0:02
Hello everyone and welcome to today's webinar hosted by Infopeople. This webinar is made possible by a Laura Bush 21st century librarian continuing education grant and Infopeople in collaboration with Syracuse University and project enable.
0:20
Today's topic is programming for adults with developmental disabilities. And before I introduce our presenters, I just want to briefly mention that Infopeople will be hosting a small facilitated discussion on this same topic on May 27th at 11 a.m. Pacific. So if you're interested in learning more and you'd like to take part in that event stay tuned and at the end of the webinar, we will share with you how you can request an invitation.
0:48
Okay, so our presenters today are Barbara Klipper and Carrie Banks. Barbara is a retired Youth Services librarian and Mom of an autistic adult son. She started the special needs Center at the Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut. She has authored books and led workshops for librarians on how to work with and program for children and teens with autism and has presented at conferences on related subjects.
1:15
Carrie Banks has been the director of Brooklyn Public Library's inclusive Services since 1997. Choose author trainer and teacher who has been recognized for her lifelong commitment to providing services to people with developmental disabilities and their families Barbara and Kari are currently collaborating on a book to be published by the American Library Association on the topic of Library program for adults with developmental disabilities.
1:41
I'm sure we'll hear more about that today and I am now Happy to turn the webinar over to Barbara Clipper and clothes.
1:50
Thank you so much Mary. Hi, this is Barbara Klipper speaking. I want to welcome everybody. We're delighted that you're all interested in this topic and chose to be with us today. As Mary said the webinar is based on material that will be covered in our upcoming book and next.
2:09
So what you're seeing here is the agenda that we're going to follow today is an example also of the supports that you can use in your programs it both ads predictability and visual support the first of all, I'm going to talk about the barriers to and benefits of programming for adults with developmental disabilities. Carrie will talk about creating a culture of inclusion. I'll give you a sampling of program ideas. Carrie will go over best practices.
2:39
I'll talk a little bit more about our book and then we'll have a Q&A session. So let's start with next.
2:49
Barriers and benefits and I have the next slide, please.
2:55
So let's start with the basics what are developmental disability?
2:59
So here we have on the right and illustration cartoon style of baseless colored people under a arching umbrella and Developmental disabilities are also called the D for our purposes today. It's sufficient to understand that it's an umbrella term meaning it includes people with a variety of disabilities.
3:24
It manifests before the age of 22 and is lifelong a person with a DD will have limitations in some area of functioning either physical or cognitive or both the two most widely recognized disabilities that fall under the DDA umbrella or intellectual disability also known as as ID and autism, although there are many others as well like cerebral palsy and spina bifida.
3:51
next Next slide please.
3:56
This shows a woman facing a brick wall.
4:00
So these are some of the barriers that are more specific to libraries. There are adults with CD everywhere yet. Only a small percentage of libraries are actively programming for them and these barriers and others are a partially the reason why that happens.
4:15
So the first one is the fact that programs for people with DD tend to serve small numbers because many people would DD need to avoid sensory overload and or require individual attention so for libraries that Edge programming success by attendance numbers they can be deterred by this fact. There is some extra work involved in beginning to program for adults with DD and this can keep libraries from taking it on things like extra planning and Outreach has usually required but Librarians who do this programming report that it's worth the effort, but just this fact can often be a barrier to starting.
4:55
In addition because many adults would see these spend their days isolated or in congregate settings and aren't well integrated into their communities Library staff has have usually not had a whole lot of personal interactions with them. We've noticed that many Librarians who Start programs either have family members with a DD or some other personal connections, which tells us that once, you know people with developmental disabilities the impetus to serve them is often there.
5:25
A lack of expertise among staff and everything from relevant technology to how to communicate with someone with a developmental disability can also be a barrier for many libraries next slide, please.
5:38
In addition, there are also societal and attitudinal barriers and there's a little illustration of to thought bubbles one says do I have implicit bias and the other one which comes out of that as yes. So these are types of barriers that are not just Library specific. They're more societal and they're often unconscious. The first of them to know about is implicit bias is a term that was coined in the 1990s to describe unacknowledged racial.
6:09
And these unconscious prejudices aren't only held against people of color the word for these attitudes towards people with disabilities is ableism and ableism causes us to marginalize adults with developmental disabilities to lump them together in our mind and to believe destructive missed about them. One of these myths is the notion that they are like children. They're not they're adults.
6:37
Also, the models that have been used historically to describe this ability can be barriers the most pervasive and destructive of these is the medical model which views people with disabilities as defective to be cured or fixed. It has led many people to pity people who have developmental disabilities or to look down on them to see them as needing charity. Not welcome. We all know that it's awful to be pitied and treated like a charity case people with DD don't like it either.
7:07
often we underestimate the capabilities of adults with CD even family members and agencies that serve them may not realize what they can do if given half a chance, you may encounter this in the people who accompanied adults with DD on visits to your library in the book will cover some ways to work with these people and how to focus your attention on the needs and interests of the adults with developmental disabilities next slide, please it's the law. There's the Ada 30-year logo. That's the Americans with Disabilities Act and just some language that says the DD act the developmental disabilities assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000. So barriers May hold us back from programming but we can't afford to ignore it because libraries are legally mandated to provide access and service to people with disabilities. You're probably all familiar with the Ada.
