SIGN ME IN - accessibility and usability of MUST (University Museum of Earth Sciences) explanatory panels for deaf visitors: an analysis

The art of Geoscience communication is also the art of choosing the right words for the public you want to engage. This is particularly true when considering publics with special needs. In order to promote in everyone the basic knowledge and understanding of the principles of Earth Sciences crucial to make conscious choices about environmental sustainability, climate change and the exploitation of energy resources, any obstacle preventing the widest participation in science education, especially in non-formal and informal settings, must be removed. To foster public engagement, active citizenship and cultural democracy, and in compliance with objectives 4, 10 and 11 of the Agenda 2030, any action towards accessibility of scientific contents must be taken with the involvement of the interested parties. SIGN ME IN is a Sapienza Earth Science PhD project in Environment and cultural Heritage that aims to: improve deaf people visiting experience of the MUST (Museo Universitario di scienze della Terra) by adapting and translating into LIS ( Lingua dei Segni Italiana - Italian Sign Language) the texts of some of the explanatory panels; make the museum’s cultural offering more available also to people with low education levels and/or a low literacy in the italian language, according to the principles of UDL (Universal Design for Learning). This project investigates the challenges deaf people may face in understanding scientific communication inside the MUST and tries multiple strategies to adapt the existing texts to suit the needs of different audiences with the involvement of a group of deaf (and hearing) students from ISISS Magarotto in Rome and a group of deaf adults. A two-year PCTO (Path for transversal skills and career counseling) involving 3 classes of senior students was carried out to work on the adaptation of 7 of the panels’ texts and a LIS translation of a panel chosen by the students. This project will act as a guideline for the design and implementation of the MUST, that’s currently under renovation, and for the activities that the museum will promote in its spaces.