It's so great you're looking to remedy this in your library! I happen to be dyslexic myself, and love this sort of thing.
So first, I just want to let you know that because able people tend to conflate intellectual and learning disabilities, a lot of dyslexics bristle at being grouped with the intellectually disabled. I know "developmentally disabled adults" is the correct term for what you're trying to do, but you'll get more mileage out of this collection and see a broader positive impact on the community if you break it up into "intellectual disability" friendly books and "learning disability" friendly books.
Second, there really isn't anything "fun" published specifically for intellectually disabled adults, where the book is written at a low reading level but features adult characters. All the "disability friendly" stuff drops off at about the MG level. (I have a theory that the absence of books for this demographic is rooted in our historical tendency to (incorrectly) see intellectually disabled adults as overgrown children.) You kind of need to ferret books out on your own. I'd look for books where the ages of the characters aren't obvious, and recent titles. (My logic here is that you don't want to hand a disabled patron something they'd remember a friend reading in Kindergarten. If it's a newer title, they haven't seen before, it's less obviously a "baby book.")
And then some other, more general tips:
+ Different things work for different people, so having a variety of reading levels/fonts/formats is good.
+ As a general rule, though, for reading-specific disabilities super black text on bright white paper is physically painful to read.
+ Matte paper is always better than glossy.
+ MMPs are generally the worst format to read a story in-print.
+ Those Dyslexia-friendly fonts aren't as helpful as they advertise themselves as being. Some dyslexics love them and others, such as myself, hate them.
+ Libby and Kindle already offer OpenDyslexic as a font choice, so you've technically got a dyslexia-friendly ebook option already!
+ For dyslexic people, the style of writing can have the biggest impact on readability. Page-long paragraphs, heavy use of conlangs, names that look the same or start with the same letter, etc, can all make a book really hard to read. (This is why despite loving fantasy, I hate Tolkien and the overly-described horse he rode in on.) You want something written in a style more like The Handmaid's Tale. (Which is an adult book, and very well written, but it's got short paragraphs and everything's niece and broken up.)
+ Graphic novels are great when you've got a learning disability, but they're not universally easy to read. Lettering and speech bubbles can make something really disability unfriendly. (Read a few pages of Vattu and then look at Gunnerkrigg Court, and you'll see what I mean.)
+ One of the best things you can do is talk to your patrons and ask them what works for them, what do they like to read, and then see if there's any similarities in how those books were printed.
Hope this helps! I'd love to see what you end up doing with your collection!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alyssa (Lisa) Martin
Librarian and Marketing Specialist
Westchester Public Library
10700 Canterbury St.
Westchester, IL 60154
(708) 562-3573
--------- Original Message --------- Subject: [collectiondev] Creating a collection for developmentally disabled adults
From: "Roberta Mock via collectiondev" <collectiondev_at_list.railslibraries.info>
Date: 12/3/20 12:16 pm
To: "colldv_at_lists.ala.org" <colldv_at_lists.ala.org>, "Collection Development" <collectiondev_at_list.railslibraries.info>
Cc: "Roberta Mock" <rmock_at_quincylibrary.org>
It has come to my attention that our collection is lacking in adult level materials that have lower reading levels or that meet the needs of developmentally disabled adults, including those with dyslexia or other reading challenges. I want to remedy this situation, yesterday if possible.
Can anyone recommend vendors, titles, search terms that I should be aware of as I delve into remedying this situation.
Bobbi Mock
Quincy Public Library
526 Jersey Street
Quincy IL 62301
217-223-1309 ext 203
Creating, Supporting, and Promoting a Literate Community
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Received on Thu Dec 03 2020 - 15:44:30 EST