Since 1858, The American Printing House for the Blind has operated in Louisville, Kentucky as the world’s largest nonprofit organization creating accessible learning experiences through educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are blind and low vision.
The Gallaudet University Archives hosts the world’s largest collection of materials related to deaf people, deaf culture, deaf history, signed languages, deaf education, and deaf-related organizations. The Archives also collects, preserves, and provides access to the histories of various deaf communities around the world. These histories include signed languages indigenous to specific countries or regions, deaf publications and organizations, publications from deaf organizations from various countries, educational institutions for the deaf, religious institutions for the deaf, and biographical materials relating to deaf individuals of note.
The Disability History Museum fosters a deeper understanding about how changing cultural values, notions of identity, laws and policies have shaped and influenced the experience of people with disabilities, their families and their communities over time. The Disability History Museum is a virtual project, it has no bricks or mortar. It aims to provide all site visitors, people with and without disabilities, researchers, teachers and students, with a wide array of tools to help deepen their understanding of human variation and difference, and to expand appreciation of how vital to our common life the experiences of people with disabilities have always been.
The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS), Library of Congress, administers a free national library program that provides braille and recorded materials to people who cannot see regular print or handle print materials. NLS service is provided directly by a network of cooperating libraries funded through a combination of state, local, and/or federal sources. NLS selects books and magazines for full-length publication in braille, ebraille, and digital audio format. Digital audio and ebraille materials are available through the NLS BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) service and the BARD Mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Libraries also circulate physical materials and free playback equipment needed to read magazines and audiobooks on digital cartridges through postage-free mail. The NLS also assists patrons in requesting accessible materials in a wide range of languages from the other libraries around the world.
The Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability provides this exhibition on a remarkable, overlooked moment in U.S. history when people with disabilities occupied a government building to demand their rights. Known as the “Section 504 Sit-In,” the protest profoundly changed the lives of people with and without disabilities, and paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. The Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Francisco State University studies and showcases disabled people's experiences to revolutionize social views. Through public education, scholarship and cultural events, the Longmore Institute shares disability history and theory, promotes critical thinking, and builds a broader community.