7:59
It's the most important civil rights law that directs how libraries should meet the if adults with DV DV Act Is another federal law that you should know about they weren't mandate under this law but it's fun entities that Empower individuals with DD and their families and promote the full integration and inclusion in all aspects of society and that includes libraries some of the resources that are in your resource handout are entities that are funded through the DD act next slide, please.
8:34
It's possible to break down barriers and there's a man with a sledgehammer and a big wall with a hole in it.
8:41
And there's a number of libraries to done that for themselves place to start is by looking at ourselves and our attitude read about people with DD preferably things written by people with DD themselves learn about the social model of disability, which unlike the medical model contends.
8:58
The societal barriers not inherent limitations prevent people with disabilities from leading full productive lives Reach Out develop relationships with self-advocates and the It's with Didi who use your library regularly with their families and the agencies that serve them make a commitment to do something start small and build on your successes the list at the support of your Administration train your entire staff and get them on board one antidote for bias and misinformation is familiarity the more we welcome these adults in our libraries the more we get to know them and the more we get to know them the more we want to welcome them as Renee Grassi of the Dakota minute library in Minnesota.
9:40
Set up her Library staff quote We are Becoming champions for accessibility as we become more aware next slide, please.
9:50
There's an illustration of handwriting with chalk on a Blackboard and a Venn diagram that has win and all the circles.
9:59
So we all benefit and there's a quote here. Do not underestimate the ability of people with intellectual disabilities capacity to learn and to also teach you something and that is from the staff of the Contra Costa County Library in California, too many season there. So programming for adults with DD is not charity.
10:21
We're not good for helping these people quotes that type of thinking comes from the medical model when we program for adults with We are nothing more than librarian serving our community members. However in general Librarians to actively program for these patrons report that they get as much as they give that these programs are a highlight of their work week or month that they learn so much from these adults the adults with DD also benefit.
10:47
They also have a limited number of options for lifelong learning Recreation socialization all of which you can provide through programming the agencies that serve adults with DD benefit by by gaining a partner in the community and access to more opportunities. It's a win-win-win proposition and finally as a society, we all benefit from diversity and inclusion. We know this now in terms of race, but it's equally true in terms of people with disabilities. We all have a lot to learn from each other and the library that welcomes everyone adds richness to all of our lives and now I'll pass it back to Carrie.
11:28
Okay, I had to unmute. So the next thing that we're going to be talking about is creating that culture of inclusion. How do we overcome those barriers very practically and where do we where do we start?
11:46
So we start with Universal Design for Learning Universal Design. There are two pictures on this slide and the first one illustrates Universal Design. It's a large staircase with a ramp that zigzags up the middle of the staircase. It's a very wide staircase and that's really epitomizes what Universal Design is about. It's about creating things that work for everyone the other illustration on this slide.
12:16
Another umbrella like umbrellas and it's Universal Design for Learning. It is a subset of Universal Design and it's used widely in schools. It's it is the basis for what we call or what teachers called differentiation and the classrooms. So Universal Design for Learning asks us to represent the material that we're presenting in multiple ways. So that's multiple means of representation.
12:45
It asks us to work with our students and and accept the ways that they express themselves and that's multiple means of expression and the last one is multiple means of Engagement and that means that we get we reach the student where we are right and bring them to where we want to be and those are the three Tenants of Universal Design for Learning that are in that illustration and they are surrounding an umbrella with three stripes on it and that says choices.
13:18
And basically that's what we're off. We want to offer people the choice to learn and to participate.
13:24
However, they want to David Macaulay the children book author and illustrator really ill talked about this in his a burn off lecture many years ago. He is a trained engineer and mathematician and he came to that through his art and he uses that as an example of how engagement engaging our Learners where they are for our patrons where they are is an effective way to bring them to where we want to be. He learned art and math. I'm sorry healer.
13:58
Engineering and math through ART and brought them all together and created an amazing picture books.
14:04
So what does this mean in a library setting its next slide multiple means of representation and engagement illustrates that?
14:13
In the center, you see a traditional book. It says Romeo and Juliet the spine of a traditional book says Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare and that's a central part of the Canon of Western literature that we all have in our libraries. But how do we bring this to the people to people all types of people including people with developmental disabilities? Well, the first way is through theater and the picture on the upper left. There is the Chicago to shake.
14:43
Beer theater Romeo + Juliet tickets start at $35 and there is a photograph of two individuals of color one black one white. I'm sorry both black hugging each other.
14:59
Immediately across from that on the right hand side of the page are two men on a balcony both people of color about kits below that are two two people one male one female both white also about to kiss they're nailing kneeling on the floor reaching for each other and they're in sort of the traditional garb of this Shakespearean era.
