The Archaeological Museum of Alicante, MARQ, hosts the 2nd edition of Empower Parents, a programme led by the Accessibility Unit of the Fundación CV MARQ with the collaboration of ASPALI, Asperger Association of Alicante, whose aim is to encourage and promote that families with children with autism exercise their right of access to culture and the enjoyment of public spaces.
With this programme, the Diputación de Alicante, through the MARQ Foundation, offers families with members with autism between 5 and 13 years of age and their families a total of eight training sessions in which they acquire the necessary keys to visit the galleries and spaces of the MARQ and gradually relearn the enjoyment of leisure and public space in the company of their sons and daughters. Converting our museum in a space for relationship and exploration where families can share experiences and establish links between them.
The MARQ Foundation incorporates in this process the transformation of its traditional parameters of reception to the public, involving fundamentally ASPALI's mediation team together with its technical team of the Didactics and Accessibility Unit. In addition, the participation of the Empower Parents state network enables the transfer of methodologies and sensitivities related to the autism environment, put into practice since 2021 in other museums, such as the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, the Espacio Fundación Telefónica, the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional and the Museo Nacional de Antropología.
Since the beginning of the Empower programme in 2013, more than 150 families have participated and more than 60 professionals have been trained in this methodology. It is estimated that there are more than 450.000 people with autism in our country, a figure that rises to almost one million and a half people linked to autism, also taking into account the impact it produces in their families (according to the Confederación Autismo España, 2022).
Empower Parents was created in 2013 thanks to the prize awarded by the American Alliance of Museums. In 2014, based on this experience, a methodology of its own was modelled, the implementation and testing of which at the ICO Museum to date has allowed the activities to be better adapted to the needs of families and the characteristics of the different collaborating organisations.
In the case of MARQ, the following have been programmed 8 sessions focused on the development of activities adapted to the tours of the MARQ Halls, approaching the different historical periods that it deals with, with subsequent educational workshops for the whole family and the Mysterious Box activity.
