Special Needs and Inclusive Library Services (SNAILS)

Who was able to attend Targeting Autism in May? It was a great two days, crammed full of wonderful presentations. Most of the presenters were autistic, sharing their experiences and stories. If you missed it, they were able to film most of the presentations and have uploaded most of them onto their webpage. Targeting Autism 2019 video presentations The statement that summarized the whole forum for me came from Lei Wiley-Mydske:  When schools, communities, etc are not inclusive and/or accessible, it says it’s okay to exclude certain people. Our society excludes people every day, and we as librarians need to actively work against this. A few things came up in almost every presentation by autistic presenters: **AVOID FUNCTIONAL LABELS. “Low functioning” means strengths are minimized and “high functioning” means needs and weaknesses aren’t prioritized. High functioning labels are used to deny support, and low labels are used to deny agency. Labels don’t effectively des...

If you are headed to Orlando this month and are interested in learning about accessibility, inclusion, and serving people with disabilities, check out the list of ALA Conference programs below! ASCLA 101 Saturday, June 25 at 10:30 am Rosen Centre, Room Salon 01/02 ASCLA is a small but mighty division! With more than 800 members national and worldwide, ASCLA is home to library consultants, and those that work in state, public, government, prison, and special libraries and cooperatives. Come meet some of our members and hear what they have to say about ASCLA and our diverse Interest Groups and volunteer opportunities. Universal Accessibility Interest Group Meeting Saturday, June 25 at 1 pm Orange County Convention Center, Room W309 Joint ACRL / ASCLA / LITA working group where members work together on projects related to making all kinds of libraries and library services accessible for users with disabilities. We Need Diverse Books and More: Multiple Diversities Cap...

One of the best things about working in libraries are the many avenues for feeding our need to learn and improve our services. In addition to our quarterly SNAILS meeting on May 11 at Mount Prospect Library, there are a number of upcoming learning opportunities on the topic of serving people with disabilities this spring. CONFERENCES If you're attending the inaugural  Illinois Youth Services Institute   (IYSI) in Normal, Illinois  April 1-2 , you may want to check out the following programs: Enhancing Stories with Sensory Experiences  presented by our friends at Lekotek All Are Welcome: Practicing Inclusion and Accessibility  presented on Saturday afternoon by yours truly, Renee Grassi and Holly Jin. Renee and I are pretty pumped about our session, as this is our first hands-on workshop! You may also want to consider attending  Tactile Tech: Adventures in Making Technology Accessible to Children and Families  since new technologie...