Accessibility
Parking & Entrance
The Ackland’s front entrance has a ramp accessible via the driveway off of Columbia Street near Franklin Street. Our front doors are not equipped with an automatic opener, but the guards at our front desk watch for visitors who may need assistance.
There are two accessible parking spaces in our Porthole Alley lot. Enter the lot off of South Columbia St. between the Ackland and Top of the Hill. Drive to the end of the lot and turn right. Visitors using the accessible parking spaces must display the appropriate University or DOT disability placard or plate. Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis. Find more accessible parking spaces on campus with the UNC Campus Accessibility map.
The Town of Chapel Hill lists its accessible parking spaces here.
Online
We aim to make the Ackland’s website accessible to everyone.
If you have a question or concern about our website’s accessibility features, please contact the webmaster or visit the UNC-Chapel Hill Digital Accessibility Office.
Social Narrative
The Ackland’s social narrative is a tool that provides visitors with images and written information about what they might experience when they visit the Museum. Click here to view a digital copy of the Ackland’s social narrative. A printed copy is also available to view at the Ackland’s front desk upon request.
Inside the Museum
An elevator serves all floors of the Museum.
The Ackland has one single-user, wheelchair-accessible restroom.
Large-print interpretive materials are available.
For Visitors with Color Vision Deficiency
The Ackland offers EnChroma glasses for visitors to use indoors while visiting the Ackland. EnChroma glasses enable people with red-green colorblindness to see an expanded range of clear, vibrant, distinct color and enjoy enhanced detail and depth perception. Colorblindness affects one in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (.5%) – an estimated 13 million in the US and 350 million worldwide.
How EnChroma Glasses Work
EnChroma’s patented lenses are engineered with special optical filters that enable the colorblind to see a broader range of colors more clearly, vibrantly and distinctly so they can experience colorful art, the beauty of nature, overcome everyday challenges and better understand and appreciate colors.
Importantly, EnChroma glasses are not a cure or correction for colorblindness, they work for approximately eight out of 10 people with red-green colorblindness, do not provide full color vision and results and reaction times vary.
Click here for more information and FAQs about EnChroma glasses.
How to Reserve EnChroma Glasses
Borrowing the glasses is free of charge; we just ask that visitors reserve a pair online before their visit. Click here to reserve a pair of EnChroma glasses for your visit to the Ackland. We offer adult- and child-sized glasses as well as frames that fit over prescription eyeglasses. When you arrive for your reservation, stop by the front desk in the Ackland lobby to pick up the glasses and return them to the front desk when you are finished.
Reservations for EnChroma glasses will be limited during the winter holidays. We will be open during our regular hours except on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
EnChroma glasses will not be available to borrow on the following dates:
- Wednesday, December 18, 2024 through Wednesday, January 1, 2025
We thank you for your understanding, and we encourage you to make a reservation for another date.
Generous support for this project provided by Art Bridges.
Image credit: Unidentified artist, Central Asia, Uzbekistani, Splashware Bowl with Sgraffito Decoration, c. 960-1080, glazed earthenware with incised decoration and coloured glazes of yellow, green and manganese on a cream slip ground, 4 1/2 x 14 in. (11.5 x 35.5 cm). Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gift of the Estate of William S. Shipp, by exchange, 2020.12.