15:26
And then across from that back to the left is two people standing across from each other one male one female and they are dancers about to to start dancing the to on the floor that we looked at about to kiss our opera singers.
15:43
So the the slide shows us different means of representing the material right through a play through ballet through print through Opera and also different ways of engaging right of People where they are whether they're gay or straight people of color and bringing them all to Shakespeare.
16:04
by the way, the gay couple in the picture, that's an illustration from rump Ramen adaptation Romeo and Juliet's On our next slide we're talking more about multiple means of representation and engagement and here we're really sort of pushing on the representation.
16:23
So again, we have Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare in the Middle with this on the spine of a book and in the upper left, we have Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and audiobook and the picture on illustration on that is a very painterly picture of to a couple of a white couple in Guard again of traditional are Shakespearean era across from that is the Osborne English reader level 3 Romeo and Juliet. And again, we have a white couple in the traditional garb but they are hand-drawn.
17:01
It's not a not a painterly picture at all more cartoonish not quite cartoonish, but but a realistic drawing oops, sorry about that underneath that is the the comic book version of Romeo and Juliet with Romeo climbing that tree and Juliet reaching out over the balcony. And then finally we have the audio book on far left Romeo and Juliet. I'm sorry the large print book Romeo and Juliet.
17:31
And it just goes to show that no matter how we're reading it whether we're meeting with our ears our fingers or eyes. I do not have the Braille book on here, by the way, because it didn't show up but it's important to remember that we can also read through Braille.
17:45
So whether you're eating with your eyes your ears or your fingers, it's all the same material whether you have picture supports or not, but for having all these different formats in our library is one way to engage all of our patrons So it's still kind of rough, right Universal Design Universal Design for Learning. It's a lot to remember personally. I use multiple intelligence theory as a checklist and the illustration on this slide is a circle.
18:17
With all of the different intelligences listed body smart or bodily kinesthetic people smart or interpersonal verbal linguistic or word smart logical mathematical or logic smart naturalistic or nature smart interpret interpersonal or self smart.
18:37
Visual spatial picture smart and musical smart, these are all different ways different methods that we can use to in our programs so that we're engaging everyone you want to include some you movement in your programs. You want to include some discussions, right? Of course, this is a library. We're going to have words and verbal learning.
19:01
And you don't have to do everyone for every time but make sure that you're mixing it up in the German cluding these different things in each one.
19:08
And I wanted to just be really clear Barber and I are just doing a very very brief overview here.
19:14
It will be expanding on all of this, of course in the book. And these are also things that you can follow up on your own through some of the resources in the resource guides.
19:25
So Universal Design for Learning is one of our tools the other set of tools that we have our sensory tools. We don't often think about the sensory experience beyond our own and that's a mistake.
19:40
we traditionally libraries have quiet places and again, so we're not thinking about it being overwhelming for some people but they're not really as quiet as you think and sometimes when they are quiet they can be too quiet and people who need or want a lot of sensory input struggle because libraries are too too quiet so we can do things like provide them with fidgets and there are a set of fidgets in primary colors plus green that our mesh tubes with a marble in them at the bottom of the screen in the middle.
20:11
That's just one type of fidget that people use Barbara likes to use Pipe cleaners Chenille sticks it but you can you sort of anything that you can hold and play with can be a fidget. Sometimes we need more room or input will need to use more of our muscles more strength and then you can use some resistance things and there's a picture of a chair there with a resistance band of the Thera-Band the kind of thing that you use in physical therapy. It's like a big rubber band really and it is strung between the legs of the chair so you can actually sit in the chair and use your feet to push.
20:49
Sensed it and it can help someone just sort of stay focused on in the moment. And then the final example there I have is a gel seat and this is a plastic seat. It's hard to explain but it's filled with gel. So every time you move it moves and you have to adjust so it keeps you constantly moving even while you're sitting still and it's got a bumpy surface this particular one has a bumpy surface which provides more more sensory input.
21:16
So sometimes I'm somebody who can't sit So and while Barbara was talking in fact, I was selling and that's what that's what kept me sort of centered and focused on able to listen to what Barbara was doing. I'm since I'm not on camera didn't distract anybody else. But sometimes we all need that kind of sense tree support.
21:35
Other people are on the next slide are another sensory to we have our sense to help people avoid sensory overload. As I said, we think of libraries as quiet, but even when they're quiet, they're not there's a hum from the air conditioner or the heater going on. There are fluorescent lights flickering. There are the squeak of the wheels on our carts things like that and people need to be able to block that out if they're going to stay focused and doing what they want to be doing in the library.
22:05
tools for that are noise canceling headphones and there's a picture there of a gentleman African-American gentleman wearing in like a bomber jacket wearing noise-cancelling headphones and just being in his own space below that there is a picture of a person that probably a young man on a couch in front of a laptop and he has got a baseball cap on and the baseball cap can help block the The glare from the overhead light sometimes people use sunglasses for summarizing and these are part of sensory kits that some libraries circulate internally or externally as were the things on that previous slide and they can help people stay in the library where they want to be some libraries are also offering quiet spaces. So that's just a room where people can go and be quiet.
