National Council on Public History

Bringing History to Audiences with Autism Spectrum Disorder

History is for all of us, not just a select few. My institution, the Black Belt Museum at the University of West Alabama, began a pilot program two years ago on how to adjust our history programs to allow a wider audience to enjoy and learn about the past. Our most successful programs are living history interactive sessions based on 18^th and early 19^th century everyday life in Alabama. Most popular is our 18^th century French Marine program. It chronicles the life of foreign soldiers stationed in remote La Louisiane thousands of miles away from home. Experiences of these men are similar to those of American soldiers sent to the Middle East. Through the course of attending history festivals I presented one my programs to a group of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This led to a discussion with their teacher. From there, a pilot program began taking my history persona to these individuals and bring them to our history camp to learn about the past in a more engaging way. Through two years of research and practice, our museum is developing guidelines to train future staff to create new educational programs that embrace the diversity of audiences encountered in society. We have found that incorporating interactive methods of interpretation/education (touch, taste, sight, smell) helps in providing an engaging experience for the audience, along with an understanding of ASD so that we may better to recognize certain indicators (like a sensory overload) in order to not react negatively at the wrong time.

In redesigning the interpretive programs we seek to allow all individuals, not just those without intellectual disorders, to enjoy and learn about the past. Currently, standards for program development for those with intellectual disorders is limited to a discussion of the topic in the American Association of Museums publication, “Everyone’s Welcome: The American with Disabilities Act and Museums” from 1998, but nothing concrete was established in the text. In developing the programs we consulted local institutions such as Arts N Autism connected to the University of Alabama and Glenwood Autism and Behavioral Health Center where the programs were taking place in order to adjust the program to meet the needs of the individuals, but to also gain a better understanding of what is Autism Spectrum Disorder. After consultations with these institutions here is a couple of important aspects learned:

• Behavioral Traits
• Interactive
• Structure

All of the above aspects are incorporated into program development and will become part of training. In behavioral traits we discuss how individuals with ASD do not always have the best social engagement skills, poor eye contact and rocking in place for example. During our annual living history camp we bring in extra staff/volunteers to portray different people in history. We provided formal training for those additional members in order to prepare them for the ASD individuals coming through that day. Due to our living history program involving black powder weapons it is very important to know about sensory overload associated with ASD. We have devised two ways to tackle this objective: 1.) Provide repeated warnings to the loud noise along with demonstrating how to cover ears, 2.) Provide a video showing the firing of a musket/canon for the group, along with pausing to provide a warning of the loud noise. Both of the tactics have been very successful in preventing sensory overloads in audience members.

The next two, interactive and structure, work hand in hand with each other. When inviting Arts N Autism to our living history camp we provide a detailed schedule to activities of the day which is something the individuals are used to in their everyday lives. If you can incorporate structure into the program too, the individuals respond well. One part of our living history programs is to experience being recruited as an 18^th century French Marine. At the end participants are given a wooden musket and period style hat then taught the same drill people were over 250 years ago. Every time I do this part of the program ASD audiences (along with all audiences) respond really well to the immersion activity. It also makes the session more interactive for the audience. We also include historical objects and foodstuffs that individuals can touch, taste and smell in order be able actually feel history in their hands. Principles applied to these programs have been used successfully to update other programs offered by the museum.

Due to having a limited education staff (only one full time member) difficulties do exist with researching how to tackle the problem of providing educational program for audiences with ASD and also continuing with outreach towards these groups. Eventually we are going to need to address the problem due to the sheer volume of individuals being diagnosed with ASD, 1 in 88 currently. Museum, historic sites, parks, zoos, etc. need to be able to accommodate these audiences in order to not lose out on reaching a large audience which is part of our society. Currently we have some institutions providing occasional programs specifically geared towards these audiences, but it requires extra staff and time, whereas if this type of program development is in place already groups can be brought in on short notice to enjoy what the institution has to offer. In order to help facilitate this goal it would be great to have a network of individuals/institutions who are interested in providing support to each other for establishing these programs. An important aspect would be to include advocacy groups such as Autism Speaks and state Autism Societies in order to provide expert technical knowledge plus legitimacy to our efforts.

~ Brian Mast, The University of West Alabama

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