NYPL Blogs: Barrier-Free Library

Memorial Day: Commemorating and Remembering Our Veterans and Those Who Serve

Raymond Pun, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, General Research Division — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:50:31 -0400

May 27th is Memorial Day. Did you know that this U.S. federal holiday goes as far back as the American Civil War in the 1860s?

Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, occurs ever year on the last Monday of the month of May and is the day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

For the past two centuries, the U.S. has been involved in many wars domestically and aboard. Many service men and women have put aside their jobs, families and lives to defend our country and principals of freedom during times of crisis.

Military history can be a deep and fascinating research area; many of our collections, specifically primary resources reveal the fervors and intensities of these wars and their outcomes: tragic losses, sufferings, fears and uncertainties. Our collections also focus on the roles and services of women, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and LGBT in the military.

According to The Oxford Companion to American Military History, here are some statistics that show the numbers and rankings of American military casualties based on the wars of the 20th century:

World War II (1941-1945) Deaths: 291,557
American Civil War (1861-1865) Deaths: 214,938 (Union and Confederate soldiers)
World War I (1917-1918) Deaths: 53,402
Vietnam War (1955-1975) Deaths: 47,355
Korean War (1950-1953) Deaths: 33,746

To honor our fallen soldiers and veterans for their bravery and sacrifice, the U.S. government created a day to commemorate their dedications officially in 1971. Here are some other interesting facts about this holiday:

The first observance of Memorial Day (first called Decoration Day) was held on May 30th, 1868, to honor soldiers killed in the Civil War.
In addition to Memorial Day, our country also remembers and celebrates our veterans and servicemen and women (living or dead) in November for Veterans Day.
According to Time Magazine, "After the Civil War, General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, called for a holiday commemorating fallen soldiers to be observed every May 30. But due to the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which took effect in 1971, Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday of May to ensure long weekends."
Currently there are nine states that observe Confederate Memorial Day in various days; the soldiers who died fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War: Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia.
According to the American Automobile Association, Memorial Day Weekend is one of the busiest and most frequently traveled weekends in America; approximately 35 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more. This weekend also unofficially welcomes the summer season.

Additional NYPL Resources on Military and Veterans Studies:

Discover photos and images of American Veterans and Soldiers in our Digital Gallery >>
Interested in hearing more about veterans and their stories? Check out NYPL's NYC Veterans Oral History Project >>
Find books, films and online resources at NYPL on American military history and studies >>
Are you a U.S. veteran or know of one who needs work assistance? Check out the Workforce 1 Veterans Career Center at NYPL >>
Explore the Library of Congress Digital Collections of Civil War Soldiers >>
Looking for archival sources in American military history at NYPL? Check out the Find Archival Materials search tool for letters, papers and documents from American soldiers >>
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in NYC will host a series of public programs during Memorial Day Weekend >>
Making plans for the upcoming long weekend? Check out Time Out New York at NYPL to get some ideas! >>
Learn more about updates and services to veterans in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs >>

The Art of Drawing When One is Blind or Has Low Vision

Dana Simon, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:18:24 -0400

With my hand, I touch the outside, or contour, of a small ceramic jug, a container for cream. I slowly trace the curve of the rim, continuing to the pointed lip. I put down the jug, and pick up a piece of charcoal or a soft pastel. I draw round curves, recreating what I see in my mind's eye, moving my hand across the paper, keeping pace with my inner vision.

I return to the small jug and begin again; tracing the contours of the round, squat body. But alas, when I try to return to the spot on the paper to begin drawing again, I have lost my spot! I cannot find it on the page. For I have low-vision and I just see some disconnected lines. I must devise a method to go back; perhaps if I put down the piece of charcoal to mark my spot? Yes, that works. I return to the small jug and begin again bit by bit I recreate the form, through touch, absorbing the shape, and then drawing it on the paper. Always keeping the pastel on the page to mark my spot, because if I don't I may not find it again.

Years ago when my vision was better, I used to love drawing the contours of objects, the human figure, both nude and clothed with my eyes. My eyes would slowly follow the contours of what I was looking at and then, I would recreate what I saw on the paper.

With the challenge of drawing with a vision loss, I am seeking new ways and techniques to draw. I've been attending several museum programs, and art-making workshops, that help me experiment with new techniques and materials. These programs can be very helpful to those who are blind or who have low-vision who would like to explore the world of art.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is providing a series of free lectures and art-making workshops at the Andrew Heiskell Library, for people who are blind or who have low-vision. The lectures include verbal descriptions and touchable images. I recently attended a workshop there called Over, Under and Around: Movement in Art. With a class of about 13 adults, who were either blind or partially sighted, I explored the movement of such works as "The Dance" by Matisse and "Starry Night" by Van Gogh. We then experimented with a technique of drawing with a pencil into a soft Styrofoam based material, where we could feel the movement of our lines as we drew. Then the drawing was printed on paper, creating a high-contrast image of our work.

The next program at the Andrew Heiskell Library in this series is called "MoMA presents an Introduction to Contemporary Art." Saturday, May 18 from 2:30 - 4 p.m.

In addition, I'm excited about another art program to be held at the Andrew Heiskell Library. Seeing with the Senses: A Celebration of Art for Those with Low Vision and Blindness. This will be an afternoon of art-making workshops, verbal description and touch tours provided by staff from three museums: The Metropolitan Museum, The Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Museum of Art.

Saturday, June 1 - 1-4 p.m. at the Andrew Heiskell Library.

Another wonderful program, Seeing Through Drawing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gives people with vision loss an opportunity to work in an actual studio environment. Here, we experiment with tactile drawing methods, such as using puffy paint that lets us feel the lines of our drawing after it dries. Students also go into the museum galleries, where we perch on little stools with our drawing boards, listening to verbal descriptions of major works of art as we draw our perception of the artwork.

These programs are invaluable to those who are blind or with low vision who want to experience and create art at the New York Public Library by taking advantage of the expertise and knowledge of art experts from the world-renowned museums we are lucky to have in the New York area.

Sports for All: Find Out What Sport Is Right for You!

Brigid Cahalan, Library Sites & Services/Outreach — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:08:01 -0400

Here we are in the middle of spring; and I'm still embarrassingly waffling over which sport I should focus on in the beautiful weather. I've once again missed my opportunity to do cross-country skiing. Perhaps table tennis will be within reach for me this summer...

Though I myself am a bit indecisive, I love the idea of each of us finding at least one sport or other athletic activity that's fun and right for us, and participating on a regular basis.

To this end, several libraries have hosted 50+ Fitness Fairs in the past, in 2012 and 2009.

This Saturday, NYPL partners with the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, NYC Adaptive Climbing and Peak Potential to offer a day of information, so people with varying abilities—particularly those with vision loss/blindness, limited mobility, and cognitive/developmental disabilities—can find the right sport for themselves! Representatives of sports for all ages will be present to speak one-on-one as well as give presentations in the auditorium; there will also be lots of videos and demonstrations.

Motivational speaker Mark Farrell will give the keynote presentation at 10:30 a.m. in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building's South Court Auditorium, and there will be a pretty full complement of speakers after that until 3:30. For those preferring to get some, most, or all of their information in one fell swoop, all the organizations will have their information available in the Berger Forum for the entire day.

Schedule of Presentations

10:30-11:00 a.m. Keynote Address: Mark Farrell
11:15-11:30 a.m. Long Island Bombers
11:30-11:45 a.m. Tennis Serves
11:45 a.m.-12 p.m. Seido Karate for the Blind
12-12:15 p.m. Achilles International: activities for those with blindness/low vision
12:15-1 p.m. Break for Lunch
1-1:15 p.m. NYC Adaptive Climbing
1:15-1:30 p.m. Peak Potential
1:30-1:45 p.m. Leaps of Faith
1:45-2:00 p.m. Achilles International: Activities for those with limited mobility
2:00-2:15 p.m. Henry Viscardi School/Wheelchair Basketball
2:15-2:30 p.m. Challenged Athletes Foundation
2:30-2:45 p.m Gallop NYC
2:45-3:00 p.m. Row New York
3:00-3:15 p.m. Round Star Foundation
3:15-3:30 p.m. Kicking the Spectrum

Other organizations that will be providing information include Citywide Aquatics, KEEN New York, Dancing Dreams and VISIONS Services for the Blind.

