be quieter and often there are staircases and more empty rooms to take a break in, should anything be getting too much. A lot of museums provide audio guides which can act as headphones to block out any unwanted noise and offer even more information as you go round looking at the displays.
Museums have changed over the years. More traditional ones hold artefacts behind glass with printed text explaining the history, significance and facts about the object. Collections are displayed in an organised manner which can appeal to an Autistic. Also there can be really interesting timelines, for example, when I visited a photography museum, there was a really good timeline showing the history and evolution of the camera.
More modern museums though are more interactive, with buttons to press, videos to watch, things to sort etc. I guess some Autistics might like this as a way to fidget and play with the exhibits, but personally I prefer the more traditional museum design. That said, I am not against some of the new styles so long as they don’t detract from the items on display, make ordered sense and add to the experience.
Recently, I have been to the MAD Museum (Mechanical Art and Design) in Stratford, which was really cool and very interactive. The whole place is full of automata and ball bearing style marble runs, which are activated by the press of the button. Exhibitions that I have been to recently include “May the Toys be with You” which is a display of Star Wars action figure toys from the seventies and eighties and is currently on at the New Walk Museum in Leicester. This was brilliant as I am of that age when Star Wars was a major thing and I had a lot of these toys as a child, so it brought back many memories. The exhibit was well set out and told the story of the rise and fall of the toys very well. Most recently I visited the “Real Bodies” exhibition at the NEC, which is a display of dissected plasticised bodies telling the story of how our bodies work.
This exhibition was particularly fascinating. I had enjoyed biology at school and it is interesting to see how things work inside of you such as digestion etc. I was particularly interested in seeing some brains on display. As an Autistic I am wired differently from most people. I stood there looking at those brains and wondering if that person was Autistic or not – brains all look the same in terms of the design and it is impossible to know the person who lives in side. I learnt a lot form visually looking at the displays.
Which leads me on to another reason why I enjoy museums so much, they often inspire me to research things that I had never even thought about. I might see an object, for example, when I visited the Rosetta stone at the British Museum. I knew what it was before then but I remember researching on the internet about it in more detail when I got home, trying to learn every fact about it, not just the ones on the literature on display at the museum. This happens a lot when I visit museums, they pique my interest in things further. I love this, as what is life without wonder.
I have many favourite museums but my most favourite must be the Natural History Museum in London, especially the fascinating connected Darwin centre with its many biological specimens. Saying that, I will visit any museum on any subject, that fix for information, learning and acquiring of knowledge is a real positive experience. I think this is more intense because I am Autistic. After all, one of the questions on the AQ test used to establish if a person may possibly be Autistic (note: this is not a full diagnostic test), even has the question, Would you rather go to the theatre or a museum? If you enjoy collecting facts then they are definitely places not to be avoided.