5
Extremely accessible day out for the family
Eureka children's museum in Halifax is made with accessibility in mind and it shows.
First and foremost, you get an annual pass which is great.
When you arrive, there is plenty of parking and some disabled spaces along the side of the building which is where we parked. Disabled parking is free with a blue badge, whereas the other spots are pay and display.
The surfaces are well maintained and flat, so easy to traverse in a wheelchair. The yellow brick path is slippy when wet though!
Online, they have a great resource that you can print out. It's not quite a social story, but it explains each area and what to expect, which my daughter found particularly useful.
Upon entry, the queueing area is quite wide, and when called forward, the desk has lower areas for wheelchair users. The man who served us, Josh, came around from behind the desk to stamp our hands and open the gate beside the turnstile for wheelchairs and pushchairs which was nice. At the customer service desk, they have ear defenders and sensory bags available (the latter on a first come first served basis). We didn't need these as we brought things from home but it's great that there's an option.
When we went, they had a couple of summer events on which were nice. The staff were all very friendly and smiley, as well as being patient with my two children who have autism.
The areas with lights and sounds were clearly labelled. The museum is extremely interactive and there's a lot of information in an easy to understand format. It was nice to see that on the displays different people were represented, including wheelchair users.
It does get extremely busy at times which is quite overwhelming, but they do have a quiet room for if you need to access this.
Everywhere was wheelchair accessible with flat surfaces so it was easy for me to self-propel the whole way around.
They have a changing places toilet, plus disabled toilets. I used the disabled toilet on the second floor by the smaller cafe and it was also a baby change. It was a bit tight to turn in my chair, but not impossible.
The proper cafe downstairs was a bit difficult to navigate as it was really busy and the tables and chairs are quite tightly packed in, but it was just about manageable. Im not sure a power chair or bigger chair would've found it possible though, but that is my only negative of the place. There's a lot of food options, including gluten free.
As it was raining when we left, we didnt access the outside play areas, but they looked good too.
Overall, it was a very good day out, and extremely accessible. It's always a treat to go somewhere where it is made with accessibility in mind!
Eureka children's museum in Halifax is made with accessibility in mind and it shows.
First and foremost, you get an annual pass which is great.
When you arrive, there is plenty of parking and some disabled spaces along the side of the building which is where we parked. Disabled parking is free with a blue badge, whereas the other spots are pay and display.
The surfaces are well maintained and flat, so easy to traverse in a wheelchair. The yellow brick path is slippy when wet though!
Online, they have a great resource that you can print out. It's not quite a social story, but it explains each area and what to expect, which my daughter found particularly useful.
Upon entry, the queueing area is quite wide, and when called forward, the desk has lower areas for wheelchair users. The man who served us, Josh, came around from behind the desk to stamp our hands and open the gate beside the turnstile for wheelchairs and pushchairs which was nice. At the customer service desk, they have ear defenders and sensory bags available (the latter on a first come first served basis). We didn't need these as we brought things from home but it's great that there's an option.
When we went, they had a couple of summer events on which were nice. The staff were all very friendly and smiley, as well as being patient with my two children who have autism.
The areas with lights and sounds were clearly labelled. The museum is extremely interactive and there's a lot of information in an easy to understand format. It was nice to see that on the displays different people were represented, including wheelchair users.
It does get extremely busy at times which is quite overwhelming, but they do have a quiet room for if you need to access this.
Everywhere was wheelchair accessible with flat surfaces so it was easy for me to self-propel the whole way around.
They have a changing places toilet, plus disabled toilets. I used the disabled toilet on the second floor by the smaller cafe and it was also a baby change. It was a bit tight to turn in my chair, but not impossible.
The proper cafe downstairs was a bit difficult to navigate as it was really busy and the tables and chairs are quite tightly packed in, but it was just about manageable. Im not sure a power chair or bigger chair would've found it possible though, but that is my only negative of the place. There's a lot of food options, including gluten free.
As it was raining when we left, we didnt access the outside play areas, but they looked good too.
Overall, it was a very good day out, and extremely accessible. It's always a treat to go somewhere where it is made with accessibility in mind!
