A person who was born with a chronic condition that is due to mental or physical impairments or is affected by a disorder which may affect the acquisition, organization, retention, understanding or use of verbal or nonverbal information.

• Albany Regional Office for Developmental Disabilities
• Attention Deficit Disorder Association
  • Attention Deficit Disorder Resources
• International Dyslexia Organization
• LD Resources Foundation Action
• Learning Disabilities Association of America
• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
• New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council

A person who requires special services and assistance to enable them to succeed in higher education.

• Adult Literacy:
  • Literacy Volunteers of Clinton County
  • Literacy Volunteers of Essex and Franklin Counties
  • ProLiteracy Worldwide
  • Literacy Partners.org
  • National Commission on Adult Literacy
  • National Assessment of Adult Literacy
• Family Literacy:
  • National Center for Family Literacy: helping parents help their children to succeed
  • National Head Start
• High School Equivalency: TASC™ (replacement of the GED®)

• Pathways to Success is a booklet designed for adult new learners looking for more resources to educational and economic success by the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System with supporting funds from the New York State Library's Adult Literacy Library Services Program. The booklet is available at libraries and as a PDF on our website.
• Click here for easy access to local literacy providers and our favorite literacy pages that are great for adult new learners and tutors!

• If you are new to computers, haven't used them for a while, are a little unsure and uncomfortable, or just need a bit of a refresher, we have the tools to help you tackle technology at your own pace and gain the confidence you need to succeed. Go to DigitalLearn.org today!

A person or group that has different national or cultural traditions from the main population (including non-English speakers).

• Literacy Volunteers of Clinton County
• Literacy Volunteers of Essex/Franklin Counties
• Titles in languages other than English are in the CEFLS Public Library Catalog. You can view them by selecting "Advanced Search" and choosing your preferred language under "Language".

• Google Translate is Google’s free language translation service available on Android™ devices and iOS™ devices. You can seamlessly translate between 90 languages with text. It also features a two-way automatic speech translation in 40 languages, hands-free. Drawn characters can be translated without the use of an onscreen keyboard and you can translate signs with your phone or tablet’s camera.

A person or group that is divided from the rest of the population as a result of a physical barrier.

• CEFLS provides downloadable ebooks, audiobooks, and digital magazines to any patron with a valid library card. The System also provides access to a large number of learning resources, information guides, and databases free of charge.

A person with a loss or failure to develop a specific bodily function or functions, whether of movement, sensation, coordination, or speech, but excluding mental impairments or disabilities.

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.
• The ADA National Network consists of 10 regional centers and an ADA Knowledge Translation Center. The regional centers are distributed throughout the United States to provide local assistance and foster implementation of the ADA. Take a look at some of the useful fact sheets they provide as well.
• ADA Building Federal Guidelines
• Guide to ADA Standards
• ADA Programming Ideas
• Policy Statement from the ALA
• School Library Journal: How Universal Design Will Make Your Library More Inclusive
• New York Library Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  Do you want to listen to the newspaper on the radio? Would a book holder make your life easier? How about a closed captioned decoder or a magnifying sheet? Do you have a question about current ADA standards or local services for the physically handicapped? Call (518) 563-5190 to find out more!
• An updated “Guide to Library Services” is available on the website of the New York State Talking Book and Braille Library. This is a brief, two-page introduction to using talking book services and what to expect when registration is completed.
• The NYSTBBL is a great free service for patrons who are not able to use traditional print materials. Please see the New York State Library Talking Book and Braille Library website for a guide and other promotional materials. If you have questions about the
  service, please contact Karen Batchelder at CEFLS by calling (518) 561-5190 ext. 20 or email her at kbatchelder@cefls.org.
• Respect for People with Disabilities
  Did you know? When writing about or interacting with a person with a disability, it's always best to use "person first language" since individuals should not be defined by their disability. For example, "we have a wheelchair patron" should be "We have a patron who uses a wheelchair". And, people are not "wheelchair bound", rather the "use a wheelchair."
• Since 1984 the Research and Training Center on Independent Living (RTC/IL) has distributed more than 1 million copies of its groundbreaking style sheet, Guidelines: How to Write and Report About People with Disabilities. You can find a printable
  poster summarizing the information here.
• AbleData – provides objective information about assistive technology products and rehabilitation equipment
• U.S. Access Board – sets accessibility standards for places and programs for individuals with disabilities
• Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund – Advocates for disability civil rights
• Emerging Horizons – travel information for wheelchair users and slow walkers
• REHABDATA – produced by the National Rehabilitation Information Center, is the leading literature and rehabilitation database
• National Council on Disability – independent federal agency makes recommendations to the President and Congress about issues related to the 54 million Americans with Disabilities
• Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights – for parents of children with disabilities
• Society for Accessible Travel Hospitality – contains information on traveling if you have a visual or hearing impairment
• TSA Cares for Travelers with Disabilities and Medical Conditions
• We Connect Now – website was developed in an effort to connect and integrate college students with disabilities as a virtual community with a voice on important issues. The We Connect Now website has been up and serving college students with disabilities since April of 2008.
• Guide to Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery
• Red Cross Emergency Managements for People with Disabilities
• Listing of Audio Movies on Netflix
• Deaf or Hearing Impairment:
  • TTY– this service is available through an Internet based relay service at www.sprintip.com/
  • ADA Information
  • ADA design standards for libraries
  • The Audio Description Project - Audio description is finally mostly available for first-run movies, and more and more movie theaters are being built or renovated with the necessary equipment to offer the description track to patrons. In fact, the law now requires them to upgrade to include description equipment. This page will point you to more information about the process, the movies, and the theaters.
  • The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) - Browse from a library of over 4,000 free-loan described and captioned media titles.
  • Disability.gov: disability related information and resources from the federal government.