23:04
The other sensory tool that we have is structure for our programs. If and there's a picture there of a picture schedule for an interactive concert down by music for autism. It has three periods on it and a lot in a stack on top. It's concert time next is conducting time and finally his progression time. And in fact, that's how the conference is go.
23:27
That's how they do them if in your content in your The program's you doing multiple sessions use the same structure each time. It's why people knows what to expect. It reduces anxiety. They know how to plan their time. If you have to go to the bathroom and you don't know when you're going to get a break it can be very very distracting and keep you from participating in a program and that's whether or not you have a developmental disability when you have that structure tell people what it is when we when we plan a program. We know what our plan is. We need to share that with the audience and reinforce the structures for out.
24:01
So in the example of the music for autism concert, once we start with concert time, then we end concert time and say okay now we're moving to a conducting time and we have an error that we move down and part of that is making the implicit structure explicitly that we know our structure. We need to share it with our audience.
24:23
Visual aids can help can also help people be a good audience and and stay with you in our programs and we have the example here of that same concert schedule with the arrow pointing to the Top Line for concert time and we have a trio somebody with a cello somebody with a violin and somebody behind him. I don't know what he's playing and they are in the middle of concert time at a concert next.
24:53
Visual climber and the visual timer blocks out the time usually in red but sometimes in black and as the time passes that blocked out space gets smaller and smaller and that is it's a very visual reminder of how much time there is and how much time is left and I wish that my iPhone had gone into sleep mode and I could see where I am that visual support would be helpful to me. Finally.
25:20
There's an illustration of a poster that says 26 props to use with Shakespeare and a Shakespeare play and it's got all kinds of things in there. It has a wig it has a mask. It has different hats. It has the vial that could either have one or poison in it. It's got a cup. It's got of course the sword and a shield different kinds of crowns.
25:42
The point is sometimes when you're sharing literature it helps to have the things that are represented in the literature and hand to share with people whether or not they're just going to It out or just see it on, you know, as you're presenting or be able to wear a mask or or hold it a clown sword while they're listening all of these types of visual supports reinforce what's going on in the text and give people another way to access it.
26:14
So the final thing we need in terms of making our inclusive environment is administrative support using those things that Barbara talked about in the beginning sessions about why it's important to do programs for adults with developmental disabilities is a good start and thinking about the connections that the people you're building support with have to developmental disabilities is important one in four people in this country will have a disability over the course of their lifetime.
26:44
It is likely that everyone you meet know someone with a disability or is related to someone with a disability. You don't necessarily want to call that out. But you want to keep that in the back of their mind and offered them the opportunity to come to it on their own the picture. There is a Roundtable with people from a wide range of demographics there and they are just sitting around smiling each other in the picture and hopefully this represents your board.
27:14
Wide range and range of people and populations and your Administration. If not, you need to bring that Consciousness to them.
27:25
And I'm going to turn it back over to Barbara who's got some concrete ideas about programs for you.
27:33
Okay, so this is Section 3 some program ideas. And can I have the next slide please?
27:44
Okay. So where we're going to start is with Library tours because they're easy to do and a logical first step and this slide has a floor plan of library on one side with different areas in colors. So nonfiction is yellow green is from some other areas read for others. It's not quite clear to read but you could get the general idea. So if you are ready have groups who use your library, it's very simple to approach them and offer to show them the light.
28:13
Barry on one of their regular visits and you may well be doing tours already of some kind for new people in the community. So this is probably something that is very familiar to you to do if they take you up on the idea of doing a tour. Here's some things to keep in mind.
28:29
So first of all be interactive and Hands-On don't just talk at them ask simple questions find out their interests and then show them where books on those and other materials on those subjects can be found in the library. Let them try yourself check out and book drop do name tags if you can and even then people that can't write can draw something or color something to personalize their tag.
28:54
Be aware of how you communicate you simple clear statements and one part directions are best make sure everyone understands what's happened before you proceed go slowly.
29:08
Next again going back to what Carrie just said incorporate visuals and predictability into your tour. You can have a written or pictorial schedule. It helps make the tour predictable let people know where you're going to go and what you're going to do. Another idea for visual is the color coded floor plan. This was developed by Lisa Hagen in the Germantown Community Library in Tennessee, and she uses this on her chores.
29:34
What she does is she takes a sheet of colored construction paper that corresponds to the colored areas on the map and gives that to the participants and then they have to go around the library and find the Place where that same color is pinned on the wall or taped on the wall or on the door of that area. So it's sort of a game involved in finding the matching color in doing this. She incorporates visuals. She makes the tour interactive.
30:05
It's accessible to non-readers because you're just matching colors and it also teaches map reading skills and teaches people how to use the floor plan of the library and does all of this brilliantly in a fun way while introducing the library Who to approach when you have questions point out the public service desks and introduce the staff these people will be much more comfortable going up to somebody if they've met them once before and if they consider that person friendly.