All are welcome. No registration; but space is limited. For more information, please call 212-340-0951 or e-mail brigidcahalan@nypl.org.

Between Two Worlds: Memoirs by Children of Deaf Adults

Brigid Cahalan, Library Sites & Services/Outreach — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:58:25 -0400

How do you celebrate Deaf History Month?

As a librarian, during this month I usually spend some time thinking admiring thoughts about Alice L. Hagemeyer, whose energy, spirit, and determination propelled service to the Deaf in libraries in Washington, D.C., where she worked for 34 years, and nationwide. Perhaps you would like to celebrate the month, which spans March 13-April 15 each year, by investigating some of the primary sources from the annals of Deaf history and culture gathered in this enlightening blog post from the Library of Congress. And, enjoy a book or two from NYPL's list of books for all ages by Deaf authors and on the Deaf experience.

One of the ways the New York Public Library has commemorated this month over the past few years has been by inviting hearing authors with Deaf parents, also known as CODAs, who have written memoirs to share their stories. CODAs often have a foot in each world: the Deaf and the hearing. Those who become certified interpreters as a result of growing up bilingual — fluent in both sign language and the vernacular — translate both the words and the worlds of those speakers of sign.

Many CODAs have written compelling tales of their lives and the lives of their families; here are a few you can find at NYPL:

Hands of My Father: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and the Language of Love
by Myron Uhlberg
Also available as an ebook
The good and bad times of growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s through 1950s. Uhlberg has written several children's books, some of which have Deaf characters, notably The Printer.

Signing in Puerto Rican: A Hearing Son and His Deaf Family
by Andres Torres
An only child of deaf Puerto Rican parents living in New York City, Torres grew up speaking A.S.L., Spanish and English. He recounts his rich life including time spent studying for the priesthood, his path toward becoming an activist for Puerto Rican independence, and warm family gatherings with his many deaf aunts and uncles.

Deaf Hearing Boy: A Memoir
by R. H. Miller
A frank retelling of life in Ohio, on the farm and in the big city, during the 1940s-'50s. Miller, who later became a professor of English, takes us up to 2002 by which time the isolation of Deaf people that his parents experienced had begun to fade.

A Loss for Words: The Story of Deafness in a Family
by Lou Ann Walker
Walker, whose other works include a book about Deaf education in the U.S., writes tenderly of growing up in Indiana, the difficult separation when she went off to college in Boston, and the overarching, palpable love between her and her parents.

In Silence: Growing Up Hearing in a Deaf World
by Ruth Sidransky
An intimate portrait of life in 1930s-'40s Bronx and Brooklyn, and Sidransky's growing advocacy for the Deaf.

Burn Down the Ground: A Memoir
by Kambri Crews
Also available as an ebook
This N.Y.C.-based comedic storyteller shares her unconventional childhood in rural Texas, her conflicted relationship with her felon father, and her keen feeling of being an outsider in the Deaf community.

Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland, Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16
by Moshe Kasher
Kasher, the son of deaf Orthodox Jewish parents and a stand-up comedian who has lived a bi-coastal life, takes us on a rollicking ride.

The Silents
by Charlotte Abrams
Life in Chicago during the Depression and World War II. Abrams shows the value of a close family and community when her mother begins to lose her vision and needs to make difficult decisions to stay connected with the world.

My Sense of Silence: Memoirs of a Childhood with Deafness
by Lennard J. Davis
His rendering of the details of daily life make this memoir by a child of working-class British immigrants growing up in the Bronx of the 1950s especially poignant.

For more books by CODAs, check out this rich bibliography from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Art and Low Vision: The Sound of Monet’s Weeping Willow Series

Fotis Flevotomos, Fulbright Visiting Artist — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:45:19 -0400

Hear the audio version of this blog post. Narration: Kevin Gillins. Music performed by La Capella Reial de Catalunya; Le Concert des Nations; conductor: Jordi Savall.

I am looking at Monet's Weeping Willow series and want to describe these works to people who cannot see. I think music, with its sensual and dramatic language will most elegantly convey the power of these works.

In 1791, Mozart composed in Vienna parts of what is now known as the Requiem Mass in D Minor (K. 626). Mozart died that year on December 5, leaving the work unfinished. The following eight bars from "Lacrimosa" were among the fragments discovered in the wake of Mozart's untimely death. It is a short passage written for strings and choir.

In the opening bars the melody traces a curved move from C sharp to the upper D, and then back again to the same C sharp. A similar move, though more condensed, can be heard from the choir, specifically from the sopranos who sing, "La-a-cri-mo-sa, Di-ies-il-la…" What do these curved melodic lines express? A glance at the text that inspired them might answer this question: Lacrimosa dies illa (That day is one of weeping). These melodic curves, which provide the structural motive for the development of the entire passage, evoke the character of a mournful atmosphere.

Looking at Monet's Weeping Willow series, one sees that the shape of the falling branches and the way the painter composed them on the canvas echo a movement strikingly similar to that of Mozart's melody. Monet's figures extend their bodies from the ground up toward the sky, then down again toward the earth, casting shadows over whatever lies beneath their branches. It is only during the sunset or sunrise that one can see spots of light coming through this darkness for a brief moment, like a fire or an explosion – a tragic crescendo that ultimately lacks power and energy, remaining weak forever. Monet scholars argue that the Weeping Willow paintings share a tragic and disturbing mood because they were created in mournful response to the mass tragedy of World War I.

In Mozart's "Lacrimosa," the sense of melancholy is not evoked by the sequence of the pitches alone. The sorrowful tone relies equally on many other elements such as the range of durations and, more importantly, the distribution of the tones in the non-accented locations of the 12/8 meter; these are but two elements that make these melodic attempts at elevation sound temporary and weak.

Similarly, in Monet's works, the lack of vanishing points and of the horizon line, the curvature of the branches and the use of dark colors suggests just this kind of emotion. With this overarching mélange of visual elements, it may be said quite rightly that one sees the intangible emotion of sadness become manifest in the Weeping Willow paintings.

For People with Disabilities: A Ticket to Work

Magdalene Chan, Science, Industry and Business Library — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:52:12 -0400

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, more than 13 million working-age people in the U.S. receive Social Security disability benefits; that's almost one in every 15 adults. Some may consider returning to work, but have important concerns regarding health care, cash benefits, job placement and job accommodations. The good news is that Social Security's Ticket to Work program that supports career development for people with disabilities is here to help.

The following is an overview of the Ticket to Work program and how it works from the Social Security Administration.

Overview

Social Security's Ticket to Work program supports career development for people with disabilities who want to work. Social Security disability beneficiaries 18 through 64 qualify. The Ticket program is free and voluntary and exists specifically to help people with disabilities progress toward financial self-sufficiency. The Ticket program is a good fit for people who would like to improve their earning potential and who are committed to preparing for long-term success in the workforce. Ticket to Work offers beneficiaries with disabilities improved access to meaningful employment with the help of specialized providers. If you are ready to go to work, Ticket to Work Incentives professionals are available to help you.

The career development services and support you need are unique to you. The Ticket program can connect you with a variety of free employment support services that will best serve you.

The Ticket program and Work Incentives allow you to keep your benefits while you explore employment, receive vocational rehabilitation, or gain work experience. Cash benefits often continue throughout your transition to work and are eliminated only when you maintain a level of earnings, known as Substantial Gainful Activity.

