余嘉盈

This paper applies the educational activities for visually-impaired students held by the Natural Center at the National Museum of Natural Science in 2012 as a case study to explore the experiences and expectations in the collaborative relationship of the museum, organizations of visually-impaired and participated schools through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The study found that the core concept of this collaborative relationship and the connections between professional groups were initiated and organized by the museum; meanwhile, the ideas and suggestions of activities were developed through the collaborative conferences. This collaborative relationship was between “inter-disciplinary collaborative team model” and “trans-disciplinary collaborative team model”. In the collaboration, museums, school and organizations of visually-impaired took different roles as offering scientific knowledge, teaching method of visually-impaired and resource guidance of visually-impaired. The inter-disciplinary collaborative team conference also inspired closer cooperative relationships and expectations and built up museums’ brand image of public welfare.

The participants proposed more inter-disciplinary exchanges such as incorporate with medical professional in order to set out a more multi-integrated “trans-disciplinary collaborative team model” in future collaborations. To enhance the service quality of the museum, the participants also proposed to involove more volunteers’ participation and extend trainings for volunteers in giving assistance to the visually-impaired visitors. On the other hand, the study suggests that museums should set up advisory committee and mid and long term service policies for persons with disabilities and evaluate related activities, in order to enchance the professional competence of services for different kinds of disabled in the museum.