Happy Disability Pride Month! While July is widely recognized as a month to celebrate our nation's independence, what many may not know is that it also holds significance as the month commemorating the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was historically passed into law on July 26th, 1990.
Disability Pride Month seeks to help remove the societal and cultural stigma of disability and change the way people think about and define disability. It also aims to highlight the ongoing challenges that people with disabilities still encounter while providing an opportunity for the disability community to come together and celebrate their individuality.
As Disability Pride Month takes center stage, we want you to know that Anne Arundel County Public Library (AACPL) is here for people of all abilities. Our goal is to provide a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone can engage with our programs, services and resources. We are committed to making the library experience accessible and enjoyable for everyone in our community.
Celebrate Disability Awareness with Literature
We invite you to celebrate Disability Pride Month by delving into the captivating world of literature! Our libraries offer a remarkable collection of books that explore disability themes, share personal stories and shed light on the triumphs won and the challenges faced by people with disabilities, neurodivergence and chronic illnesses. In honor of Disability Pride Month, we have curated booklists featuring authors with disabilities and their extraordinary works. Whether you're seeking stories of resilience, disability rights or personal empowerment, our collection is here to inspire and amplify the voices of the disability community.
Choose your next read from our lists of books written by or about a member of the disability community!
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Check out our curated booklists, including fiction and nonfiction titles for adults, teens and kids!
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Download eBooks and eAudiobook formats to enjoy instantly using Overdrive/Libby.
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Looking for more books written by ability-diverse authors? Use NoveList’s “Advanced Search” feature to generate a list of books by authors with specific identities.
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Stream films featuring stories about people in the disability community via Kanopy.
Research Resources
Dive into a world of knowledge and discovery with our extensive collection of research resources at AACPL. From our online databases full of scholarly journals, articles and research, we provide a wealth of materials to support your quest for information and exploration.
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Explore information on the disability community, civil rights, ability-diverse perspectives, accessibility advancements and more using our Gale research databases, such as our Diversity Studies or Information Science databases.
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Study American Sign Language (ASL) with Handspeak.
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Learn about notable historical and contemporary figures in the disability community like Marilyn Golden, Stacey Park Milbern or Justin Dart, Jr. using our Biography database.
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Access state and local community resources to find information about healthcare, accessibility and mental health.
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Delve into Maryland's Deaf Culture Digital Library with eBooks, eAudiobooks, online journals and streaming videos.
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Check out the U.S. Department of Justice's website for the Americans with Disabilities Act to review federal resources, rights, regulations and more.
Accessibility Options
Anne Arundel County Library offers a range of accessibility options at our locations to accommodate diverse needs. We provide wheelchair-accessible computers equipped with screen-reader and text-enlarging software. Large Print materials are available at all locations, and ADA Accessible Workstations offer specialized software and equipment at select locations for those with accessibility needs. C-Pen ReaderPens, portable scanning pens that read printed text aloud, are available to borrow from our Library of Things. We also provide sign-language interpreters for library-sponsored programs upon request and partner with Maryland's Deaf Culture Digital Library, which offers accessible eBooks, eAudiobooks, online publications and streaming videos related to the d/Deaf experience. For those who are homebound due to illness, injury or disability, our Library by Mail service delivers a full range of library materials free of charge!
The new Recite Me toolbar on the library's website and catalog offers a number of helpful digital accessibility tools:
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Screen Reader can read aloud website text for web users with visual impairment.
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Translation will quickly and easily translate web content into over 100 languages, including 65 text-to-speech voices.
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Reading Aids are available for those with learning disabilities or visual impairment and include a ruler, screen mask, magnifier, page summarizer and dictionary.
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Color Adjustment is a great option for neurodivergent web users, allowing them the ability to customize the website's color scheme as well as the text, font style, size, color and spacing.
All you have to do is click on "Accessibility" in the top right corner of the screen on our website or the ReciteMe icon (the circle with the shape of a person on the bottom left side of the screen) in our online catalog and select which tool you need!
You can view a full in-depth guide to our accessibility options here.
Additionally, AACPL is proud to be a dementia-friendly library, with staff trained to better serve individuals with dementia and their caregivers. Library staff have heightened awareness of the challenges faced by those who live with dementia and have learned valuable tips and tools to improve communication and care.
At AACPL, we are dedicated to fostering inclusivity and accessibility, striving to ensure that all our customers can freely explore and enjoy our resources. We hope to continue to be a vital resource and a champion for equal access to information and knowledge for everyone in our community.
Published July 1, 2024