MLA Guide to Health Literacy

The Medical Library Association Guide to Health Literacy is a comprehensive introduction to the topic of health literacy in both the public and hospital library, including service to special populations. Included in the discussion of special populations is “Health Literacy for People with Disabilities” by Shelley Hourston.

Hourston discusses the barriers to health literacy facing the special needs population along with a brief overview of various disabilities: physical disabilities, developmental disabilities, brain injury, low vision or blindness, low hearing or deafness, mental health disabilities, and learning disabilities. Hourston notes that health literacy can be especially important for those with disabilities as they also tend to have an increased use of medication (p. 119).

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Kars M, Baker L, Wilson FL,. The Medical Library Association guide to health literacy. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers; 2008.

Making Sure Kids With Special Needs Get Toys, Too

Making Sure Kids With Special Needs Get Toys, Too – Ohio State University Medical Center (video transcript available at: http://www.msmediacenter.tv/story.php?id=13&enter=2)

The Toy and Technology Library in association with the Ohio State University Medical Center is a lending library for adaptive toys for children with special needs. Adaptive toys traditionally are more expensive than standard toys. By providing a free toy-lending service, parents can try out toys prior to purchase and work with a therapist to create an educational play environment.

Toy lending libraries are ideal additions to biomedical libraries in children’s hospitals, and have actually been around for decades in numerous countries. The University of Nottingham’s Toy Library was founded in 1970 while researching the development of play in children with disabilities, and remains active today. Child development case studies are taken when a family applies for membership; and both children and parents are provided with education and referrals to support the entire family. (1)

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(1) Head J. A toy library service for handicapped children. Proc R Soc Med 1975 Jan;68(1):42. Available from:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1863724/

Key U.S. Disability Legislation

In the past three decades there have been numerous laws and regulations passed to both prevent discrimination based upon disability and also support such individuals with special needs. Here are three key acts to introduce you to the topic:

• Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 504 protects against discrimination based upon mental or physical disability from organization that receive federal funding. Section 508 additionally requires accessible information technology. (1)
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990: prohibits discriminate solely on the basis of disability in employment, public services, and accommodations. (2)
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): embraces children with special needs in education. Children and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B. Infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth – 2) and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. (3)

Please see “A Guide to Disability Rights Laws” (September 2005) at Disability.gov for more information about these and other disability laws.

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(1) United States Access Board. The Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1973, as amended. [cited 2011 December 7]. Available at: http://access-board.gov/enforcement/rehab-act-text/intro.htm.

(2) United States Department of Justice. AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990, AS AMENDED. 2009 [cited 2011 December 7]. Available at: http://www.ada.gov/pubs/ada.htm.

(3) National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. IDEA—the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. [cited 2011 December 7]. Available at: http://nichcy.org/laws/idea.

Disabilities Defined

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (- 42 U.S.C. § 12102) defines disabilities in three parts:

•(A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of such individual;

•(B) a record of such an impairment; or

•(C) being regarded as having such an impairment. (1)

The Office on Disability (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) compliments the legislative definition of disabilities as “characteristics of the body, mind, or senses that, to a greater or lesser extent, affect a person’s ability to engage independently in some or all aspects of day-to-day life.” (2) Simply put, those with disabilities have special needs, whether physically, mentally, or intellectually. These needs may be visible, invisible, and/or temporary. Biomedical librarians can assist with these needs by not only ensuring access within the library environment to all clientele, but also through assisting doctors, nurses, and other clinicians in staying up-to-date on disability topics.

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(1) U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ADA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2008. 2008 [cited 2011 December 7]. Available at: http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/adaaa.cfm

(2) Office on Disability. What is Disability and Who is Affected by Disability?. [cited 2011 December 7] Available at: http://www.hhs.gov/od/about/fact_sheets/whatisdisability.html.

