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    Teaching Disability History
    878 Members Created Oct 14, 2016
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    I posted this in TPS Commons, but I thought I would also post here since it relates to Disability History!

    Hi everyone! As I move forward in my internship, I will be posting weekly to share some thoughts and resources in connection with my experiences onsite at the Library.

    This Saturday, as I worked in the Library’s Young Readers Center and Programs Lab (YRCPL), I noticed many children showing a keen interest in the resources on display that relate to the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). The YRCPL has a table that displays Talking Books, books in Braille, and information about how people who are blind or have low vision access literature. The NLS is also part of a collaborative effort to help plan for future youth spaces in the Library. 

    I wanted to learn more about the history of the NLS and look at primary sources related to the creation of the NLS and accessible literature. The Library of Congress first developed a concept for a national library for the blind in 1897, when Librarian of Congress John Russell Young established a reading room for the blind containing about 500 books and music items in raised characters. The Pratt-Smoot Act of 1931 authorized the Library of Congress to establish a program to distribute books for blind adults, which would develop over time to become the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled. (For more information on the history of NLS, visit https://www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/history/). In 2009, the Library created an exhibition in honor of Louis Braille’s 200th Birthday, which is still available online and contains various images related to braille and print accessibility. The images and articles that I found through the Library might be a good way to introduce learners to how literature was made accessible to people who are blind or people with low vision in the past. The Observe, Reflect, Question method would be a great start in analyzing these sources. You might ask your students if they notice anything about how braille is read and how it was created. This could also spark conversation with students about accessibility aids for people with disabilities, and where they see accessibility aids like braille in their daily life (public restrooms, signs, etc.)

    Do you know of any other sources related to the NLS? How do you discuss accessibility in your schools/organizations and with your students? How could you envision using these sources to start a conversation with your learners?

    If this topic interests you, check out the posts from former Junior Fellow   Ellie Kaplan  , who compiled resources on teaching disability history.

    Further Resources:

      Social Studies/History    Disability History    National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled Library

    2 likes 2 comments 29 views
    YRCPL NLS Table.jpg
    Library of Congress: Division for the Blind. Reading Room
    BRAILLE ALPHABET AT LIBRARY FOR THE BLIND. INSTITUTE OF THE BLIND
    [Woman reading braille]
    New York, New York. Charlotte Rohr operating the Braille press at the Lighthouse, an institution for the blind, at 111 East Fifty-ninth Street
    New York, New York. Miss Louise Kintner, head of the Public Relations Department (left) dictating to Ruth Askenas, who is taking it down on a Braille machine at the Lighthouse, an institution for the blind, at 111 East Fifty-ninth Street
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    This is a topic very dear to my heart--thank you for all of the great resources and history of the NLS.  My final project for the 2019 Teaching with Primary Sources Teachers Institute at the LOC posed the focus question: How can someone who is blind or visually impaired learn to read and enjoy books (and libraries)?  It was a unit that spanned two classes.   I introduced the topic with an analysis of Red Cross Workers in Providence, R.I. Printing Braille.  We then read Jen Bryant's Six Dots: A Story of Young Louis Braille.  They also got to read (and feel) Menena Cottin's The Black Book of Colors.  These were both great resources that brought the topic to life for my students.  I had also purchased several braille slates and styluses, and students loved making bookmarks with their names in braille.

    Thank you,   Soline Holmes ! It's so great to hear that we have an interest in common, and thank you so much for sharing the about the resources that you created on this topic! I had never heard of The Black Book of Colors before--what a cool resource for students to step into someone else's shoes. 

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