30:34
Focus on the adult areas and services not just Youth Services remember they're adults.
30:41
Cover your library rules and behavioral expectations. You may think that these policies are common sense. But again, it's helpful to make them explicit and when you tell people what you expect tell them what to do not what is bad and that they shouldn't do you can also post a video or series of images with captions on your website. These are often called social stories and this can help make your tour predictable or your library more predictable.
31:10
Just keep Very simple, very simple language and easy pictures and make it easy to find on the website next please.
31:19
Next slide great. This has three images on it one says sensory friendly screenings. The one of the Mills says movie night and has a sort of movie reel in the middle and some film and the one on the right has a couple of hubs of popcorn. So a number of libraries do sensory friendly movies primarily for children, but they work well for adults to the idea comes from the AMC Theatres, which pioneered showing movies with the lights turned off.
31:50
The Sounds lowered and allowing talking and moving around in the theater while you're watching the film all of that is very easy to do in the library setting and most libraries do have public performance rights for films. You can also have table seating and offer adults appropriate coloring pages with colored pencils and fidgets, please not crayon and fidgets for the attendees to use while they view the film and leave room in the back for those who move around and make it more fun.
32:20
Don't forget pop corn and be sure to pick age-appropriate film is nice. Okay, if that's what your audience really likes, but think Beyond Disney some things that might work a classic musicals travelogues other kinds of documentaries romantic comedies work well because they're formulaic and yes adults with developmental disabilities are interested in Romance. Animal movies can also work.
32:46
Well just avoid movies that are too scary either in terms of horror or other kinds of violence and movies that have really complex plots and would be hard for anybody to follow next next slide, please.
33:04
Okay.
33:06
So this is food program and there is a picture of a cart with a blender and a cooktop and a bowl on it and a couple of shells that are full of containers and other objects in the back. There's also a table that has a toaster oven on it. So everyone needs to eat and put food programs can be a big hit for everyone. So try doing program based on a single food like ice cream bacon or avocado off at cooking demonstrations.
33:37
I would samples of what's been made just be sure that you don't do foods that are highly allergic usually good to avoid gluten as well. It's easy to recruit local chefs and they can publicly publicize their restaurants in this way. So if you approach a local restaurant celebrity chef and say do you want to come in and do a cooking demonstration in the library often? You'll get a yes just be sure that you brief them first about the adults with developmental disabilities will be in the audience.
34:06
You know, so give them some of the guidelines like to talk slowly and simply and maybe even request that they provide visuals of the steps in their recipe. So the attendees can follow along you can also predict those on the screen over them as they do the cooking.
34:22
You can also offer a series of cooking classes for adults with developmental disabilities the card in this picture shows what Athens uses in their program? This is Athens in Georgia, and they base there's on a Model invented by The Culinary Literacy Center, which is at the Free Library in Philadelphia.
34:42
The CLC produces a guide called culinary literacy a toolkit for public libraries and it's a great resource for you to use and to adapt if you want to do cooking program. It's on your resource and out. There's a lot of useful information in the guide not CD specific, but very adaptable just bring in the best practices. We've talked about some of the things that carry alluded to and you can make any program.
35:12
applicable or inclusive If you do gardening in your library try combining gardening and cooking in a program invite your regular visitors with developmental disabilities to work in your garden, then prepare a simple dishes together when you harvest and just a little plug but Carrie Banks last book was a book about Library Gardens. So if you seen that and you might refer to that and do some gardening programs, if not, that's a great book to get make a garden and do some cooking along with it.
35:45
Next next slide, please.
35:50
So this is Reed long program.
35:53
And it has an image of a number of books that sell out book and one book on its side with a coffee cup on it and another coffee cup on the other side of the books.
36:06
So we had to have something about books right since books and literacy are such a big part of what libraries are all about.
36:13
So the most popular of the book clubs for people with developmental disabilities whose called the next chapter book club for a minimal C libraries become next chapter book club Affiliates and they receive training materials and support from the organization which originated as a nice longer Center at Ohio State University in 2002. They now have clubs all over the United States and internationally many of them are in libraries.
36:41
There's a set structure and guidelines that Julia talk to follow and the resource list will have the website if you want to look into the next chapter book clubs and consider affiliating if you want something less structured, there's lots of other possibilities you could tries and we'll have a number of these laid out in the book many libraries have designed their own models Summer Long running and then successful like books for dessert at Port Washington Public Library in New York that's been going on almost as long as next chapter book club.
37:11
And what they do is they read the book together and Then at the end they watch a movie that's based on the book.
37:17
Or you can read and then make book-related crafts like bookmarks or items that relate to a theme you can add games like trivia or Bingo or try readers theater. There's lots of different things you can do or you can just come up with your own ideas. So lots of different things you can do in programming and we're going to turn it back to carry to talk about virtual programming which is so timely now.
37:46
Alright, sorry there's a lot to do here to switch.