How It Works

You became eligible to participate in the Ticket to Work program when you started receiving SSDI or SSI benefits based on disability. Social Security no longer sends paper tickets in the mail, but don't worry-you don't need a paper Ticket to participate. Participation in the Ticket program is free and voluntary; If you decide to participate, you can contact any authorized provider in your area to see the services they offer are right for you. These providers, called Employment Networks (ENs), offer specialized services such as career counseling, vocational rehabilitation, and job placement and training. Feel free to talk with as many ENs as you would like to see what they have to offer! You may also receive services from your local vocational rehabilitation agency and then receive ongoing services from an EN.

Work Incentives that go with the Ticket to Work Program

Work Incentives make it possible for you to explore work while receiving health care and cash benefits; they are designed to help you succeed!

You may keep your Medicaid/Medicare while you work.
You have access to individualized support services.
You can select part-time or work-from-home alternatives to help you reach your goal of financial independence.
You can try work with confidence, knowing your benefits continue during your transition period.

The Ticket to Work program is just one of many Work Incentives available to you. When you assign your Ticket to an Employment Network, you are eligible for several Work Incentives:

Trial Work Period (TWP) for SSDI recipients only.

The TWP allows you to test your ability to work for at least nine months. During your TWP, you will receive full SSDI benefits no matter how much you earn as long as your work activity is reported and you have a disabling impairment.

Expedited Reinstatement (EXR) for SSDI and SSI recipients

If your benefits stopped because of your earnings level, you can request to have your benefits reinstated without having to complete a new application. While Social Security determines your benefits reinstatement, you are eligible to receive temporary benefits for up to six months.

Protection from Medical Continuing Disability Reviews (CDR) for SSDI and SSI recipients

You will not have to undergo a medical continuing disability review (CDR) while you are participating in the Ticket to Work program.

One of the best ways to learn more about Work Incentives including the Ticket to Work program is to attend a free Work Incentives Seminar Event (WISER) online webinar. The Ticket to Work program hosts an accessible online event for you and your family to learn about Work Incentives, including Ticket to work. You can join a webinar on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Register online or call 1-866-968-7842 (V) or 1-866 -833-2967 (TTY)

If you want to learn more about Social Security's Ticket to Work program, please visit Job Search Central at 188 Madison Avenue and 34th Street.

Harnessing the Power of Music

Hailley Fargo, Community Outreach Intern — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:39:01 -0400

Oliver Sacks once said in his book, Musicophilia:

"The power of music whether joyous or cathartic must steal on one unawares, come spontaneously as a blessing or a grace..."

Music has incredible power. People today listen to music all the time, walking down streets and sitting in subway cars. We can't escape music.

For many of us, certain songs have this mystical power of throwing us into the past to a certain time and place. It might be a wonderful memory or a memory we would rather not remember. Regardless, we begin to understand that our brain and music have a pretty special relationship.

I myself am fascinated by the connection between our brain and music. I've read Sacks's Musicophilia and also enjoyed Daniel Levitin's book This is Your Brain on Music. So when the Music & Memory Drive came up as a potential intern project I could work on, I immediately picked it up.

Music & Memory is a non-profit organization founded by Dan Cohen. He realized that people with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia responded well when they were given iPods with their favorite music from their younger years. Some of you might know the Music & Memory clip that went viral (see below). It's fondly known as the Henry clip and shows a man who becomes animated, alert, and alive when he is given his iPod. The clip is amazing, no matter how many times you've seen it. To watch Henry transform, all because of a few songs, is incredible.

Cohen (and others) realized areas of the brain that are responsible for memories and have been affected by Alzheimer's or dementia can be stimulated when music they once loved is played. They created this organization and collect used iPods every day for Alzheimer's patients across the country.

The Kingsbridge Library in the Bronx and their Teen Advisory Group (TAG) decided to start a drive of their own. The kickoff occurred last Friday (March 22) and I was there to see it begin. We had several teens there and they took an interest to this program. I'm hoping these teens can be the movers and shakers for this project and help to put this drive into high gear.

From now until May 31st, the Kingsbridge Library will be collecting gently used iPods that will be used by the residents of Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center. I hope that once the drive is over, the TAG group and others will head over to Kingsbridge Heights not only to donate the iPods but also to volunteer there and help put music on these iPods and talk to some of the patients.

If you are interested in making a donation, finding out more, volunteering once the drive is over, or becoming a part of the team, please contact the Kingsbridge Library.

Booktalking "The Story of My Life" by Helen Keller, edited by Roger Shattuck

Miranda J. McDermott, Grand Concourse — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:45:23 -0500

At 19 months of age, Keller loses her sight and hearing. A girl spends five years in darkness and silence, yet she runs with strength and is healthy and vigorous. Frenetically, she reaches into everything, is fascinated by people, and is in constant gestural communication with her mother and family members. She remembers the layout of the house, so she is able to freely run through it. She loves being with her dogs and her pony, but she cannot grasp sophisticated meaning from her limited world until her teacher, 21 year old Anne Sullivan, arrives in 1887 to greet the 7-year-old Keller.

Keller is not used to following the directives of anyone else, and there are some epic battles between these two strong-willed individuals. Sullivan isolates Keller from her indulgent family to live with her in the cottage house to teach the young girl obedience, while she continues finger spelling words into Keller's hands to elucidate the world to her. Arguments between Sullivan and Keller last hours; the 7-year-old knocks out at least one of her teacher's teeth. However, Keller eventually realizes that she will not win, and she is pleasantly distracted by the light of knowledge.

When Sullivan explains the meaning of "water" at the well and Keller understands, she becomes ecstatic. She realizes that everything has a name, and she begs her teacher to label every object she can think of to satisfy her inquisitive mind and give her the greater and more specific tool of language to communicate with other people.

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, edited by Roger Shattuck, 2003

Why I Love This Version of Helen Keller's Life, Psychology, Education and Intellect

This is a brilliantly edited volume. From reading the Foreword, I learned that The Miracle Worker contains an inaccuracy regarding the well water scene. Helen said "wa-wa" to signify water prior to losing her sight and hearing at 19 months of age. Keller spent her childhood in Tuscumbia, Alabama. At the time of the well water scene (when Keller was seven years old), she did not speak. Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 and died in 1968; while she was living, people thought that her story was a hoax.

I loved the short chapters of this book that had distinct ideas. I read the book's section in the following order: Foreword, Helen Keller's The Story of My Life, Helen Keller's Letters, Anne Sullivan's account, John Macy's account, Appendix, and Notes. I wanted to read the material by Helen Keller together. Sometimes she despairs at the darkness and silence in which she lives, but then she casts aside the bitter thoughts to explore her world.

This edition, edited by Roger Shattuck in 2003, includes Helen Keller's The Story of My Life, supplementary accounts by Anne Sullivan, her teacher, and John Albert Macy, assistant to her teacher (and husband, for a time). The Foreword, Afterward, Appendix, Notes and Helen Keller's letters are also worth reading.

In her adult life, Helen lived with Anne Sullivan, her teacher, and John Macy, married to Sullivan, until his drinking broke up the marriage. Helen Keller became a staunch advocate for blind and deaf people, and she wrote some spiritual books as well. The most intriguing excerpt from this book is from Helen Keller's Teacher, published in 1955 when Keller was 75 years old. Teacher describes a more elemental Keller, who was impulsive, demanding, and suffering from a disconnect with the world. It contains none of the airy, positive dreamy feel of The Story of My Life, which was published when Keller was 23 years old. In The Story of My Life, Helen is optimistic and full of flowery language about all that is good in the world.

Helen Keller's The Story of My Life

At the age of 19 months, Keller was struck with an illness that plunged her into a dark and silent world. For five years, Helen communicated as best as she could until she met Anne Sullivan, her teacher, when she was seven years old. Laura Bridgman was also a deaf and blind girl who was helped before Keller. Apparently Keller's parents were wealthy and resourceful enough to find the appropriate people to talk to and they were able to pay for a private tutor for their daughter.

