A Study on Creating Barrier-Free Exhibition Appreciation Environment based on the Visually Impaired Person's Perspectives

The purpose of this study was to explore the possibility of creating barrier-free exhibition-appreciation environment based on the visually impaired person’s perspectives. Participants were selected by the purposeful sampling method. Researchers conducted a couple of in-depth interviews with four visually impaired persons. Yin’s case study method was employed to analyze qualitative information. The analysis revealed nine sub-themes in two sections: three from ‘accessibility within the exhibition room’; and six from ‘demand for immersive exhibition environment.’ Based on the results, following suggestions were presented: First, we need to provide quality information appropriate for artworks-appreciation; secondly, to ensure the visually impaired people to appreciate the culture and arts without any barrier, we need to extend certification of barrier-free living environment to exhibition-appreciation area. Finally, to facilitate these two tasks we need to encourage the convergence research among science and technology, humanities and society, and culture and arts.