National Library Service Improves Quality of Life for Blind and Handicapped

By Daniel Taverne

The National Library Service (NLS) has a service for the blind and physically handicapped (SBPH) that strives to make reading materials available to patrons, free of charge, who are unable to “read” normal books and magazines.

Due to my poor vision, I utilize my State’s SBPH on a regular basis and value talking books as a wonderful leisure resource. That said, enrolling in the service has enriched my life and your state’s SBPH can do the same for you or your handicapped loved one.

How to participate:

The application process is very simple. In fact, the most difficult aspect of the process is the requirement of a doctor’s written statement explaining the visual, physical or cognitive limitations preventing the applicant from reading, holding and turning the pages of conventional books/magazines.

The National Library service home page prominently displays the motto, “That All May Read”. Click here to visit that page and find the library serving your state. Then, contact your cooperating library for an application.

After my own application process was completed, I was mailed a talking book cassette player and several Talking Book Topic catalogs from which to order audio books. The completed order forms, located in the catalogs, can be mailed free of charge by writing the words, “Free matter for the blind and physically handicapped” in the envelope’s corner where the stamp would normally be placed.

Additionally, located in the rear of each Talking Book Topic catalog is an extensive phone number listing of cooperating libraries. Finding the appropriate number to call will allow you to quickly speak with a SBPH counselor who will be glad to answer any questions you might have, as well as assist you in choosing book topics.

Another way I order my talking books is through my State Library SBPH web site. Here, audio books can be searched by title, author or subject.

After they are ordered, audio books come in small green containers. When you are done with a book, all you have to do is turn the address card over and put it back in your mailbox.

When I was first introduced to talking books, I wasn’t sure what to think. I wondered if I would like them, and I wondered what other people would think of me as I listened to the books in public. I was Afraid of being ridiculed so I kept the player in my backpack out of sight. After a while though, as I warmed up to talking books I stopped worrying that I’d be laughed at. It turned out that when others see my player, they are curious about what I’m listening to, and I’m not ridiculed at all.

To sum this all up, my state Library SBPH has improved my quality of life by providing me with a wonderful leisure activity that I truly enjoy. I have found that listening to voices in audio books is just as exciting and wonderful as when I could read the books my self. This is, indeed, a service that I appreciate and highly recommend to low vision/blind and physically handicapped people of all ages.