Anne Sullivan was 21 years old when she met 7-year-old Keller. Sullivan was in for a shock, and she probably did not anticipate exactly how exhausting it would be to teach Keller to listen to her authority. Right away, Sullivan began finger spelling words into Keller's hands to facilitate some connection to and meaning about the world. Keller was grabby and lacking in manners, but she was also very curious, frenetic, and in good physical shape. The girl rarely was still. Sullivan reached the conclusion immediately that one of her first tasks would be to teach Keller discipline and get the girl to obey her. She believed the obedience was at the root of both learning and love. Sullivan would show her love and be her eyes and ears, constantly finger spelling the world into her hand.

Helen Keller was friends with Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. Bell recommended the school that sent Sullivan as a tutor to Keller. Keller visited Niagara Falls with him and wondered at the majesty of nature. He explained electricity to her. Keller also knew Samuel Clemens (aka "Mark Twain").

In October of 1896, Keller entered a prep school (high school) prior to her study at Harvard University. Sullivan assisted her in the classrooms with seeing and hearing girls. A few people in the school learned sign language (including the principal and German teacher). Keller also learned French. Her younger sister Mildred joined her at the school, and she received honors in English and German. Keller also learned algebra and physics. She played solitaire and chess (she could feel the differences in the pieces.) Keller found it much more pleasant to teach herself than be taught in a classroom. She produced higher quality work and learned much faster by herself. After all, she was used to a private tutor. It seems that she studied how she learned so that she could expedite her own discovery of the world.

Keller found mathematics particularly challenging to decipher. Not many books were printed for the blind, so she needed many books to be spelled into her hand. Her ideas about human memory, cognition and learning ring very true to me. She started reading at age seven and she learned much from books that she could not learn from sight or hearing. She was a bibliophile, and she was very grateful to people who helped her get her textbooks embossed into Braille. Her sense of touch was more developed than that of sighted people. When taking exams that she was typing on her typewriter and were not allowed to have read back to her, she would keep the essay in her short-term memory. If she finished before the end of the time alloted, she would type corrections at the end of her essay.

Helen Keller's Letters: Light in Her Darkness

On June 17, 1887, 7-year-old Keller wrote a letter to her cousin Anna in pencil declaring what she was doing. Most of her letters are very positive. She told everyone how happy she was to be writing them, and her love of life shines through. Readers can see the progression of her thought patterns and literacy skills as they scan her letters throughout her young childhood and teenage and adult years. One can see how her intellect developed. Keller learned to speak by putting her hands on the throats of speaking people and feeling the location of their tongues and the vibrations. During her adulthood, Sullivan persisted in correcting Keller's pronunciation of words. Keller went to historic battlefields and museums to learn about culture and the world.

An excerpt from Teacher, which was written by Keller in 1955 as a 75-year-old woman depicts a lost soul angry at the world. From 19 months until the age of seven, Keller referred to herself as "no-person" and phantom. Keller was dissociated from the person that she was and did not feel as if she existed or that she was a real person after she was plunged into darkness and silence. "A sorrier situation never confronted a young woman on fire with a noble purpose." Phantom's parents interfered with any discipline that Sullivan tried to give her, so Sullivan took Keller to a cottage house near Ivy Green. They rearranged furniture so that Keller would not recognize it. Keller recalls that it even smelled different than the cottage house that she remembered.

Keller marveled in this account that Sullivan was willing to risk her personal safety by being alone with her. (Keller knocked out at least one of Sullivan's teeth in a struggle.) Keller often got hurt from trying to escape restraining arms. At the time, she was not aware of how much time and effort Sullivan put into bringing her under control without breaking her spirit. Keller had many power struggles with Sullivan, which were completely omitted from The Story of My Life. At the time of its publication, she was a happy 23-year-old woman who sugar-glazed the past.

When the pair returned to Ivy Green, Keller still struggled with her anger. The phantom became angry at Sullivan because she could not understand the distinction between the water and the mug. However, on April 5, 1887, Annie was able to explain the well water to Keller, who then begged her teacher for the words to everything that she could think of. Keller was ecstatic that someone could lead her into a deeper understanding of the world that her intellect craved.

Anne Sullivan's Account: How to Tame This Wild Child

Sullivan (1866-1936) became half-blind at five years of age, due to trachoma, and her sight was partially restored later in her lifetime. Her predecessor, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe taught a blind, deaf girl, Laura Bridgman, who also lacked a sense of smell, and paved the way for Sullivan and others like her. Due to Sullivan's poor sight, there is little documentation by her of her teaching methods with Keller, other than letters written from 1887-1994. The letters that we do have from Sullivan are invaluable since they give us insight into her perspective of Keller's psychology and education, and they reveal just how remarkable Sullivan was. The newspaper accounts of her work with Keller at the time were sensationalized.

Sullivan strived to improve Keller's manners. When her teacher would not let her put her hand into her plate, Sullivan ate her breakfast for 30 minutes while Keller kicked and screamed on the floor. Every time Keller pinched Sullivan, she slapped her. Sullivan requested that Keller use her spoon, then that she fold her napkin. That developed into another one hour-long struggle. Sullivan had to have the family leave the dining room and lock the door to prevent Keller from leaving. Keller repeatedly threw her napkin on the floor. Finally, when Keller acquiesced, her teacher let her out into the sunshine while she went upstairs, threw herself onto her bed exhausted, and cried. She anticipated many battles before she was able to teach Keller obedience and love. Later, for a little belated discipline, Sullivan threw Keller's napkin onto the floor, then would not give her cake. When Keller agreed to have the napkin on her, her teacher gave her a larger slice of cake than usual.

Sullivan found that Keller's family allowed her to do exactly as she wanted to, with the occasional exception of her brother James. Unfortunately, Helen became stronger and more violent as she got older. Sullivan took her to the cottage house to teach her obedience so that she could learn; she also wanted to girl to feel dependent on her. At first, Keller would not let her teacher kiss or touch her. The first night was a two-hour struggle to get Keller to bed. After nine days together, Keller learned obedience and allowed her teacher to kiss her. Now, it seemed as though a shake or nod of the teacher's head (to signify "no" and "yes") were facts of life to Keller like the difference between hot and cold or pain and pleasure. Sullivan found Keller so bright and delightful. She declined the family's offer of a nurse for Keller since her teacher found it easier to live with her in the same room and teach her at odd moments. Sullivan used no particular theory or system to teach Keller.

John Macy's Account: Living with Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller

Macy was married to Sullivan for a time until they divorced because of his drinking. Keller's personality was whimsical and adventuresome. There is an illustration of Keller's teacher reading to her in this section of the book. Sullivan holds the book with one hand and finger spells into Keller's hand with the other. Keller endured much pain when she went up against Sullivan's strong will, but Sullivan would not sacrifice any of the progress that had been made. Keller became more loving following disciplinary episodes with her teacher.

Blogging About Nonfiction Books!

I finally did it! I was able to blog about a nonfiction work. I have been blogging about fiction books for over a year now, and I have often wanted to blog about the less-talked about wonderful nonfiction books that are out there, but until now have not been inspired to do it! Helen Keller is an amazing woman. In terms of the time frame of her life, I was interested to realize that she actually died while my parents were alive. Keller is such an altruistic figure, so positive in her perspective and in love with life and with people that it is impossible not to be charmed by her. Her inquisitive nature, intellectual life, love of learning and the things that she was able to accomplish despite her particular challenges also surprise me. Keller's psychology and her theories of human cognition, learning and memory are fascinating to me.

I was sufficiently interested in this book to write about it so that others could become more aware of the content of this brilliantly edited volume. Perhaps some will be inclined to read it, but if not, at least they can learn more facts about Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan, and John Macy that have not been reported many times by the media.

ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival

Brigid Cahalan, Library Sites & Services/Outreach — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:38:45 -0500

New York Public Library is once again proud to partner with ReelAbilities, offering opportunities to see recent, high-quality films promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with differing abilities.

If you search for disability-themed film festivals, you can easily find several throughout the United States and the world. Each has its unique personality and approach; all beckon filmgoers enticingly...

