Main content

UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities Message

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Dear Library,

The UN says "inclusion matters." You are making it happen.

December 3rd marks the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This year’s theme is “Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities.” What a great fit for public libraries.

At NNELS this past year (our second as a mature service), we celebrated the launch of new partner libraries in the network, added over 4,000 books to our collection for both children and adults, and helped numerous libraries welcome new readers.

But it’s really thanks to the hard work of public libraries across Canada that more people than ever recognize public libraries like yours as a brilliant source of accessible books and information. Library staff are participating in the network by asking questions and sharing what they know at conferences, training sessions, and as they go about their daily work. Libraries are more than just adopting the idea that inclusion matters: they are running with it, sharing it, and using it to change the lives of readers with print disabilities across Canada.

Thank you for caring about literacy, making phone calls, approaching challenges with curiosity and a sense of humour, and for modeling what inclusion and access look like in public libraries.  

Time and time again, we’ve been told by readers with print disabilities that the most important thing a library can do is approach accessibility and technology with an open heart. For those of you just getting started: please know that you can call or email us with any kind of NNELS, technology, or accessibility questions. One of our goals is to empower library staff to strengthen accessible services at their library, opening the doors to every member of the community

We wish you all a happy holiday season and look forward to working with all of you in 2016!

Oh behalf of:

...the kid who was able to get and read all those Big Nate books,

...the grandmother who was able to listen to the novel her granddaughter wrote,

...the reader who signs her emails “Your friend in reading,”

...the educator who helped her student discover NNELS, and said "This is so exciting, it is better than Christmas!”

...the teacher always looking for more Braille books for her students,

...all of the people who discovered dyslexic fonts this last year,

...the reader who wrote to say, regarding the Canadian literary award winners we produced this year, “This is the very first time that I could debate the merits of each book with all my sighted readers!  Even better I could ask them, ‘Have you read this Title yet’?  Smile.”

...the one who sent this note: “In all honesty, I did not know that reading could be so much fun. Thanks for lighting my fire.”
 


...and also, of course, from all of us:

Thank you.   

 

Yours truly,
 


The National Network for Equitable Library Service