Haben, a Black woman wearing a puffy coat and face covering, feels a large stylized boat in a crowded museum. Her German Shepherd Seeing Eye dog looks up in alarm when a sightie starts angry poking his person. The hand of ableism appears white, and there’s a smart watch on their wrist.

Ableism at the British Museum

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Only blind people can touch ancient treasures at the British Museum, but this jealous sightie can’t handle it.

The museum has an astounding number of ancient sculptures not covered in glass or even roped off. Signs next to them prohibit touching, but that ban is for the sighted. On the same sign is a symbol that looks like an eye, indicating that blind people are allowed to touch.

I dropped by the museum for a self-guided tour, delighting in all the history at my finger tips! This large sculpture, the Sacred boat of Queen Mutemwia, is from 1400 BCE! As I gently ran my fingers over a tribute to an Egyptian queen, suddenly — Jab! Jab! My arm gets stabbed by an angry finger.

A museum employee sees the Jealous Sightie and intervenes, explaining that blind people are allowed to touch exhibits. I wonder how many other sighted visitors have harassed blind people like this.

Touring the British Museum is still one of my highlights from my trip to London. They have informational books in braille, large print, as well as audio guides. But if I may offer a suggestion: the museum should block entry to sighted people. They’re quite poorly behaved.