But ReelAbilities stands apart.

Since its New York City debut in 2008 it has not only greatly increased the number of films shown and participating venues in NYC but has been expanding its national reach, now offering a National Program in 12 locations throughout the U.S. in addition to New York.

I've attended other film festivals, but none has both touched my heart and opened my mind as has ReelAbilities.

Mid-Manhattan Library will host several films in the first floor Corner Room:

Thursday, March 7, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Six Points About Emma/Seis Puntos Sobre Emma, with discussion afterwards led by Iris Rosen, LCSW-R. The film's director, Roberto Perez Toledo, will also be present.

Monday, March 11, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Imagine, with discussion led by sound artist and designer Charlie Morrow.

Tuesday, March 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
The Importance of Tying Your Own Shoes, with discussion led by the producer of the film, Peter Kropenin.

The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building hosts two short film series in the Berger Forum (Room 227):

Friday, March 8, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Flying Anne/Be My Brother/Autism in Love/Beautiful/Jazz Hand
These films, which touch upon Tourette syndrome, Down syndrome, autism and more, will be followed by a discussion led by Susan Dooha, Executive Director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York. Mary Archbold, featured in Jazz Hand, will also be present.

Friday, March 8, 2:30-4:00 p.m.,
Coming Home/Departure Lounge. These deaf-themed short films will be followed by a discussion led by actor/choreographer Alexandria Wailes. The discussion will be in A.S.L. (American Sign Language) with voice interpretation.

In addition, several branch libraries are screening films or hosting special programs:

Thursday, March 7, Bronx Library Center: AKA Doc Pomus

Thursday, March 7, St. Agnes Branch: Wampler's Ascent

Saturday, March 9, Chatham Square Branch: The Importance of Tying Your Own Shoes

Saturday, March 9, Andrew Heiskell Braille & Talking Book Library: AKA Doc Pomus

Monday, March 11, 115th Street Library: Somewhere, with Heidi Latsky Dance Group

Tuesday, March 12, Countee Cullen Library: Still Standing, with Anita Hollander

All these events are free. All films will be captioned. No reservation needed: first come, first served!

My Library: Janielle Fermaint

Brigid Cahalan, Library Sites & Services/Outreach — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 06:27:02 -0500

I first met Janielle Fermaint a few weeks ago at a meeting in the Mid-Manhattan Library. She seemed like a person with lots of library experiences to share so I asked if we could meet for an interview. She agreed, and we spoke in the Battery Park City Library. Janielle is pictured to the left, on the appealing second floor of the branch which opened in 2010 as Manhattan's first library with green LEED certification.

How do you use the library?

For business and pleasure. I like to go to programs in the Battery Park City Library. Then I write reviews of them on the branch's Facebook page. I also use the computers there for e-mail.

Which libraries do you use?

I love the main library — the one with the lions. I have also been to the Mid-Manhattan Library, but the Battery Park City Library is the most convenient one for me — plus they have great programs. I used to live in Brooklyn and went to the Cadman Plaza library there.

What do you like most about the library, and what would you most like to see improved?

The Battery Park City Library has an automatic door-opener; without that, it's very hard for me to get into a building. I would like every library to have an automatic door-opening switch. I'd also like to see more programs in the libraries for people — both adults and children — with special needs. Perhaps music and art programs, and computer classes. Also, each library needs tables, including tables with computers on them, that are high enough so people using wheelchairs can fit under them. The armrests of my wheelchair are a little higher than most, and can only fit under tables that are a minimum of 30" high; sometimes there is no table high enough for me to sit under.

What are some of your favorite library programs?

I can only get to programs during the week, and before 4 p.m., so I mostly attend toddler and preschool programs, and review them on Facebook. Battery Park City library offers a monthly program, "Bilingual Birdies," which is a fun session of music and language — for parents to bring their children (newborn to 5 years) to, to hear and practice Mandarin Chinese! There are story time programs every day; usually, the librarian, Anne, reads stories. The kids love her; she has some songs she does each time like: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear," "Sticky Sticky Bubblegum," and "The Wheels on the Bus." Other staff read books to the kids and they do a great job too. I especially like singer/songwriter, Lou Gallo, who comes to perform quite a bit. When he plays guitar, everything stops — in a good way: everyone is quiet so they don't miss anything!

What else do you like to do when you're not in the library?

On the weekends I spend time with my family, especially my little cousins who are two and three years old! I like to travel and have been to Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, and Disney World. On television, I enjoy watching tennis and cooking shows. I like to draw as well, and am currently working on a project for an organization I am involved with — Job Path NYC. I'm creating an Emotional Rainbow and entering it into a contest — if it wins it will decorate their new office space!

Anything you'd like to add?

I like to hear stories, but would like to hear ones for adults. If the libraries read stories aloud, for adults — including adults with disabilities — before 4 p.m. I could go.

I later remembered — and told Janielle — that the Mid-Manhattan Library hosts reading aloud sessions targeting adults at lunchtime: Mixed Bag: Story Time for Grown-Ups. The stories are carefully chosen, brilliantly executed, and a delight to hear. After all, who doesn't like being read to?!

Art and Low-Vision: MoMA Presents an Introduction to Modern Art

Dana Simon, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:13:33 -0500

As part or our art and low-vision series we are excited to have The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) present a series of free lectures and art-making workshops at the Andrew Heiskell Library this winter. The content of this program series is based on free monthly touch and verbal description tours conducted at MOMA for adults who are blind or partially sighted. MoMA also conducts programs such as these for families. All programs will take place in the first floor community room.

Find out more and learn about art at this month's program!

LECTURE - Introduction to Modern Art

Saturday, January 26, 2:30-3:30 pm
Lecturer: Larissa Bailiff
Examine key works and ideas of modern art, from late Impressionism to the beginnings of the New York School through a selection of masterpieces in The Museum of Modern Art's collection. A specially trained Museum lecturer will engage participants through extensive verbal descriptions of the artwork.

Save this date for our next program!

Saturday February 23, 2:30-3:30 pm
LECTURE - Understanding Abstraction: from Kandinsky to Pollock
Lecturer: Diana Bush

Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 206-5400

Drawing on the iPad: Washington Square Park (Video)

Fotis Flevotomos, Fulbright Visiting Artist — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:32:53 -0500

On October 25, 2012, we posted "Drawing on the iPad," a brief introduction to digital drawing for people with or without vision loss. The present video is an example of the playback feature of the Brushes app.

But in reality it's a lot more than that. It shows — to me and to you — everything that my eyes saw on September 25, 2012 between 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m.: the things that I spent time looking at and those that I passed quickly. It's the track of my gaze, a three-hour process compressed in 30 seconds.

The playback feature of the new drawing apps is important because it reveals how a picture is composed — the order in which the various elements of the composition are developed and modified. It also shows the different stages of the creative process and answers, to a certain extent, whether the work springs, as Jung writes, wholly from the artist’s intention to produce a particular result. This question is frequent in the work of many art historians and theorists.

Watching the making of a picture in extreme 360x fast forward is, in a way, the exact opposite of painting with low vision. Low vision slows visual perception down. It expands time, allowing a careful consideration of shapes and colors and of their qualitative relationships. It decomposes the visual world and creates confusion. But at the same time, it stimulates and generates enthusiasm and passion, keeping the eye active.

The NYPL offers classes for those who want to get a basic introduction to the iPad. View the library’s online calendar of classes.

See these links for more about art and low vision:

Art and Low Vision: The Artist’s Eyes

Fotis Flevotomos, Fulbright Visiting Artist — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 06:12:16 -0500

In his very first email to me, Michael Marmor, professor and past chair of ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote: Your point that your view is original and valid on its own is important. I try to teach students that low vision or color “blindness” are not necessarily faulty vision... they are “different” vision. And may in some ways be better, or at least just as valid, depending on what you are trying to do. You have more of an “impressionist” view of a distant landscape than others with perfect vision — it's not better or worse, but alternative. About a year ago I started reading Marmor and James Ravin’s The Artist’s Eyes: Vision and the History of Art. Most artists are usually reluctant to read books that could be considered technical or scientific, especially if their subject relates to art, but I needed to answer a certain question and hoped that the book would help me somehow. And it did, as it seeks to determine the links between the work of some well-known painters and certain visual disorders.

