“Each of us is an embodiment of many stories.
Often, our more dominant stories could be hurting us while other healing ones lie dormant and ready to be discovered.
By making room for the discovery of our healing stories, we create the spaces for inclusion.”
Such was the outlook we developed and adopted towards designing reading spaces at two locations for children with special needs for an Early Intervention Centre in Mumbai. This outlook is the result of experience and associated insight : over two decades as a parent to a young adult with special needs, over three decades as a social activist working within groups striving for the inclusion of the socially marginalized, and as an architect working at breaking down barriers through ‘universal design’.
The design, which is underway, is for an organization that runs a reading programme for children who access their services and we have been approached to enhance and spread their movement through our design inputs. Translated into design possibilities, the outlook has led us to ask some questions like: What constitutes a library, its functions, and the persons it caters to? What qualifies a child as having special needs, and in fact, is any child non-special? And finally, how does the design aid the process of inclusion through access to the healing stories of its users?
Starting with physical design
Making libraries accessible to people with special needs (both intellectual and physical) has hardly been addressed in India so far. For instance, Harmonized Guidelines and Space Standards (issued by Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India) touches only lightly upon design of bookshelves for access to people using wheelchairs. Countries, that have made much progress in providing accessible environments, now have specific guidelines not just for the design, but also organization and maintenance of the library, and training of its staff, because making a library accessible is much more than just providing physical access.
Making spaces physically accessible to people with special needs can turn out to be a futile exercise, unless all the activities and functions those spaces are meant for, including additional ones carried out by neurotypical and able people, are also made accessible to people with special needs, through design or otherwise. As an example, making a shopping mall physically accessible is only a part of the deal, unless the whole experience of shopping, including window shopping, searching and trying of clothes, judging yourself in the mirror, and then buying (or not buying) them is also made accessible, to the extent the person’s ability allows.
Similarly, being able to enter a library is just partial fulfillment of accessibility. Being able to choose what you wish to read by just browsing/looking through the books, being able to read in a comfortable position, being able to choose where to read, being able to read, or choosing not reading at all and just being there, are just some of the functions to consider. Universal accessibility and inclusion can only be achieved when people with special needs are able to do all of these things. Various libraries applying the principles of Universal Design, now have programs that go further than this.
While exploring the mere physical aspects of the design too, the challenge thus has been not just to catch up in terms of physical access, but also designing functional access. Envisioning spaces that can enable the young users to browse, choose, read in comfort, discuss, share thoughts or merely lounge, has been possible only through a collaboration between designers, librarians, disability experts, and most importantly, the end users. We were privileged to have easy and continuous dialogue with them as well as the possibilities of sustained observation for better understanding.
What should a Library for Children with Special Needs be like?
Starting at the heart of the need, we first took a look at children who have special needs as a result of certain disabilities and/or disorders.
Children with special needs face three kinds of access issues that affect the joy of reading. They could have issues with physically holding and turning the pages of a book –i.e. mobility and motor issues of skeletal, muscular or neurological origins. They could struggle with the written words, implying issues related to dyslexia or lack in academic abilities that enable reading. Finally there could be issues related to intellectual disability. Many would have a combination of each of these to varying degrees. But one thing they all struggle with is social acceptance – to belong, without being discriminated against.
To tackle these issues comprehensively, not just the physical space of a library, but also the furniture and books in it, its ambience, and its context in a community have to be made ‘accessible’ too. Accordingly the design process required us to create inviting spaces, where children with varying physical capacities would be comfortable approaching, locating and reading books of their interests.
Making it physically accessible and easy to use
Furniture which would support fragile muscle tone, skeletal weakness and erratic nerves was a start. The books too need to be readily available and accessible to these variants. Creating settings that would make the actual process of reading physically and psychologically easy is an essential feature of the design. This is particularly important since children could be discouraged if the process of reading is difficult, tiring or painful in any way.
To arrive at the right design for furniture we have carefully observed children with special needs using the books in an environment they were comfortable in, namely, the centre for which we are designing this library, as also other organizations that cater to special needs. We have studied their needs with respect to reaching the books, taking them out, including the factor of choice involved, and then being able to sit down and read the book. This simple activity, which appears straightforward to a neurotypical adult, when broken down like this, reveals the complexity of the task for a special child. The objective for design is not just to improve accessibility, but also to reduce the effort that the whole activity demands, so that the children do not tire themselves out when they sit down to read, and can enjoy the book they have chosen. The process is very detailed, to the point of modifying the books for easy grip and turning of pages.
