York Castle Museum

I visited as a user of a manual wheelchair, with my 11 year old who is not disabled. The front desk staff were very helpful and clearly trained to explain what we needed to do and how it might be different from other people's experience. They accept the Access Card for concession tickets + carers, and all tickets are valid for a year. This is a standard policy but particularly useful for fatigue issues as you could come and see a little bit a day over the course of a few days. They didn't ask to see my access card as they could clearly tell I am disabled on account on my wheelchair! They described it a '75% accessible' so I think I missed parts that were up steps, but we still spent 3 or 4 hours there over the course of 2 days. There are some doorways that are too narrow to get through using a wheelchair (see photos), which they didn't specifically mention. But I won't blame them for the doorways themselves, given that it's a museum and they are prison doorways built hundreds of years ago! You can still peer into the rooms and get through the main sections. There were videos playing in those rooms which were tricky to watch, but to be honest by that point I didn't want to stop and watch everything. (The documentation of how prisoners were treated etc was also quite upsetting)

Great staff and very helpful but one or two things could improve. Access on mobility scooter needs some very skilled driving, which I don’t have! Some very narrow turns through train carriage and coming out of cells. Staff were really helpful and opened staff only doors I managed to escape unscathed. We knew before hand that I wouldn’t be able to access part of the museum on left hand side but even accessing the first floor required someone to remove barriers and then on way back you are constantly going against the flow. My husband visited the second & third floors and I returned to main entrance as I was directed but no one was about to open barriers. Thankfully a very nice visitor removed it for me but it does make you feel uncomfortable. Toilets good and cafe had plenty of room.

A great family day out with good accessibility information and inclusion