$22 million museum focused on blindness coming to Louisville in 2025

Tucked away in Louisville's Clifton neighborhood is the American Printing House for the Blind, or APH, a nonprofit that empowers and serves people who are blind or low vision by providing resources and services to create lifelong success.

This year marks 165 years of APH.

To celebrate this milestone, APH is undertaking a $55 million renovation and expansion of its campus at 1839 Frankfort Ave. The project totals more than 100,000 square feet and includes a cultural, interactive museum.

"It'll send a message that everybody is welcome here and we will welcome visitors and we'll challenge them to think differently about what they think about when they hear the word blindness, we want to challenge stereotypes we want to remove misconceptions," said APH President Dr. Craig Meador.

The museum, which had its groundbreaking earlier this month, will be called The Dot Experience Museum, named after Braille, a written language composed of a series of six dots often used by people with blindness and low vision.

APH has been a leader in providing access to modern resources for people with low vision and blindness. In 1866, APH began embossing books, by 1936 it was recording and printing talking books with the first book being "Gulliver's Travels," and this year the printing house introduced Monarch, a device that can receive a digital book and translate the text and graphics into Braille.

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"APH is one of Louisville's best-kept secrets," said Chris Carmicle, executive of PLC Management, the company tasked with overseeing the project. "The Dot Experience will shine a light on APH's mission of creating accessible learning experiences through educational, workplace and independent living products and services for people who are blind and low vision for generations to come."

State and local government officials and members of the blind community attended the groundbreaking.

"We don't want to be the next Nashville, we want to be Louisville," said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg at the groundbreaking. "We want to be authentic and unique and wonderful ... and one of those authentic and unique things that makes Louisville such an amazing city is that we are home to the American Printing House for the Blind."

The project is expected to be completed and open to the public in 2025, with The Dot Experience Museum being nearly five times larger than the current museum housed inside APH.

The project budget will be split with $33 million going toward office and general building improvements and the remaining $22 million being dedicated to the museum expansion. APH hopes to raise $15 million in contributed funds; the rest of the project funding will come from APH's endowment and investments. No federal funds will be used.

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The museum will have five exhibits across 28,000 square feet. The Dot Experience Museum will share first-person stories of blindness and human experience. The museum will also showcase history and artifacts from historical figures without vision. Museum visitors will be able to find Helen Keller's desk and archives, Stevie Wonder's piano, original Braille machines, José Feliciano's guitar and much more.

"The Dot Experience enhances and elevates the opportunities for cultural tourism in Louisville and brings focus to one of our under-the-radar companies that contribute so much to education and personal development opportunities worldwide through the products they produce and through their outreach efforts," said Bob Haffermann, managing principal at K Norman Berry Associates Architect, the project architect.

The Dot Experience Museum will be grounded in universal design, making it accessible for all people regardless of ability.

"So, just as the American Printing House for the Blind sets the standard for educational materials across the country, for K-12 blind and low-vision students, we … decided to set the standard to create the most accessible museum in the world," said Phoebe Wood, APH board of trustees chair.

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Some of the inclusive features throughout the museum will include Braille, closed captioning, audio descriptions, service animal relief areas, nursing rooms, quiet spaces, adult and child friendly changing tables and more.

"As a lifelong advocate for families and vulnerable children, I am thrilled to see something developing here in our commonwealth that welcomes disabled visitors in a new way, which allows them to fully engage with museum and gallery settings," said first lady of Kentucky, Britainy Beshear.

With the creation of The Dot Experience, Louisville will be at the global forefront of accessibility and universal design within museums.

"I fully expect that this Dot Experience will materialize as the best-in-class model for galleries, libraries, archives and museums by concentrating on inclusion, not just accessibility," said Metro Councilman Andrew Owen, who represents Clifton.

While Congressman Morgan McGarvey was unable to attend the groundbreaking ceremony, he sent a congressional certificate, congratulating and celebrating the significance of The Dot Experience Museum and the continued work APH does.

The museum "will give people another uniquely Louisville attraction to visit ... it's going to be as distinct and unique in its own way as the Slugger Museum, as the Kentucky Derby Museum, as the Muhammad Ali Center or as one of our many bourbon attractions," Greenberg said.

Contact reporter Olivia Evans at [email protected] or on Twitter at @oliviamevans_