Dr Justine Reilly

Justine is the founding director of Sporting Heritage, the leading organisation for sporting collections and their application in the UK. Fiercely supportive of diversifying cultural access, representation, and the workforce, before creating Sporting Heritage, Justine led engagement activities at the National Museums, Liverpool, the National Media Museum, the BBC, and as a freelance consultant working with organisations such as the National Paralympic Heritage Trust and the National Football Museum. Justine also leads a community concert band and kayaks in her spare time.

MuseumNext Growing Audiences Summit
Wednesday, 11th May 2022

What If We Looked at Neurodiversity and Museums Differently?

At the moment, the cultural sector, and specifically museums, struggles to understand what neurodiversity is and what it means. There are attempts to develop specific programming for autistic audiences, but these are generally exclusive rather than inclusive (such as quiet hours) and are formulated through providing for the parents of autistic children, rather than through consultation with autistic adults – those with lived experience – and providing an inclusive approach to not only accessibility to museums, but to creating more relevant and representative collecting and display policies, and providing clear routes into and through the workforce. I want to speak about our project, currently underway, which is addressing all of these issues, and led by #ActuallyAutistic people at its heart.

Full Schedule Here