Disability & Special Needs

Disability Resources

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA ensures people with disabilities equal opportunity for employment and access to transportation, services and public and commercial facilities.

• ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADAAG)
• ADA Hot Links: Links to information on a variety of aspects of the ADA
• Great Lakes ADA and Accessible IT Center:  Resources for all aspects of the ADA. Staff of the center can provide assistance via email, US mail and telephone.
• US Department of Justice ADA Home Page: An extensive list of resources to help comply with ADA.
• ADA Title II Technical Assistance Manual: Covering State and Local Government Programs and Services

Vision Impairment

Assistive Technology

• EASI: Equal Access to Software and Information
• Sharper Vision Store
• WATI: Wisconsin Assistive Technology Initiative

Services

• Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired offers vision rehabilitation services for Wisconsin residents providing knowledge and skills to enable independent living. Web resources include links to organizations, government services, and educational resources designed to assist the blind and visually impaired.
• Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library, part of the Talking Book Program of the Library of Congress, provides braille and recorded books and playback equipment for those Wisconsin residents who for any physical reason cannot read normal print. Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library is located in the Milwaukee Public Library’s Central Library in downtown Milwaukee:
  
  813 W. Wells St.
  Milwaukee, WI 53233

  414.286.3045 (Milwaukee)
  800.242.8822 (Wisconsin toll free number)
  414.286.3548 (TDD)
  414.286.3102 (FAX)
  [email protected]

• Wisconsin Services for Blind and Visually Impaired offers information and links on services available to the blind and visually impaired. Maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.
• American Printing House for the Blind is a source of products for the blind and visually impaired.
• American Foundation for the Blind
• National Federation of the Blind Newsline is a free dial-in service offering access to more than 200 newspapers nationwide, including the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
• Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic offers audio editions of more than 100,000 textbooks and educational titles in a wide variety of subjects. Titles cover all education levels, from Kindergarten to post-graduate.
• Blind Readers’ Page
• Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind

Hearing Impairment

• American Sign Language Browser is an online American Sign Language (ASL) browser where you can look up thousands of ASL signs and learn interesting things about them.
• Captioned Media Program  Provides access to more than 4,000 captioned titles through its Free Loan Media Program and maintains a database of additional captioned media available for purchase. Also serves as a clearinghouse of information on captioning.
• Wisconsin Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• Wisconsin Freelance Interpreter List

Special Needs

• Adolescent Literacy Initiative
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Bilingual Resources
  • SOL
  • PLUS
  • Latino Links ON OWLSweb
  • REFORMA Library Resources
  • Resources for Librarians (TSLAC)
• Early Learning Initiative
• Library Services to Users with Special Needs
• Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library

Planning Resources for Librarians

• Adults with Special Needs: A Resource and Planning Guide for Wisconsin’s Public Libraries
• The Collaborative Summer Library Program website provides summer reading program planning resources for children with special needs.
• Exceptional Parent – Practical advice and the most up-to-date educational information covering disabilities and special healthcare needs online and through a variety of media including magazines, books, DVDs, and CDs, interactive CME accredited seminars and teleconferences.
• Family Village  provides a variety of resources for children and adults on more than 300 disabilities.
• “Library Accessibility – What Trustees Need to Know” – A toolkit provided by The Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA)  that covers access issues including but are not limited to patrons who have cognitive, mental, or emotional illnesses; learning and/or developmental disabilities; physical disabilities; service animals; and patrons needing assistive technologies.
• Library Services to Users with Special Needs – The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction provides links to publications, data, initiatives, and agencies.
• Learning Disabilities Association of America – Adult reading literacy programs for literacy providers.
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – Offers information on disorders that seriously interfere with the day to day functioning.
• National Dissemination Center for Children With Disabilities – Provides information and answers questions related to programs, services and legal issues affecting infants, children, and youth with disabilities
• Office for Outreach and Literacy: ALA
• Programming for Children With Special Needs – A five part series covering programming for Children with Special Needs series
• WebJunction: Outreach planning documents
• Writing LSTA Special Needs Grants
• Public Library Services for Youth with Special Needs: A Plan for Wisconsin – Planning document for developing library services for youth with special needs

Planning Tools

• Amazon Large Print Children’s Books
• AbleData – Objective information on assistive technology and rehabilitation equipment available from domestic and international sources to consumers, organizations, professionals, and caregivers within the United States.
• Reading Rockets – An educational initiative with resources to make it easy for librarians to support children’s reading achievement including themed and seasonal booklists, literacy calendars, library literacy toolkits, video interviews, and hundreds of inspirational articles.