A person placed in an institution (such as an assisted living facility, nursing home, or hospital) that offers specialized care.

The American Library Association: Prisoners Right to Read -

An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

The American Library Association asserts a compelling public interest in the preservation of intellectual freedom for individuals of any age held in jails, prisons, detention facilities, juvenile facilities, immigration facilities, prison work camps and segregated units within any facility. As Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote in Procunier v Martinez [416 US 428 (1974)]:

When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions; his yearning for self-respect does not end; nor is his quest for self-realization concluded.  If anything, the needs for identity and self-respect are more compelling in the dehumanizing prison environment.

Participation in a democratic society requires unfettered access to current social, political, economic, cultural, scientific, and religious information. Information and ideas available outside the prison are essential to prisoners for a successful transition to freedom. Learning to be free requires access to a wide range of knowledge, and suppression of ideas does not prepare the incarcerated of any age for life in a free society. Even those individuals that a lawful society chooses to imprison permanently deserve access to information, to literature, and to a window on the world. Censorship is a process of exclusion by which authority rejects specific points of view. That material contains unpopular views or even repugnant content does not provide justification for censorship. Unlike censorship, selection is a process of inclusion that involves the search for materials, regardless of format, that represent diversity and a broad spectrum of ideas. The correctional library collection should reflect the needs of its community.

Libraries and librarians serving individuals in correctional facilities may be required by federal, state, or local laws; administrative rules of parent agencies; or court decisions to prohibit material that instructs, incites, or advocates criminal action or bodily harm or is a violation of the law. Only those items that present an actual compelling and imminent risk to safety and security should be restricted. Although these limits restrict the range of material available, the extent of limitation should be minimized by adherence to the Library Bill of Rights and its Interpretations.

These principles should guide all library services provided to prisoners:

• Collection management should be governed by written policy, mutually agreed upon by librarians and correctional agency administrators, in accordance with the Library Bill of Rights, its Interpretations, and other ALA intellectual freedom documents.
• Correctional libraries should have written procedures for addressing challenges to library materials, including a policy-based description of the disqualifying features, in accordance with “Challenged Materials” and other relevant intellectual freedom documents.
• Correctional librarians should select materials that reflect the demographic composition, information needs, interests, and diverse cultural values of the confined communities they serve.
• Correctional librarians should be allowed to purchase materials that meet written selection criteria and provide for the multi-faceted needs of their populations without prior correctional agency review. They should be allowed to acquire materials from a wide range of sources in order to ensure a broad and diverse collection. Correctional librarians should not be limited to purchasing from a list of approved materials.
• Age is not a reason for censorship. Incarcerated children and youth should have access to a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, as stated in “Free Access to Libraries for Minors."
• Correctional librarians should make all reasonable efforts to provide sufficient materials to meet the information and recreational needs of prisoners who speak languages other than English.
• Equitable access to information should be provided for persons with disabilities as outlined in “Services to People with Disabilities.”
• Media or materials with non-traditional bindings should not be prohibited unless they present an actual compelling and imminent risk to safety and security.
• Material with sexual content should not be banned unless it violates state and federal law.
• Correctional libraries should provide access to computers and the Internet.