In a way, Marmor and Ravin answer my question: Is the work of an artist the result of choice or of necessity? They write about Degas: Degas (1834-1917) probably had a retinal disease that caused central, or macular, damage, and the primary effect of such disease would be visual blur, or poor acuity. […] By the 1890s, Degas was making frequent references in his letters to poor eyesight as well as to difficulty with reading and writing… […] By the turn of the twentieth century, he was quite disabled, with visual acuity of 20/200 to 20/400. Remarkably, he continued to work in pastels until 1912... Degas himself spoke about his eye problems — and I would think he was answering the above question when he said, “I am convinced that these differences in vision are of no importance. One sees as one wishes to see. It’s false; and it is that falsity that constitutes art.”

This is the artist’s natural tendency — to believe that his art is the result of choice in that “one sees as one wishes to see.” It has been shown by scientists, however, that dyslexics, for example, or people with visual disorders like strabismus, are disproportionately overrepresented in the artistic population. This might lead one to think that differences in vision and the brain are possibly of some importance.

In The Artist’s Eyes, Marmor and Ravin discuss not only Degas but also Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), who suffered from chronic infection of the tear sac; the Irish painter Paul Henry (1876-1958), who was color deficient; Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), who had cataracts; and many more artists with or without vision loss — even the presbyopic potter Euphronios in ancient Athens. They also explain in a coherent way how the eye works and why glasses are needed, or how we interpret images of low contrast and images that combine multiple perspectives.

The question of artistic freedom and the dipole of choice-necessity occurred to me quite recently after rereading a section in The Artist’s Eyes titled “Equiluminance and Art,” which refers to colors of equal brightness. Just about the same time I was lucky enough to attend a talk in New York City on the same subject by Margaret Livingstone, a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. The point made was that our ability to see depth, spatial organization and motion is carried by a color-blind part of our visual system, which means that when two or more objects or colors are equiluminant (of equal brightness), they look flat and shimmery — we don’t have a clear sense as to whether they are moving or not. This made me think a great deal about my own work and the fact that my paintings often lack tone contrast. I have ocular albinism and always have had trouble perceiving depth or understanding where things are coming from and how fast they move — my constant feeling is that they just arrive in my face. So it might be the reproduction of this kind of effect, I realized, that I am subconsciously aiming at, since most of the colors in my pictures are usually of equal luminance (see, for example, the iPad drawing below titled Washington Square). To me, this is a tangible argument as to why low vision is not faulty vision but, as Marmor says, alternative vision.

See these links for more about art and low vision:

Everyone Achieves at NYPL

Laura Rietz, Multimedia Content — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:18:03 -0500

Justin, a 14-year-old with special needs, sits at a computer in the Huguenot Park Library, in Staten Island, and ponders a comprehension quiz about an article he’s just read. The multiple-choice question asks him to fill in the blank: “A packet is a kind of ____.” His choices: Bag, zone, plant, or map. Justin answers incorrectly on his first attempt, so he thinks long and hard before finally settling on “Bag,” then submits his answer. “Fantastic!” says a pop-up message on the screen. “Fantastic!” echo Justin and his teaching aide, who sits next to him, keeping him focused.

This is precisely the kind of simple, interactive learning experience that Diane Campione, a librarian at the Huguenot Park Library, hopes will take place in all 87 neighborhood locations of The New York Public Library system. The Library has long been a resource for underserved communities, including the vision- impaired, hearing-impaired and even the incarcerated. Huguenot Park is now leading the pack in providing services for children and teens living with emotional and developmental challenges. During fiscal year 2012, NYPL offered 200 similar programs around the system; library officials are pushing to offer even more.

This fall, Campione invited staff from around NYPL to observe one of her special education programs in action. Working with a classroom of kids from the Hungerford School, which caters to children and teens with special needs on Staten Island, Campione demonstrated a computer program called Achieve, which tailors reading material and comprehension evaluations to the unique abilities and challenges of each student.

Reading levels vary widely among students in any special education classroom. Cheryl Nelms, a special ed teacher who brings her high school class to Huguenot Park once a month, said that Achieve is “wonderful, because it reads the story to [students]” if they need help.

Many children with special needs have sensory processing challenges, so Campione holds workshops in the children’s room at her library. Giving the students a room to themselves—and allowing them to check out materials away from the hustle and bustle of the branch’s main floor—makes them more comfortable and better able to absorb the educational content of the program.

Campione, a special needs parent herself, hopes to demonstrate through her workshops at Huguenot Park that special education is little more than mainstream education with an extra dose of personalization and patience. At NYPL, she says, “We have the resources, we have the technology, we have very talented staff,” and each branch can become a learning environment for all New Yorkers, whatever their abilities.

Watch the video to see the program in action and hear more of what Campione has to say about her mission.

Art and Low-Vision: A List of Accessible Museums in New York City

Dana Simon, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:02:32 -0500

Museums around New York City are offering visitors with low-vision or are blind the opportunity to experience and learn about great works of art. Through monthly verbal description and touch tours, visitors can enjoy a multisensory museum experience, to help compensate for some museums' "no touch" policy. Below is a select list of these tours. Advance appointments are usually required and be sure to call the museum to get updated information.

American Folk Art Museum
45 W. 53rd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenue) New York 10019
212-265-1040 Voice
The museum offers gallery tours with verbal imaging and touch tours of objects from the museum's collection, with one month advance notice.

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West and 79th Street, New York 10024
212-769-5100 Voice
The museum offers monthly touch exhibits called Science Sense which highlight specific themes and exhibition halls. Call for the schedule and to register.

Brooklyn Museum
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn 11238
718-501-6229 (accessibility info) Voice
718-638-5000 Voice; 718-399-8440 TTY
access@brooklynmuseum.org
The museum offers verbal description and touch tours one Thursday a month at 6:00 pm. Contact the museum Education Department for schedule and reservations.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (at 89th Street) New York 10128
212-423-3500 Voice / TTY
access@guggenheim.org
The "Mind's Eye" programs are offered on the first Monday of every month. The museum offers verbal imaging and touch tours and workshops, which are led by arts and education professionals who facilitate shared observation, discussion, and creative practice. Call for reservations and schedule.

Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue (at 92nd Street) New York 10128
212-423-3225 Voice, 212-660-1515 TTY
access@thejm.org
The museum offers touch tours and tactile books by appointment. There is also a monthly verbal imaging tour on the first Monday of each month. Call for the schedule and to make an appointment.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street) New York 10028
212-650-2010 (accessibility info) Voice, 212-570-3828 TTY
access@metmuseum.org
The museum offers tours of its special touch collection and verbal imaging tours by appointment. There's also a self-guided touch tour, In Touch with Ancient Egypt which consists of six ancient Egyptian sculptures. The museum also offers scheduled programs, which include, Seeing Through Drawing a monthly drawing class for adults who are blind or partially sighted. Another monthly program is Picture This! which incorporates a verbal imaging tour and handling session. Call for appointments to any of these programs and to be put on the mailing list.

Museum of Modern Art
11 W. 53rd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenue) New York 10019
212-708-9400 Voice, 212-247-1230
accessprograms@moma.org
The museum offers sculpture and design collection touch tours by appointment. The museum also offers, Art InSight, which is a free monthly touch and verbal description tour of special collections on Tuesdays when the museum is closed. Call for appointment.

Rubin Museum of Art
150 W. 17th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenue) New York 10011
212-620-5000 x375 (accessibility info) Voice
reservations@rmanyc.org
The museum offers verbal imaging and touch tours, which take visitors on a journey that weaves together the culture, history, religion, and art of the Himalayas.