37:51
And I use a left-handed Mouse which by the way is a universal dot design feature of computers, but they don't give you as much room here using all the enemies. So I want to talk about something that came up as Barbara and I were researching the book and that is the positive shutdowns and lockdowns associated with covid-19. All of a sudden in mid-march most libraries in this country 98% of them went virtual and and go on Birch.
38:21
Virtual their programs for individuals with developmental disabilities also on Virtual there is a so we're going to talk about virtual programming. There's the picture on this slide is a ring with pipe cleaners Chenille sticks attached to it.
38:36
It's an example of one kind of fidget that Library makes and their virtual programs many libraries took their book clubs online either via the phone and in the same types of Sure, the barber discussed. So they're either reading them together on the phone or with zoom that's been one really successful program. Excuse me in a couple of places. They're doing things like reading just having a phone in poetry or story line. It's important that we consider phone resources because people with developmental disabilities have less access online access than the general population, and we know that generally speaking.
39:21
8% of people don't have regular or reliable access to the internet and and that's important.
39:28
So we have to offer phone programming in addition to Online program. The other things people are doing on phones are reference answering weapons questions and doing check-ins libraries are just calling up the people that they their patrons with developmental disabilities and checking in and seeing how they're doing.
39:48
It can be a great way to break through that isolation. Some libraries are offering technology and virtual resource hope so they are using the phone to talk people through things like downloading audiobooks or accessing things online that I mentioned the Poetry readings already Brooklyn Public Library where I work, we have continued our autism friendly concerts virtually.
40:15
So music for autism is Uploading them live every other week on.
40:23
On YouTube and you can access that through their website music for autism.com and then back to our fidget and a lot of some libraries are doing online craft programs. They're making fidgets. They're doing mirror writings. They're doing writing workshops either online or on the phone where they give out prompts and then people are writing in response to this prompts and sending what they've written back mostly through pictures.
40:51
They're also sending pictures of the fidgets in the art that Creating in the mirror writing and then the libraries are shown sharing those out on social media.
41:00
So that's been a really nice way for some libraries to get to know their patrons individually when people with developmental disabilities adults come to the library it's often in a group and the programs are for that particular group and the Librarians aren't interacting as much with individuals as they as they like and it's through these virtual programs in those sharing that's gone on they've been able to make connections with visuals much more easily strangely enough The other thing the barber and I wanted to talk about is to make sure that your existing programs are inclusive and we've hinted at that. So the the virtual tour is it didn't take much to make those inclusive right at our own Library. We offered from a public library offered Wii bowling. We had a Wii bowling leagues where branches can Beach Branch had their own participated had their own bowling league and they had competitions people.
41:57
Had shirts and it was originally a program sponsored by our services for older adults department and what we found was that people with develops with developmental disabilities. We're really enjoying it and they started coming to the program and it became a naturally inclusive program. And that's a great thing. If you're using those Universal Design for Learning principles and Universal Design principles in designing all of your programs, then you will get more naturally inclusive programs.
42:24
That being said remember it's more than just Being right so diversity is being invited to the party conclusion is that it is being asked to dance and that's a quote converter Myers A diversity and inclusion expert and it's really important that people not only come to the library, but that they engage with the library oftentimes groups come and they sit in the café all day and then lie that's not inclusion inclusion is when they come to the library they gather in the calf.
42:57
I paid and they go out into the different departments get the books or materials or or magazines that they want attend the programs that they want and then come back together at the end of the date.
43:09
So we're going to go back to Barbara now and she's going to be talking about best practices and I want to thank everyone for holding their questions and we'll have some time at the end.
43:21
Okay the next please.
43:26
next slide Okay. So there's three logos at the top one is sa & Ys self. Advocacy Association of New York State. The one in the middle is Asin autistic self. Advocacy Network and the one on the right is an African-American man at a bookcase and he's holding a binder. Barbara So Barbara. Carrie you want me to take this but I just realized that I sent it back to you too soon.
43:58
Yeah, go right ahead. Sorry about that. Sorry folks. I'm working from two scripts and I got them confused.
44:04
Yeah, so so best practices you can rely on best practices to plan and present your program in the planning stage. You need to involve self-advocates, right Librarians are really good at creating programs, but we're even better at it when we create programs and we involve the intended audience in creating it.
44:31
You need to consider both the chronological age of the people that you're planning a program for and the developmental age. So that goes back to that Shakespeare. I'm presenting it in a variety of different ways because Shakespeare something that's appropriate for adults, but maybe they're not reading at the level that you need to read at to understand Shakespeare. And so you present the Osbourne version or maybe their listening skills are better than their reading print skills. And so you have the audio version.
44:59
So considering both At chronological and developmental age and ability levels.
45:07
Partnering with your community agencies is a great way to plan your programs because then you've already got buy-in and you in with your audience.
45:16
Or with people who can bring your audience again involving the self advocates in the planning gives you that buy-in with the audience and partner with other libraries staff member. Remember we said one in four people has a disability and so it's likely that someone on your staff has some expertise in this area and they can may be willing to help again.