When free people, through judicial procedure, segregate some of their own, they incur the responsibility to provide humane treatment and essential rights.  Among these is the right to read. The right to choose what to read is deeply important, and the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. The denial of the right to read, to write, and to think—to intellectual freedom—diminishes the human spirit of those segregated from society. Those who cherish their full freedom and rights should work to guarantee that the right to intellectual freedom is extended to all incarcerated individuals.

Adopted June 29, 2010, by the ALA Council.

• Community Connections is a booklet designed for people returning to Clinton, Essex, or Franklin Counties from a correctional facility compiled by the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System. It is made available to correctional facilities and at libraries as well as a PDF on our website.

• The Community Connections booklet is designed for people returning to Clinton, Essex, or Franklin Counties from a correctional facility compiled by the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System. It is made available to correctional facilities and at libraries as well as a PDF on our website.
• Correctional Association of NY
• Credit Reports:
  • Federal Trade Commission – Credit Reports 
  • Free credit reports 
  • Financial Planning Association – Repairing Your Credit
• Guidebook for Reentry: Veterans in New York State
• Federal Bonding Program: a unique tool established to assist a “high risk” job applicant in obtaining and retaining a job.
• Fortune Society: mission is to support successful reentry from prison and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities.
• Handbook for Family and Friends of NYS DOCCS Inmates
• How To Get and Cleanup Your New York State Rap Sheet
• Law Help/NY: Find free legal services in New York.
• Legal Action Center: information and free downloadable publications including guide to Certificates of Relief From Disabilities and Certificate of Good Conduct,  Employment Laws and Housing Laws Affecting Individuals With Criminal Convictions, How to Obtain Important Documents like SS Card, Birth Certificate, etc.
• My Sister’s Keeper: A Book for Women Returning Home from Prison or Jail
• National H.I.R.E. Network, Know Your Rights: Understanding Juvenile & Criminal Records and Their Impact on Employment in New York State
• National Institute of Corrections
• National Reentry Resource Center – People Returning Home
• National Reentry Resource Center – NY State: Covers Bronx, Buffalo & Erie Counties, Capital District, Crown Heights, Dutchess County, Monroe County, Upper Manhattan, Ulster County, Westchester County
• New York State Commission of Correction
• New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) & Corecraft Products
• New York State Offender Reentry Initiative
• New York State Community Supervision and Parole Handbook
• Prime Objective: A Guide to Preparing the Job Seeking Ex-Offender 2013 (from the NYS Department of Labor)
• Reentry Education Framework 2016 Guidelines for Providing High-Quality Education for Adults Involved in the Criminal Justice System (from the U.S. Department of Education)
  • Reentry Education Tool Kit – Guidelines, tools, and resources to help education providers implement the Reentry Education Framework. The Framework promotes the development of an education continuum spanning facility- and community-based reentry education programs. It has five critical components—program infrastructure, strategic partnerships, education services, transition processes, and sustainability.

Safe Streets Arts Foundation (incorporating the Prisons Foundation and Victims Foundation): uses the arts to allow all segments of the criminal justice community to communicate with each other and with the public.

A person who may require special consideration due to advanced age.

• Sites for Seniors
  Find the best websites for education as well as entertainment for seniors on the Internet compiled on our website. Featuring resources both on a local level and nationally all available free.
• County Aging Departments serving the CEFLS area:
  • Clinton County Office for the Aging
  • Essex County Office for the Aging
  • Franklin County Office for the Aging
  • New York State Office for the Aging
• Large Print: There are over 20,000 large print books in the CEFLS Public Library Catalog. You can view just the large print materials by clicking on "Advanced Search" and choosing "Large print" under "Format type".
• American Library Association
  • Keys to Engaging Older Adults
  • Outreach Resources for Services to Older Adults
• Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Older Adults: Tips for Caregivers
• Emerging Horizons – travel information for wheelchair users and slow walkers
• VA Caregiver Support
  VA values your commitment as a partner in our pledge to care for those who have "borne the battle." We have several support and service options designed with you in mind. The programs are available both in and out of your home to help you care for yourself and the Veteran you love.
• National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM)
  Microlearning training resources for the National Institute of Health's (NIH) Senior Health webpages.

A person without a paid job available to work/one who does not have enough paid work or not doing work that makes full use of their skills and abilities.

