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Lessons in Accessibility
An article in the March 10, 2014, issue of People magazine tells the story of a seventeen-year-old boy who used the 3-D printer at his local library to make a prosthetic hand for Matthew Shields, a nine-year-old family friend born without fingers on his right hand. The story is awesome and heartwarming and way beyond what most librarians think of when they introduce this technology.
I loved the article, and it got me thinking . . . with or without a prosthetic hand, would someone like Matthew be able to use the 3-D printer? What if he had a cognitive impairment or autism instead of a physical disability? I would guess that few librarians who are now providing 3-D printers or offering makerspaces are asking those questions and making sure that the answers are "yes."
Makerspaces are all the rage in the library world. They are a wonderful way to introduce new technologies and to provide new outlets for creativity, learning, and community engagement. But they are not for everyone, though they can be if accessibility becomes one of the considerations when designing makerspaces and maker programs or when introducing technologies like 3-D...