A possible design for the shelves includes creating slots that are self-informing about the placement of the books based on their sizes. Books in the wrong slots would tend to topple. The proposed shelves are also designed to allow the therapist or library attendant to categorize them by colour, shape, picture indication of topic, lettered indication among other things. This flexibility makes possible the shuffling of spaces and categories based on the user group that may use the space on a given day.
While physical access is imperative, libraries for special needs must be available to groups that cannot read too, and the learning that comes out of access to books can be made available through alternative formats. The most obvious of many possibilities to explore such alternative formats are audio books, picture-books and books being relayed by a story-teller. Allowing for these experiences in our spaces is integral to our design.
Making it enticing and respectful
It is said that the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. For us, as designers, this measure was one of the main defining factors of our design. Respectful access to the books, the spaces, the main and incidental functions and the entire experience, has been a non-negotiable design objective. This is of special significance in light of the glib quip about dyslexia made by our Prime Minister while taking a dig at a political rival, which echoes the stigmatization of disability in Indian society.
For those with intellectual disability, the written word may hold little fascination. Those that do read, would do so at a level way lower than their chronological age, and so the space needs to allow them to do so with a dignity commensurate with their age, and keep books within easy access. Hence, the distribution of books and other story telling formats avoid following norms like keeping easier readings / picture books and such at toddler levels while allocating higher reaches to text heavy literature or only providing kiddy furniture in the story telling area.
The design explores opportunities to allow any scope of learning within the activity of accessing a book. Designing shelves, as mentioned above, is one part of the task. We also sought to do this through the physical properties of a book, like its colour and size, which can guide children to its rightful place (refer to the design of book shelves illustrated above). The design suggests that books be made available in all manner of easy access so that children can pick them up and leaf through them at whim. These include placing some books atop shelves and on tables so that they beckon the child strolling through; others can be firmly held along the book spine to allow easy flitting of the pages. Many such possibilities have been explored that will allow children to freely roam through the space and discover a story perchance.
An incidental outcome of design interventions is the resulting use of the ‘occupiable edge’ – the setback of the building compound in which it is planned. Typically, this area is generally one of mere transit. This ephemeral intervention will help transform it into one with the potential to enrich the community fabric.
Creating bridges for intermingling with other types of special readers
The most important aspect of the design, however, is to create bridges with the children of the local community. Both locations where the centre plans to have these libraries are conducive to such activities. While one is a semi- open space abutting a busy pavement in Chinchpokli, a bustling area of Central Mumbai, the other is close to a municipal school and down the street from the largest Municipal Hospital of Mumbai. Several possibilities are being explored to create porous boundaries between the children with special needs, who would require supervision, and the wider community around.
The book shelves are designed to be easily visible to children passing by and a welcoming seating space encouraged them to stop and sample the books. Giving easy access to books without segregation by reading ability corresponding to chronological age, will make it a comfortable and accepting experience for children from economically underprivileged families, first generation students and children who want to explore other languages. In addition, a dedicated shelf with books for the taking is proposed to be installed into a corner of the library where therapists and families at the Centre will be encouraged to give away their books for anyone to re-own.
A touch screen access to the digital world is designed to fit into one of the walls of the intervention Centre which will be available to all library users.
The aim is to provide a space that is welcoming to all special needs, a space where children will feel welcome and able to access the magical worlds found in books; picture books, books with words in many languages, digital books …
However, the most magical ability that books possess is that of giving the reader self- expression. Keeping this in mind, the walls of the library spaces will be dotted with felt boards, chalk boards and white boards that would allow the young readers to leave behind their thoughts and their stories. It is through these expressions and stories that we hope to give avenues into other worlds and other possibilities and make the young users aware of their inert potentials.
The result is to create a warm and welcoming space for families coming to the intervention Centre and families from the community to interact or co-exist, as they choose, in a safe and acceptable environment…and if we are so lucky, to have them share their stories with us as they discover their own latent ones.
with inputs from Puneet Bansal and Neha Shigwan of Nature-Nurture Architects and Planners
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