In partnership with the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Athens County Public Library, or ACPL, system is implementing adult changing stations in The Plains Public Library to create more accessible facilities for Athens County residents with disabilities.
The library has been undergoing renovations since early 2023 in compliance with the Ohio Changing Station Campaign. The statewide initiative aims to provide universal changing spaces for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to increase community engagement for underserved populations.
Director of the ACPL, Nick Tepe, said his organization is committed to improving accessibility services across its facilities.
“Our staff is dedicated to serving all members of our community, regardless of their abilities to use our services,” Tepe wrote in an email. “There is always interest among our staff in finding ways to eliminate or reduce barriers to accessing our services … and advocate to bring those approaches to our work in Athens County. We also regularly work with local agencies and individuals to learn what they need to improve accessibility.”
Autumn Brown, director of Integrate Athens, a division of the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities, works closely with the ACPL and said the importance of adult changing space in the community stems from everyone’s need for assurance of a personal care space.
“When we think about universal design in our community, there's always been changing tables for children because we know that babies and small children need that type of support,” Brown said. “But so do adults that have different abilities. If they use a wheelchair and can't use a regular toilet, they need a changing table. If those aren't available in our community, it limits your ability to go into all of the other activities that everyone else is doing. They have to work around the time limits of their bathroom needs.”
Becca Lachman, ACPL communications officer, said she has always been passionate about accessibility issues; however, she recently, and unexpectedly, underwent an eye operation that left her with limited visual capabilities, which enhanced her perspective.
“When we lose the ability to be able to do something we’ve always done, or when we encounter a world that’s simply not thinking about our different bodies and needs, it can be a scary and lonely place,” Lachman wrote in an email. “In my case, audiobooks have kept me going and sane in the last month, and I haven’t spent a penny to read them, thanks to free library apps.”
Lachman credits her colleagues at the library for introducing her to the various ways people can read in the world today and for working to fight isolation in an able-bodied world.
“Not knowing if I’ll completely get my sight back, I went to the place I knew I could find support: my library colleagues,” Lachman said. “We have a brand new Digital Literacy Department to help library visitors with tech literacy. Within an hour, we’d set me up to try out various accessibility features on my phone and laptop such as dictating emails and getting my computer to read aloud to me.”
Corey Rogier, a junior studying hearing, speech and language sciences, is the president of the Ohio University chapter of Best Buddies – an organization that pairs people with disabilities and OU students for community outreach events – among other initiatives.
“I think (the adult changing stations are) a really great initiative,” Rogier said. “I think it'll really increase that community outreach. Also, I think it'll have an impact on the people in the community that might not have disabilities, but still support people with disabilities and want to increase the inclusivity of the library.”
Other than Ohio’s metropolitan areas, rural Appalachian Ohio sports the highest rate of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, or UCCEDD. Rogier said he hopes his organization serves as a bridge between campus and community resources.
Tepe said the most difficult part of implementing these important initiatives is space.
“All of our libraries are space-limited, and many ideas to improve accessibility; for example, adult changing tables, require more space than we have available,” Tepe said. “In those cases, we take action when and where we are able and as we work on improving our spaces we look for opportunities to make changes that will allow us to improve accessibility.”
Despite these limitations, Lachman said the library welcomes feedback from patrons.
“We genuinely want to welcome everybody to a local library building or to our website and eLibrary,” Lachman said. “We know that sometimes, that access can look like working with a family or individual so that they can comfortably attend a program or explore a resource or service.”
