Building An Aquarium For Everyone

Every year, hundreds of thousands of visitors explore the galleries of the Tennessee Aquarium. The hope is that those experiences help guests to form a meaningful bond with the natural world and to better understand the importance of freshwater and how our behavior impacts it. That aim is the same for every guest, regardless of their sensory challenges or whether they are a person living with an impairment.

In this episode, we talk about the efforts the Aquarium has made to improve accessibility, including being one of the first organizations in America to be certified as sensory-inclusive by Birmingham, Alabama-based nonprofit KultureCity.

We'll also hear directly from an Aquarium member about how those efforts to improving accessibility have directly benefited his son, who lives with autism, by making the Aquarium a safe, inspiring, joy-filled place to visit.

Episode Cast

• Casey Phillips, host, senior communications specialist
• Mara-Lynne Payne, director of inclusion, equity and diversity
• Benjamin Sheffield, Aquarium member, father to "Little Man"
• Uma Srivastava, executive director for KultureCity

For more information on the Aquarium's accessibility efforts, visit: https://tnaqua.org/plan-a-visit/accessibility-inclusion

Learn more about KultureCity at https://www.kulturecity.org/

Download the KultureCity app for:

• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kulturecity.app&hl=en_US&pli=1
• iOS (Apple devices): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kulturecity/id1359922217

The Podcast Aquatic is made possible by support from The Tennessee Conservationist, the official magazine of Tennessee State Parks.
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