Accessible Membership for Persons with Differentiated Abilities to Younger Children in Development Disability Registry

Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin asked the Minister for Communications and Information whether the National Library Board’s Accessible Membership for persons with differentiated abilities can be made available to younger children who are registered with the Development Disability registry to support the joy of reading from preschool age.

The National Library Board (NLB) is committed to providing an inclusive environment for all Singaporeans to discover the joy of reading and learning. To ensure the availability of suitable programmes for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), NLB has curated programmes like Sensory Storytime, and provided relevant resources, such as screen reader-friendly documents and live captioning.

One of the newer initiatives launched on 30 January 2023 is NLB’s Accessible Membership, which allows members to enjoy the following benefits: (a) a longer borrowing period for general lending items; (b) a longer renewal period for items that are renewable; (c) free reservation of eligible items, such as books, magazines and audiovisual materials; and (d) priority access to accessible features in Punggol Regional Library.

The Accessible Membership is currently open to beneficiaries of eligible disability schemes and services under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), and students from Government-funded Special Education schools. Ongoing efforts between NLB and MSF will expand the Accessible Membership scheme, starting with those on SG Enable’s Developmental Disability Registry. NLB will provide further updates when ready.

NLB will continue to ensure equitable access to library resources, with features that are available to all library members, regardless of whether they have an Accessible Membership. For example, Punggol Regional Library, which opened this year, includes several accessible features, such as an Accessible Collection with books written in Braille, assistive technology devices, Calm Pods and wheelchair-accessible book borrowing stations.

NLB is supporting MSF’s efforts to build an inclusive society through the Enabling Masterplan 2030 and continues to collaborate with partners and the disability community to co-create inclusive libraries for all.