Garst Museum has made it easier for everyone to visit the museum thanks to the assistance of Darke County Board of Developmental Disabilities (DD). Darke County DD has been supporting projects across the county to make the community more inclusive. Those projects have included installing a sensory room at the fairgrounds, wheelchair lift at a local church, and adult changing tables throughout the county. Now, with the support of Darke DD, Garst Museum has been able to install handicap-accessible doors in the Lowell Thomas Meeting Room.
The doors were previously hard to navigate for persons with disabilities. Not only were they difficult to open, but once one door was open, the individual would have to move around to open the second door.
Stephen Gruber, president of the Darke County Historical Society, said he had read about the good work Darke DD has been doing in the community and reached out to see if they could help the museum. Tonya Clark, superintendent of Darke DD, did some research and determined they could use grant funding for this project.
“We’ve needed something for that (door) for a long time. You go up the ramp and can’t maneuver to get the door open and then get in,” Gruber said. He said they were able to get an estimate and there was enough money in the grant to cover the entire project.
Gruber added that it is a huge advantage for Garst Museum to have handicap-accessible doors. There have been many people wanting to visit the museum, including older veterans who don’t get around like they used to and have been leery of coming to the museum because of the lack of accessibility. “There are veterans that really want to come in and see the museum, and it was very difficult. They had to have somebody else assist them. And for those kind of folks, they want to be independent. They don’t want to have to rely on others, and it was just a real benefit to some of our patrons who otherwise would have struggled to come in by themselves.”
Gruber expressed his appreciation for Darke DD on behalf of the Darke County Historical Society’s Board of Directors, Garst Museum, and patrons.
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