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Project Enable

    Creator: Project Enable

    Date Updated: August 23, 2022

    Overview

    Project Enable provides a comprehensive set of training designed specifically for public, academic, or school librarians. This is a completely free resource and contains a group account option that allows your library staff to register and complete the training together.

    The information is summarized from the Project Enable website.

    Quick Facts

    • Libraries need to commit to creating a fully accessible and inclusive library to serve all patrons equally. Libraries should evaluate and analyze their library to determine if there are any barriers to service for patrons (consider your building, website, collections, programming, etc.).
    • Library staff should understand and be aware of different disabilities to serve them best. Disabilities can often belong to more than one “type,” as listed below. For example, blindness is both a sensory and visual disability.
      • Physical disabilities affect a person’s mobility.
      • Sensory disabilities affect how people sense the world around them.
      • Visual disabilities affect how people see.
      • Hearing disabilities affect how people see.
      • Olfactory and Gustatory disabilities affect how people taste and smell.
      • Somatosensory disabilities affect people’s sensations like touch.
      • Intellectual disabilities affect how people understand and process information.
    • There are two general types of disabilities – visible and invisible disabilities.
      • “Visible” means that the temporary or permanent disability is outwardly demonstrated and is observable. This includes people who use service animals, a prosthetic limb, or stuttering.
      • “Invisible” means a temporary or permanent disability that is not observable.
    • Ask patrons with disabilities what language they prefer, but when in doubt, use person-first language (e.g. a library patron with a mobility disability) when speaking or writing about persons with disabilities.
    • Please do not assume that persons with disabilities need your help. Persons with disabilities may not need your help or only need help with specific tasks. When in doubt, ask!

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    Reference

    Project Enable (n.d.). Project Enable. Retrieved from: https://projectenable.syr.edu/

    Project Enable (n.d.). Accessibility Workshops. Retrieved from: https://projectenable.syr.edu/1-accessibility-and-inclusion-for-patrons-with-disabilities-the-basics

    Project enable (n.d.). Workshop #1: Accessibility and Inclusion for Patrons with Disabilities: The Basic. PDF. Retrieved from: https://projectenable.syr.edu/data/Workshop-1-Instructor-Script-PDF.pdf