Understanding Accessible Design with TRANSCESTRY Exhibition Designer Scar Barclay

This week, TRANSCESTRY Exhibition Designer Scar Barclay shares about spatial storytelling and the exhibition’s Accessibility Weekend on 12th & 13th April.

This week, we’re thinking all about accessible design – designs that aim to create products, services, and environments usable by everyone, including those with disabilities, by considering various physical, sensory, cognitive, and technological barriers. It's a user-centric approach that fosters inclusivity and ensures that all users can interact with, understand, and benefit from the designed entity. 

There’s perhaps no more pertinent place where accessible design should be considered in the creative sphere than in exhibitions. As the Smithsonian’s Guidelines For Accessible Exhibition Design (Opens in a new window) states: “Accessible design must be a part of this new philosophy of exhibition development because people with disabilities are a part of museums’ diverse audience. Discovering exciting, attractive ways to make exhibitions accessible will most directly serve people with disabilities and older adults. But to name an audience who will not benefit from these designs is impossible – accessibility begins as a mandate to serve people who have been discriminated against for centuries; it prevails as a tool that serves diverse audiences for a lifetime.”

Currently open at Central Saint Martin’s Lethaby Gallery (Opens in a new window) in London, TRANSCESTRY: 10 years of the Museum of Transology (Opens in a new window) is a landmark exhibition marking a decade of community collecting by the Museum of Transology (Opens in a new window) – home to the world’s biggest collection of objects and stories celebrating trans, non-binary and intersex lives. This exhibition comes at a poignant time when trans rights and representation are being debated across the globe. TRANSCESTRY offers an important counterpoint and is the largest exhibition of its kind, showcasing over 1,000 personal artefacts donated by more than 1,000 members of the community, amplifying underrepresented, and often forgotten, stories from the trans community – celebrating resilience, identity and creativity.

The collection bridges the personal and the public – featuring items that commemorate private gender milestones and medical ephemera alongside hundreds of protest placards from mass public rallies, a substantial political t-shirt collection and costumes from some of the UK’s best loved performers including BRICKS cover star Travis Alabanza, Kate O’Donnell and Nando Messias. Additionally, the exhibition spotlights work from award-winning artists including Claye Bowler, Kasra Jalilipour, Victoria Cantons and Whiskey Chow. Homemade zines will be displayed beside best-selling books by Kit Heyam, Juno Roche and Juliet Jacques, with films curated by My Genderation, and displays by Trans Pride Collective UK & Ireland and the youth collective Trans Kids Deserve Better. 

This weekend, 12-13 April 2025, TRANSCESTRY will host a dedicated Accessibility Weekend (Opens in a new window), designed to provide an inclusive, multi-sensory museum experience, taking into account various accessibility needs. Developed by the Museum of Transology in collaboration with a group of final-year students from Central Saint Martins’ BA (Hons) Culture, Criticism and Curation course and performance artist Ebony Rose Dark (Opens in a new window)(she/he/they), the tours prioritise touch, sound and community-led curation – challenging traditional exhibition models and paving the way for more accessible museum experiences.

"Trans, non-binary and intersex people have been thrust into the centre of the UK’s culture wars. We are talked about in the media every day and our lives are endlessly debated by politicians. Rarely are we given a chance to have our own voices heard,” says Museum of Transology founder E-J Scott (Opens in a new window). “This is an extraordinarily moving collection of personal stories that challenges the misinformation and stereotypes. Young and old, students and teachers, children and parents, everyday people living everyday lives alongside leaders of the community – we stand united in this exhibition by our stories of hope, integrity and a vision for equality.”

Below, we meet TRANSCESTRY Exhibition Designer Scar Barclay (Opens in a new window) to discuss the importance of spatial design in LGBTQIA+ storytelling, and how the exhibition has created an inclusive exhibition environment for all to enjoy.