Disability Services at ASU Libraries

Though Arizona State University does not have a Medical Library, the ADA services that they offer would be an amazing addition to any academic health sciences library. In addition to standard ADA building compliance, the ASU campus in Tempe has a dedicated ADA Service Room at Hayden Library and accessible workstations in all branch libraries. This video introduces the various assistive technologies that are available including various computer keyboards and mice, speech recongnition, magnification software, and Braille translators. Additional information about ADA services at all eight ASU libraries can be found online at: http://lib.asu.edu/ada.

As seen at CLA: Optelec ClearReader+ Advanced

Netherlands-based company, Optelec showcased some of their latest assistive technology for the visually impaired and dyslexic at the California Library Association Conference last month. One of the most impressive items was the ClearReader+ Advanced, a nearly instant text-to-speech scanner. Compact in size and easily portable with a battery and built-in handle, it is a fraction of the cost and size of previous machines. Users can also scan to a monitor to magnify text and images, and save documents with a voice label.

AbleData

AbleData is a review website for assistive technology maintained by the The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) that aims for objectivity, and does not sell any products.    The assistive technology product database includes the following categories:

• Aids for Daily Living
• Blind and Low Vision
• Communication
• Computers
• Controls
• Deaf And Hard of Hearing
• Deaf Blind
• Education
• Environmental Adaptations
• Housekeeping
• Orthotics
• Prosthetics
• Recreation
• Safety and Security
• Seating
• Therapeutic Aids
• Transportation
• Walking
• Wheeled Mobility
• Workplace

AbleData also provides lists of regional, national, and international resources and conferences. A searchable assistive technology literature library includes links to thousands of publications on 45 different topics, along with downloadable fact sheets on each major category of assistive technology. One of the more interesting documents on the site is their Guide to Indexing Terms, which is helpful in researching information both on the AbleData site and other databases.

AbleData is an excellent resource for biomedical librarians not when considering assistive technology purchases, but also as an informative resource referral for clinicians and patients alike.

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AbleData: http://www.abledata.com

The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR): http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/nidrr/index.html

ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (ADDAG)

(image via clipart.com)

Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 presented regulations to ensure accessibility to buildings and facilities for people with disabilities. Section 8 of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities from the United States Access Board provides specific guidelines for libraries. In addition to the standard building guidelines, these additional regulations increase physical accessibility to study and reading areas, checkout, card catalogs, magazine racks, and stacks. However, following the regulations of the ADA should  just be a start. To be a truly inclusive environment, libraries must reach beyond simply providing the traditional accommodations for ambulatory impairments. Those with special needs require not only access to the physical building and materials, but also access to the information within.

Americans with Disabilities Act: http://www.ada.gov/

United States Access Board: http://www.access-board.gov/

U.S. GAO – Older Workers: Demographic Trends Pose Challenges for Employers and Workers

Though this report is now ten years old, it is interesting to revisit as this year marks the first that the Baby Boomer generation turned 65. It was estimated that by 2015, 19.6% of the labor force will be over the age of 55 (Figure 1).  These numbers are comparable to job statistics in the health sciences, 19.3 % of doctors and 12% of nurses were over the age of 55 in 2,000 (Table 8). These figures are important when considering the clientele of the biomedical library and the special needs that might arise with regards to potential vision, hearing, and mobility impairments as workers retire at a later age.

You can download a PDF of the report at: U.S. GAO – Older Workers: Demographic Trends Pose Challenges for Employers and Workers.

IFLA: Library Services to People with Special Needs Section

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ LSN was originally created as part of Subcommittee on Hospital Libraries in 1931 as a means to promote library services (including bibliotherapy) to those that were hospitalized and homebound. Renamed for the 6th time in 2008, the Library Service to Special Needs Section of the IFLA is a forum for library and professionals across the globe to discuss improving services to those not only in healthcare facilities, but also all library patrons with disabilities. As this section covers services to all who cannot access traditional library services, prison library issues are also covered. The LSN digital newsletter and publication archive is available on the IFLA website.