45:36
You want to offer that opportunity without singling anybody out and making it clear that they have a relative with a disability and staff training that's really critical and all of those things the barber talked about the beginning attitudes in basic techniques and things like that and it needs to be the whole staff not just the one or two or three people who will be directly involved because people with disabilities developmental disabilities will be coming to your library and they will be interacting with their Everyone, it's Brooklyn Public Library. We often say that the person who interacts first with the public and often is most visible are our special officers. And so they need to be comfortable working with everyone as well as the Janet custodial steps.
46:32
So once you plan these great programs you need to implement them. Right? So we need to schedule the some best practices on implementation. The first is to schedule them at the time. So they're good for the attendees not what some libraries have done in the past to say. Okay. We have some sort of slow time here. Let's do a program for people with developmental disabilities. That may not be a good time for them. And again, I'm bothering them in that planning will prevent errors like this.
47:01
use volunteers and by the way volunteers with and without disabilities sometimes programs can be a little more labor intensive and because individuals might need some more support and having some volunteers there expands your Your potential to be able to do the programs effectively you need to communicate effectively and that's takes us to the illustrations on the slide. One are two people two adults. Sorry about that talking in sign language and the other is a young woman using an iPad to communicate. She does that by pointing to the pictures or touching the pictures and then the iPad vocalizes.
47:44
What she wants to say?
47:48
Offering choices is important. We know that at every level right so boys will be more likely to read something in school. If you give them a choice between two books adults don't like to be told what to do.
48:01
Nobody does so often them choices, you know, not just cut and dried Programs and finally, let the participants lead. This is what I mean by that is if they're interested in the subject go for it go with it. If they're not don't if they have ideas things that they want to do incorporate them into the next program. We actually have a program at the library book and Public Library. That's it's a self advocacy group and they meet monthly and they determine the I facilitate the group. I asked them what they want me to plan.
48:40
Never asked me to plan things like workshops on the senses workshops on.
48:47
On sexuality and birth control workshops on a voter registration drive and those are all things that we have done with this group at they're urging and it's just been great. But in letting them lead to not just having once the planning is done having them lead the meetings. It's important in that particular instance. And now I really am going to send it back to Barbara and she's going to be talking more about our book.
49:18
Okay. Thank you. Carrie. Can I have the next slide please?
49:25
So we don't have a lot of times. I'm going to go through this really pretty quickly. But this is just to give you a general overview of what the book is going to cover and that it's going to be more extensive than what we talked about today. So there's two pictures here. One is an African-American man wearing an ornate kind of Royal cape and a white woman. She's actually sitting in a wheelchair, but she seated and turned back and looking up at him. There's an illustration other.
49:55
Shannon of a drum and some Shaker eggs and a third illustration of two men together about two damn. So our programs will be introduced in categories the library and literature programs, which goes Way Beyond what we talked about today arts and crafts programs Performing Arts, which includes Dance Theater music gaming both video and tabletop lots of programs about pulsing.
50:24
And life skills career and employment programs and virtual programs, which have been come so important to library next slide, please.
50:37
There's two illustrations on this page one is an emoji with dollar signs on his eyes and doing thumbs up and the other is a series of blocks with alphabet letters on them and some spell out words have power. So we're also going to talk a lot in the book about support things and Theory. So we're going to have a big section on how to plan for programming. We're going to be covering in some depth correct terminology, which is such an issue when you're talking about people.
51:07
Disabilities and as this little illustration said words have power and they have power to help them. They have power to hurt. We're going to go through marketing and what a good marketing plan is when you're dealing with adults with developmental disabilities. It really goes beyond what you might typically due to Market program some additional things on how to fund programs. We ideally think they should be funded through your regular budget, but we will give you some other tips.
51:37
As well and then an extensive resource section section, so I'm going to be a lot in there.
51:46
How are you - okay. So what would be yeah, I'm going to bring it home now folks. What we basically want you to know is that libraries are for everyone and the illustration on this page is the Hub goofy poster where Manual Alphabet spells out libraries are for everyone. There are pictures of 10 Library patrons. All holding are looking at Globes One is using an electric wheelchair on looking at a globe on a computer screen.
52:16
They are all different backgrounds and races. There is a woman with her sheep. There are people with earrings and there is also a person with half his head shaved and a cochlear implant. So in fact libraries are for everyone, you've got some time for questions. Now, this is how you can contact us.
52:39
It will be the PowerPoint will be is up online so that you can access And get our contact information and I believe Mary wanted to talk a little bit about project enable.
52:52
But we have we do have time for a few questions and then we can yeah, and then we'll have a little more discussion about the meeting. Okay. So we have a few questions here. First one there are many nonprofit organizations or support groups that also do programs for this group of people with special needs. How does the libraries program differentiate with they ours?
53:20
Okay.