• 
• Pathways to Success is a booklet designed for adult new learners looking for more resources to educational and economic success by the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System with supporting funds from the New York State Library's Adult Literacy Library Services Program. The booklet is available at libraries and as a PDF on our website.
• Guidelines for Library Service to People Experiencing Homelessness by Julie Ann Winkelstein
• Practical Skills for Working with Patrons Experiencing Homelessness by Ryan Dowd and Hesed House
• Our Invisible Families: Library Services with Families Experiencing Homelessness by Vikki C. Terrile
• People Experiencing Homelessness: How Libraries Can be Community Collaborators & Catalysts for Change by Elizabeth J. Skinner

A person with a visual impairment or low vision has a severe reduction in vision that cannot be corrected with standard glasses or contact lenses and reduces the person’s ability to function at certain or all tasks.

• Bookshare: An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities.
• New York State Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL). Free digital materials and player are available to eligible patrons by application from the library. Applications for adults and youth, and instructions on how to join the TBBL are available online. If you have questions about the service, please contact Karen Batchelder at CEFLS.
• BARD: Braille and Audio Reading Download: Once they are registered with the TBBL program, patrons are eligible for BARD. For more information see nysl.nysed.gov/tbbl/bard/
  • BARD application instructions
• The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) - Browse from a library of over 4,000 free-loan described and captioned media titles.
• Sources for textbooks in alternative formats (cassette recordings, Braille, and large print).
• Large Print: There are over 20,000 large print books in the CEFLS Public Library Catalog. You can view just the large print materials by clicking on "Advanced Search" and choosing "Large print" under "Format type".
• Additional resources for people with print disabilities:
  • Lighthouse International
  • Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic)
• Be My Eyes: an app that connects blind and visually impaired with sighted helpers from around the world via live video connection.
• American Academy of Ophthalmology
• American Academy of Pediatric Ophthalmology
• American Council of the Blind – a national consumer advocacy organization for individuals who are blind or visually impaired
• Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired – provides information on blindness and vision loss, certifies professionals in the field of blindness
• American Foundation for the Blind – provides information related to vision loss, braille, employment, and publications
• Braille Bug has information on braille plus games, riddles and biographies of Louis Braille and Helen Keller
• Blindskills, Inc. – Resources for people with visual impairments, publishes Dialogue Magazine
• Foundation Fighting Blindness (formerly the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation)
• Braille Through Remote Learning – online instructional program that provides teachers, parents, social workers, and current/future braille transcribers with on-line instruction in braille and braille transcription
• Blinded Veterans of America
• Children’s Glaucoma Foundation
• Eye Cancer Network
• Macular Degeneration Foundation
• Focus Families – website for families of children with Optic Nerve Hypoplasia and Septo-Optic Dysplasia (also known as DeMorsier Syndrome)
• Glaucoma Research Foundation
• The Glaucoma Foundation
• Hadley School for the Blind – provides free distance learning (home school)
• Lighthouse International – provides information, advocacy and training for individuals with visual impairments
• National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
• Macular Degeneration International – currently undergoing routine maintenance
• Lighthouse Guild Parent Support Network – provides support for families of children with visual impairments and links to other sites of interest to parents
• National Eye Institute
• National Federation of the Blind – the largest membership organization of blind people in the U.S.
• Perkins School for the Blind – includes resources for parents, teachers, family members and others on issues and publications related to people who are blind, Deaf-blind and multiply impaired
• Prevent Blindness America
• The Association for Retinopathy of Prematurity and Related Diseases
• Research to Prevent Blindness – The leading voluntary health organization supporting eye research
• Upstate Medical Center for Vision Research – to enhance the research and training efforts of the basic and clinical vision scientists in the Central New York area
• Blindline™ – is a fully accessible web site created by VISIONS in collaboration with the American Foundation for the Blind to provide direct access to a New York statewide database of organizations and services for people who are blind or visually impaired, their family members, counselors, and other professionals.
• iCanConnect-New York – The 21st Century Communication and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 has made it possible for people with vision or hearing loss to access a wide variety of information which has been inaccessible in the past. Not only does it require first run movies to be closed captioned and video described, it requires better accessibility to smartphones, tablets and even the internet to have built-in accessibility. An exciting part of this act is called “I Can Connect” which sets aside funds to provide access technology to low income individuals who are deaf-blind. This link takes you to the NYS partner for this program.
• My Blind Spot – an article about how Quickbooks, a product of Intuit (the makers of Turbotax) have collaborated to make Quickbooks accessible for people with vision loss. This would be especially useful for people who run their own businesses and who use Quickbooks as their accounting software.
• Website Design Comparative Formats PDF by Debra Buell
• ADA Signage in Libraries

2-1-1 is an easy-to-remember telephone number to call for free, confidential information and referral. 2-1-1 Adirondack Region provides direct, personal and professional assistance for human services and is a vital resource to connect people with important services and volunteer opportunities.