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue (between 74th and 75th Street) New York 10021
212-570-7789 (accessibility info) Voice, 212-671-5378 TTY
accessfeedback@whitney.org
The museum offers individual and monthly verbal description and touch tours with advance reservations.

For a full list of access to cultural centers see:

[PDF] Official Accessibility Guide - NYC.gov

See these links for more about art and low vision:

Art and Low-Vision: A Multi-Sensory Museum Experience

Dana Simon, Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 09:11:00 -0500

Why would someone with low vision choose to become an artist or feel passion about viewing and visiting great works of art in an art museum? As a senior librarian at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library and an artist and painter with low vision, I have found that the act of painting provides me with a great way of getting in touch with my inner self, a way of creating a sense of "mindfulness" where one can be present in the moment and reduce the feeling of stress in one's life.

I recently discovered that I am not alone in wanting to get back to my artistic roots, and to be able to experience the joy of going to an art museum. The weekend of October 26-28, just before Hurricane Sandy hit, I attended a conference at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Multimodal Approaches to Learning Conference.

At the conference, I learned how museums and educators are creating ways to include people with vision loss and other disabilities into the museum experience by incorporating: touch, sound, smell, drama, verbal description, and the use of artist tools and art making.

The keynote speaker Peter Sellars, theater and opera director, spoke about how we cannot do things alone, and we should look deeply and listen deeply. No one sees what we see, no two people have the same set of skills and insights, we all are wired differently.

In a workshop using scent in art, I learned that the same scent can smell differently if given a different label, such as cheese or vomit; or by changing the color of lights in an olfactory art sculpture from red to blue. In the roundtable "Putting Theory into Practice," several museum curators and educators, spoke about personalizing the museum experience and creating multisensory exhibits. John Bramblitt, an artist who lost his sight, had to find new ways to do his art again by using other senses and art materials. He brought in some of his paintings, where I was able to feel the contrast of a smooth plastic background and the raised ridges of his acrylic paint.

The last day of the conference, I went on a verbal description and touch tour at the Whitney Museum, led by Danielle Linzer, where we viewed an abstract painting, "The Magnificent," by Richard Pousette-Dart, which we were able to touch after donning silk gloves.

I was amazed by the amount of texture I could feel on the painting, which I was unaware of when I just looked at the piece. I remembered Richard Pousette-Dart from my student days at the Art Student League of New York, he taught classes across the hall from where I painted and studied with the artist Knox Martin.

This was then followed by a tour of scent, sound and touch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We began with trying to guess the smell of frankincense which is used in churches and other spiritual places and ceremonies. This feeling of spirituality was followed by a visit to the Oceanic art room, where we learned about the "slit gong" which looks like a giant totem, but has the capability of making sounds to be used in religious ceremonies and to communicate emergencies. I ended the tour with a studio based art-making workshop, taught by artist Pamela Lawton, where using charcoal and conte crayon; I created several contour drawings made by feeling my face and recreating the contours I felt on the paper. We then went into the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum and drew from a sculpture that was described to us before we drew it. It was rejuvenating for me to be drawing again.

This experience will not end, and others with vision loss or are blind can enjoy a museum experience. Museums and educators around New York City are offering monthly described tours and including multisensory elements in museum exhibits.

See these links for more about art and low vision:

Drawing on the iPad

Fotis Flevotomos, Fulbright Visiting Artist — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 08:23:53 -0400

As a visiting artist at the NYPL, I felt the need from the very beginning of my stay in New York City to explore the library visually by making drawings of it on my iPad. The library’s landmark building at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street caught my attention immediately. In the room of the Art and Architecture Collection, the reddish light coming from the reflections of the floor, the wood and the books was one of my first visual discoveries. I loved the quietness of the room, the stillness of everything in there, and, of course, the big table lamps that look like elegant immovable figures among the human figures. All these elements kept me drawing for hours without a break — five or six hours of intense work.

As with any medium, so too does the iPad have its pluses and minuses, and you always lose something in order to gain something else. In a dark space like the Art and Architecture Room, drawing on the iPad is quite easy because the colors on the screen are not affected by the surrounding lighting conditions. For artists like me with low vision, well-lit drawing surfaces are desirable and the iPad can open up a whole new world of subject matter such as, for example, interiors.

However, nothing can compare to the brightness of a sheet of white paper under direct sunlight. In Washington Square, this very new device suddenly becomes dark and lets you only guess what color or form it is that you are drawing on its disturbingly reflective glass. Yet, nice or interesting pictures might come to life even under these circumstances, which makes me often wonder whether it is just one’s eyes that a painter should count on or other things as well — like, say, memory. But this is a quite difficult question, and one needs to turn to science and the psychology of visual perception for valid answers.

Here, I will just provide some information for those with or without low vision who are interested in using the iPad for making pictures.

Whatever the application you might choose to download from the Apple Store (Draw Free for iPad, Brushes 3, Glow Draw — there are many that you can get for free), it will probably make your drawing seem a bit childish and exaggerated in color and form. Don’t be discouraged by this lack of likeness and accuracy. Painting and photography are two quite different things.
Observe your subject carefully before you get started. Try to think what the overall composition of your picture will look like, what colors you are going to use and what needs to be emphasized.
Be patient. As I said, digital drawing, just like traditional drawing, can sometimes be very time-consuming.
Email your work, as long as you are happy with it, to your friends. This unique feature of digital picture-making gives you the chance to share your feelings instantly and get responses.

Just give it a try. If you love drawing, this might be a fascinating and self-revealing experience.

The NYPL offers classes for those who want to get a basic introduction to the iPad. View the library's online calendar of classes.

Celebrating Art Beyond Sight: The Value of Creating and Appreciating Art for Those with Low Vision

Brigid Cahalan, Library Sites & Services/Outreach — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 06:27:27 -0400

In October, museums and other cultural organizations throughout the U.S. and the world celebrate the 10th annual Art Beyond Sight Awareness Month. The goal: "making pictorial literacy and access to the world of art a reality for all blind people."

The organization Art Education for the Blind was founded by museum educator Elisabeth Salzhauer Axel 25 years ago when her grandmother, an artist and art lover, began losing her sight. Those efforts have expanded greatly and grown into the organization, Art Beyond Sight (ABS), a collaborative of museums, and cultural and educational institutions, which support one another in their efforts to provide myriad ways into the art world for those with low vision or blindness. Accessibility tools include general tools for those with low vision such as universal design, braille/large print, and tactile graphics and maps, and learning tools to provide access to artwork such as touch tours, verbal description and tactile diagrams of the space. ABS' rich website also explores art-making as a way to both express oneself and learn about art.

Every couple of years, Art Beyond Sight and New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art sponsor an international conference of educators, museum personnel and researchers to explore new advances in different ways of learning, particularly centered around museums and art. This year's conference, Multimodal Approaches to Learning, takes place October 26-28 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I had not thought much about art education for those with vision loss until our library presented a Low Vision and Blindness Resource Day in June 2011, which included a panel of three artists with low vision discussing why and how they create art. One of the participating artists, Fotis Flevotomos, was recently awarded a Fulbright grant which enabled him to come to New York City where he is being hosted by the New York Public Library as a Visiting Artist.

We welcome Fotis Flevotomos, and know he will be a great asset to the library and the wider cultural community in spreading the important word about the value of art for all — especially those with low vision.

Special Education Libraries

Miranda J. McDermott, Grand Concourse — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:28:46 -0400

My mother is a special education teacher, and I had the pleasure of giving presentations about public library services in some special education classrooms. Since gifted education used to be classified as special education, I was curious to see if I could find any libraries on that subject; I did not. I also wanted to know what topics special education libraries covered, and below are some that I found.

Special Education Libraries
for these amore, see Directory of Special Libraries and Information Centers, 40th ed., 2012

Association for Children with Down Syndrome Library
4 Fern Pl.
Plainview, NY 11803 USA
www.acds.org
516-933-4700
Subjects: Down syndrome, mental retardation, early childhood education, special education, advocacy, families with special needs. Publications: Yes.

AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation Library
3084 Willard Rd.
Birch Run, MI 48415-9404 USA
www.avko.org
866-AVKO-612
Subjects: Special education, reading, spelling, dyslexia.

Exceptional Child Education Resources (ECER) - Council for Exceptional Children
2900 Crystal Dr., Ste. 1000
Arlington, VA 22202-3557 USA
www.cec.sped.org/ecer
888-232-7733 / 866-915-5000.
Subjects: Exceptional child education, disabilities, gifted, special education. Electronic Resources: Yes.

Governor Baxter School for the Deaf Library
1 Mackworth Island
Falmouth, ME 04105 USA
www.gbsd.org/pages/MECDHH_Library/index
207-781-6237
Subjects: Deafness, sign language, deaf education, professional education. Special Collections: Yes.

House Ear Institute - CARE Center - Parent Resource Library
2100 W. 3rd St.
Los Angeles, CA 90057 USA
http://www.hei.org
Phone: (213)353-7005
Subjects: Deafness - social problems, special education, sign language, communication, child rearing.

Missouri School for the Blind Library
3815 Magnolia Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63110 USA
msb.dese.mo.gov/library.htm
Phone: (314)776-4320, x3257
Subjects: General collection, special education, blind education. Electronic Resources: Yes.

National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
1825 Connecticut Ave. NW, Ste. 700
Washington, DC 20009 USA
www.nichcy.org
202-884-8200 / 800-695-0285
Subjects: Special education and disabilities in children. Special Collections: Yes. Electronic Resources: Yes. Publications: Yes.

Nebraska Center for the Education of Children Who are Blind or Visually Impaired Library
PO Box 129
Nebraska City, NE 68410 USA
www.ncecbvi.org
402-873-5513 / 800-826-4355
Subjects: Education, the blind and visually impaired, curriculum. Special Collections: Yes. Electronic Resources: Yes.

New York CIty Board of Education - Special Education Teachers Resource Center
110 Livingston St.
Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA
Subjects: Language arts, science, teacher education, special education, social studies, early childhood, mathematics. Special Collections: Yes. Publications: Yes.

New York Institute for Special Education - Edward R. Finch Library
999 Pelham Pkwy.
Bronx, NY 10469 USA
http://www.nyise.org
Phone: (718)519-7000
Subjects: Special education. Special Collections: Yes. Electronic Resources: Yes. Formerly: New York Institute for Special Education - Walter Brooks Library.

Ohio State School for the Blind Library
5220 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43214 USA
http://www.ossb.oh.gov/Library.html
Phone: (614)752-1359 / (800)310-3317
Subjects: Special education with emphasis on blindness. Special Collections: Yes. Electronic Resources: Yes.

Phoenix Public Library - Special Needs Center
1221 N. Central Ave., Fl. 1
Phoenix, AZ 85004 USA
www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/snc.jsp
602-261-8690
Subjects: Special education, rehabilitation, blindness and visual impairment, deafness and speech impairment, physical disability, mental disability. Special Collections: Yes. Electronic Resources: Yes. Publications: Yes.

South Carolina Department of Disabilities & Special Needs - Whitten Center Library & Media Resource Services
Box 239
Clinton, SC 29325 USA
864-938-3331
Subjects: Mental retardation, services for mentally handicapped, special education, special media for mentally handicapped, psychology. Special Collections: Yes. Publications: Yes.

Special Education Service Agency Library
3501 Denali St., Ste. 101
Anchorage, AK 99503 USA
www.sesa.org
907-334-1301
Subjects: Special education, disabilities, early childhood, alternative communication, child rearing. Special Collections: Yes. Electronic Resources: Yes.

St. Mary’s School for the Deaf - Library Information Center
2253 Main St.
Buffalo, NY 14214 USA
www.smsdk12.org
716-834-7200
Subjects: Deafness, audiology, speech, special education, ASL, sign language, deaf culture, deaf history. Special Collections: Yes. Networks/Consortia: Member of Western New York Library Resources Council (WNYLRC).

Texas Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation - Brenham State School Staff Library
4001 Highway 36 South
Brenham, TX 77833 USA
409-836-4511
Subjects: Special education, mental retardation, team building, management.

Alzheimer's Disease: Find Out How You Can Help, or Get Help, During World Alzheimer's Month

Brigid Cahalan, Library Sites & Services/Outreach — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 11:54:38 -0400

More than 35 million people worldwide are living with Alzheimers, a fatal disease without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression. With the help of NYPL, Alzheimer's Association, New York City Chapter would like to raise awareness about this devastating disease. September, World Alzheimer's Month, is your chance to join the global fight against Alzheimer's disease. Visit alznyc.org/worldalzheimersmonth for more information and show your support by wearing purple with a purpose on Alzheimer's Action Day —September 21.

We've asked Jed Levine, Executive V.P. and Director of Programs & Services for the Alzheimer's Association's New York City Chapter, to write a guest blog post on this important topic.

"Helpline. How can I help you?"

When our Helpline staff completes a call, this is what they hear: "I'm so glad I called." "I wished I had called five years ago." "Stefanie, (or Maggie, or Ann, or Matt), you are so helpful and kind." "You are the only one who really took the time to listen." "I left a message and you called back. In five minutes!"

From the beginning, the New York City Chapter was committed to having a human and a humane response to every person who called. We knew that Alzheimer's didn't go to sleep at ten, or take the weekend off, so our goal was to ensure that family caregivers had our support 24/7. In the first decades of the Helpline, dedicated volunteers supported the staff and answered calls from home on nights and weekends. As the calls got more frequent and the callers became more sophisticated, the questions required increasing expertise. Today, our Helpline is staffed entirely by professionals, including Amy Torres, who recently joined us to provide expert guidance on residential and other long term care issues.

In 2004, when the National Alzheimer's Association expanded their Helpline, we partnered with them to ensure that professionals would answer the phone. Today, if you call after business hours, a staff member at the National Contact Center in Chicago answers the phone, provides immediate assistance, and sends the Chapters a report so we can follow up the next business day with information and support.

One principle has guided the Helpline for over 25 years; the power of the human connection. When a family member or a person with early stage dementia is in need of guidance, information, or is in emotional distress, one of the most powerful tools is being able to talk about it with a caring, knowledgeable professional. Our Helpline staff has intimate knowledge of necessary resources that support caregivers and persons with dementia; from where to order incontinence supplies, to the intricacies of the arcane and ever-changing Medicaid regulations. Our staff is familiar with every caregiving challenge, and has the time and expertise the think through creative solutions. One recent example was a caller who was having difficulty getting her father to eat. A simple suggestion to use sweetener on his food solved the problem, and now he is eating, enjoying it, and gaining much-needed weight.

We know our Helpline staff is resourceful, practical, smart and caring, but their greatest gift is knowing how to listen. Family caregivers and people with the disease need to talk. Talking helps clear the air, gives breathing space, helps release some of the tension and worry family caregivers carry with them all the time; whether they are aware of it or not. Talking heals a wounded heart. Talking allows people to take the next steps. It's very hard to develop a care plan, if you are filled with feelings of fear, sadness, anger and guilt. Talking and being heard helps everyone feel understood and not alone. Too often, friends and family members pull away. Family caregivers feel there is no one to talk to, no one who will understand. We will listen. We will understand.

In addition to our 24-hour Helpline, we sponsor over 120 support groups for caregivers and people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease in the five boroughs offered at various times. All the support groups are free of charge, just like any of our programs and services. We love the wonders of modern day technology and social networking and we've made sure that Chapter staff has every state-of-the-art technological resource available, but in the end, nothing replaces the power of the human-to-human, voice-to-voice connection. That is the true value of our Helpline.

If you need our help, give us a call today. If you know someone who is struggling, give them this number; 800-272-3900. We are here to help 24 hours a day. Seven days a week. Our help will make a difference.