Website accessibility

The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum Website complies with all the accessibility directives for Level Double-A Website content specified by the W3C. All Priority 1 and 2 requisites have been exhaustively checked in order to guarantee compliance with current legislation.

The following are just some of the steps taken to assure accessibility to the Bilbao Fine Art Museum's Website:

Compliance with Standards

• Priority requisites 1 and 2 for all pages were checked using the Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool and also by checking contents manually.
• All pages of this website are written in strictly valid XHTML 1.0 code.
• Cascading style sheets on this website are written in CSS 2 code.

Structural markup

All pages include 4 well-differentiated areas:

• Header that includes main navigation.
• Main content area.
• Lateral section column.
• Footer that includes primary and secondary navigation.

All documents respect and maintain the order of these four areas, even when there are no cascading style sheets and when a screen reader is used.

• All pages on this site use a structured semantic markup. Header elements are used to transmit the logical structure of the pages.
• Units of relative measure are used in textual elements.

Useable contents

• Should a browser not have those necessary components for Flash content, a replacement technique will be used.
• All contents are useable and accessible, even when the use of images and scripts has been disabled.

Images

All Website images contain the "alt" attribute in order to provide an equivalent text for non textual elements, with the exception of merely decorative images.

Tabulation of contents

All page elements follow a logical tabulation order to assure keyboard navigation of the same.

Access for Users with Hearing Impairment:

This Website includes sign-language videos for each of the works selected for the Recommended Itinerary museum visit.

These videos for the hearing impaired are encrusted in a fixed section of the Website that also contains additional content (original text). In order to watch the videos, you must have the Adobe Flash Player installed in your Browser.

Architectural barriers

Last century, a reformation and expansion project for the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum was started towards the end of the '90's.

In the previous study of needs, the lack of proper accesses for and the use of Museum spaces and services by the physically impaired became immediately apparent. The complexity of our having a historic building dating from the year 1945 to which another, modern extension had been added towards the end of the '60's, made a modification of accesses and an improvement in general transit an absolute priority. In order to do this, current norm D16/84 was applied in the Accessibility Plan referring to the elimination of architectural barriers bearing in mind the following points:

Modification of the location of the entrance to the Museum

The old entrance to the Museum that used to have a staircase was changed.

New accesses

Two new entrances were built giving access to the Museum from the reformed Plaza del Monumento to the Arriaga and from the new Plaza Chillida. Both of these new entrances give directly into the Museum, neither have stairs and they are both on the same level.

Horizontal communication

Interior communication problems were solved using ramps.

Vertical communication

6 elevators, 2 goods lifts, 3 general use lifts and 1 specially adapted lift were installed.

Public toilets

2 new toilets, complete with their recommended free-movement distances, bars and supports for easier use by the handicapped, were also installed.

New signposts

Signposting inside the Museum keeps all accessibility aspects in mind.

Specially-adapted itinerary

Maps indicating the specially-adapted itinerary avoiding all architectural and structural barriers are available. There are wheel- and folding-chairs available to visitors at the Ticket Office. Click here to look at the specially-adapted itinerary map.

Auditorium

Some rows of conventional seats were removed to accommodate wheel-chairs.

Special education

On the other hand, the Museum welcomes all requests from people with special needs. These requests should please be made through our Teaching Department which orients and programs visits according to the specific interests and characteristics of visitors.

People who are visually impaired

In conjunction with Iberdrola and ONCE (The Spanish National Organisation for the Blind), the Museum offers people who are visually impaired the possibility of getting to know the Museum Collection by using a specific programme. The Museum also has a specially-adapted computer available for consulting the Museum Collection in the Library. We are currently working on an itinerary using Braille signs.

People with special learning difficulties

The Museum, in collaboration with Iberdrola and Gorabide, suggests an introduction to the Museum for people with special learning difficulties with a series of specially commented visits.

People in social insertion programmes

The Museum has designed visits to the Museum Collection and Exhibitions for people in social insertion programmes. These visits use a methodology that has been specially adapted to this group's interest and expectations.