Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian, is leaving in December. I am beyond sad.
I heard Lonnie speak at the University of Hawai‘i. His remarks inspired me to join the effort to create a National Museum of Disability History and Culture. He reinforced something important: museums are not simply places where we store old things. They are places where we decide what—and whom—America remembers.
At a time when Americans are struggling with affordability, who cares about museums?
We should.
When families are being asked to do more with less, institutions that belong to everyone matter more, not less. Museums give ordinary Americans access to art, science, history and culture that personal wealth might otherwise determine. They are classrooms, laboratories and repositories of our shared history.
They are also a public investment. Generations of taxpayers built these collections and institutions. Neglecting them today can mean losing irreplaceable assets and paying much more tomorrow.
But we must preserve more than buildings and artifacts. We must preserve the whole story.
History is complicated. National museums should present evidence, context and different perspectives, including those that make us uncomfortable. Neither the political left nor the political right should decide which parts of our history disappear. Americans should be trusted to confront complexity and reach their own conclusions.
And if these institutions are truly national, everyone must be able to participate. That requires a renewed commitment to accessibility for people with disabilities—in buildings, exhibits, technology, communications and programs.
It also means recognizing disability as part of America’s history.
The struggle for education, employment, independent living, accessible transportation, technology and civil rights—including passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act—helped shape this country. Yet much of that history remains scattered, overlooked or invisible.
People with disabilities deserve full access to America’s museums. And America deserves a National Museum of Disability History and Culture.
Such a museum would not separate disability history from American history. It would finally put disability history where it belongs—inside the American story.
Affordability determines what each of us can buy. Public institutions determine what all of us can share.