53:23
Well I was going to say that's one of the things that we suggest in best practices to on your handout is part of the foundation of doing library programs is really to reach out to these agencies and form Partnerships with them and as part of that as you develop a relationship you're in communication, so you find out what it is that they're doing and you plan your program to fill some of the gaps or to meet some of the the interests that they want to explore through the library. So you're trying to avoid duplication with their efforts. You don't come up with an idea or self and they say, oh they might like this and let's invite them. So you come from listening to them first Jerry. Did you want to add something to that? No, just that. I mean the same thing could be said of all of our library programs other other agencies to concerts other ones to people have book discussion groups in their homes.
54:17
Why do we have you know our library and why do we do these programs?
54:22
And that's because libraries are important to our community centers and everybody belongs in libraries.
54:29
And it could also be that some of the other offerings are fee-based. So often libraries will duplicate things that are done elsewhere. But where people have to pay and many many the majority actually of people with developmental disabilities are unemployed or underemployed living on fixed incomes. And so the fact of not having to pay as a huge incentive for them to use Library Services there another question. Yeah kind of a couple people.
54:58
Ask me about how you were both describing the images that are on the PowerPoint. Can you talk about how while you were doing that sure, this is Carrie. I'll take that one Barbara if it's okay we want we wanted to model best practices in accessibility line to model Universal Design and you describe the PowerPoint at the pictures and PowerPoints for people who can't see them. Well for people who can see them but can't necessarily interpret them.
55:27
Well, Those people have trouble with social cues. So maybe people with Autism or people with mental health issues and also for people who have processing issues who are you know, it might take them a few extra minutes to process visual images and we don't want them to start to buy them. We want them to know what the images are why they're there and how they relate to what we're talking about on the slides. So it was simply a matter of of walking the walk.
56:00
And do you have any tips for working with nonverbal patient?
56:08
Just because people are non-verbal doesn't mean they don't communicate and that goes back to two different to how they communicate are we doing? Yeah.
56:19
I was basically the same thing and part of especially if they're regular patrons is to find out what their preferred communication method is and we also do have a section in the book where we talked about behaviors and how behaviors are communication so Because we know that for many people that's also a barrier of that fear of how people with developmental disabilities will behave in the library and often.
56:47
You can pick up what's really going on and what they're interested in or what's bothering them through some behavioral cues. Do you want to add anything to that carry? Yeah, just that the joint libraries and autism project libraries and autism has a great communication resource.
57:05
It's the kind of thing that you can have at the reference desk and people who are non-verbal can use it to point to pictures of what they're interested in or signs of what they're interested in but also just Always have a pad of paper and a pen or pencil on it. Sometimes people who don't speak do right, and I think you covered this a little bit. But someone was asking is it better to have programs targeted towards people with disability or should these be accommodations made during traditional programming for an inclusive environment?
57:42
Let me start you probably have other things to say about it. This is Barbara. I think sometimes it's good to have a combination of both because there are times when sometimes people with developmental disabilities want to be with their peers just you know, the I guess the analogy would be that you might do program specifically for teens, but the teens who come to the library are also welcome to go to other programs.
58:07
And so I think offering you know when we talk about offered Ways that could also be part of the choice sometimes these groups that come want a program done specifically for them. And so you might go that way but I wouldn't just limit to that because people may want to go to many of the other programs that you traditionally offered and you should make do what you can to make sure that that's possible for them.
58:33
And it works the other way to some others have had to have had success with sports discussion groups that have started and were designed for people with disabilities developmental disabilities.
58:45
But interested other people in the library people without disabilities who came to the group's to so that's also a movie program that you'll people walk by see there's a movie showing and come on in and watch the movie right, but I wanted to address something else that they said somebody Me about making accommodations and one of the things that Barbara and I both hope is that we're not making accommodations that we are designing our programs from the beginning to be so that they can be inclusive and so that they can meet the needs of people with developmental disabilities and other disabilities.
59:21
Great. Okay, so we're just about the top of the hour. So if you want to go to the last slide we can have Lisa come on and talk about the discussion that's coming up. Hi everyone. Thank you Barbara and Carrie. That was really wonderful. We appreciate you sharing your expertise. So just a quick note about the fact that we hope to have a smaller group discussion to follow up on some of the things that Barbara and Carrie have brought up.
59:50
Today, I'm sure there's a lot of things that have come to your mind that's going to take place on May 27th. So fairly soon. We wanted that to be a pretty close follow-up. You can see the times listed there and it will be facilitated by Mary Kelly who is the Statewide coordinator for the autism program of Illinois and was our instructor for the Project Enable course that we just offered we're going to limit this to 20 participants because we would like for it to be something where people can actually talk.
1:00:20
Talk discuss and in really have some interaction so for an invitation and the access information, if you would just email your name the name of your organization the state where you live and why you'd like to be part of the discussion to me and it's Lisa that infopeople dot o-r-g. If you can select to me by May 23rd so fairly quickly and then I will send access information to those 20 folks.
1:00:51
May 25th so that you'll know to put that on your calendar it'll take about an hour. We hope and we will also plan them to to just record that and archive it if you're interested in having something about that discussion sent to you as well. Thank you very much. Mary, send it back to you to finish up. All right, so thank you very much again, Carrie and Barbara. It was awesome.