If you’re planning a visit to Charm City, you should know that you’ll find some of the freshest seafood around here – Baltimore is known for its crab cakes and seafood markets. There are also some pretty awesome museums and other attractions in the city that offer hearing loss solutions for individuals who are hard of hearing. Here are some of the best accessible attractions in The City that Reads:
Baltimore Museum of Art
The Baltimore Museum of Art was founded in 1914 with just one painting. Today, it offers more than 90,000 works of art and has the largest collection in the world of works by Picasso friend and contemporary Henri Matisse, including “Blue Nude” and “Purple Robe and Anemones.” Matisse’s paintings, as well as those by Juan Gris and Joan Miro, are part of the museum’s impressive Cone Collection of Modern Art. BMA also has impressive collections of African Art, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalist sculpture and American paintings. The Baltimore Museum of Art offers sign language interpreted tours – just make sure to call at least two weeks before your arrival!
The Walters Art Museum
Another must-visit art museum in Baltimore is The Walters. This impressive museum has a collection spanning pre-dynastic Egypt to Europe in the 20th century. Not only are there European paintings and Greek sculpture, but you’ll find Art Nouveau jewelry, Chinese ceramics and bronzes and Roman sarcophagi. Some of the coolest exhibits include the Japanese woodblock prints, Turkish artifacts, the 18th and 19th century works by Manet, Monet and Sisley, American Mary Cassatt’s impressionist works and a collection of French drawings.
General admission is free of charge, though special exhibitions cost a fee. The Walters offers transcripts of audio tours for individuals with hearing loss, and special programs and lectures in the Graham Auditorium are equipped with assistive listening devices for anyone who needs them. Just make sure to call at least three weeks in advance if you’d like sign language interpretation.
Maryland Science Center
This incredible museum and science center on Charm City’s inner harbor is known for its wide range of attractions that appeal to people of all ages. It’s been open since 1976 and has acquired more impressive components as the years have progressed, including a planetarium, observatory, IMAX theater and three stories of permanent and traveling exhibits, many of them hands-on. Some of the most impressive exhibits include Life Beyond Earth, which features surface touch-table activities to learn about exoplanets and our solar system; TerraLink, which has a real-time seismic activity monitor and a tornado simulator, as well as other environmental science and geological components; and a pretty awesome exhibit on cells. There are also several live demonstrations, shows in the IMAX and 3D theaters and interesting planetarium presentations.
The Maryland Science Center is also an impressive model for attractions for those with hearing loss. A majority of exhibits are outfitted with amplified narration or open captions, or are classified as deaf- or hard-of-hearing-friendly. Additionally, most of the IMAX, 3D and 2D films have open captions; the museum just requires that you contact them at least one day before your visit to ensure that services are available. The Davis Planetarium will provide script copies for its recorded programs with at least a 7-day notice, and the demonstration stage has both scripts available as well as amplified narration.
There are so many other impressive sites in and around Charm City, including Fort McHenry, the National Aquarium, the American Visionary Art Museum, the Charles Theater, the Lyric Opera House and the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum.
