handicap Archives - Awful Library Books

creative recreation for the mentally retarded

Creative Recreation for Everyone

March 22, 2022 Mary Kelly Parent/Teacher Collection 15 comments

Creative Recreation for the Mentally Retarded
Amary
1975

I pulled this book from an academic library. The library in question had a large education program and this type of material would be appropriate from an academic perspective. Obviously, the use of “retarded” is inappropriate for a modern publication. Academic collections have different criteria since the use is primarily for scholarship and not for actual consumption. Different use requires different standards for weeding.

Special education students were largely ignored by most public schools until 1975 with the passage of Education for All Handicapped Children Act. The 1970s and 1980s saw huge changes in the laws and education of special needs children. In a public library setting in 2022, the title is disrespectful and smacks of “otherness.”

L’enfant handicape au Quebec: bibliographie

June 10, 2019 Holly Spanning the Globe 5 comments

L’enfant handicape au Quebec: bibliographie Ministere des Affaires Cultureties Bibliotheque Nationale du Quebec [publication date unknown] Submitter: It’s published by the Quebec government (Canada). I didn’t look too much into it; it’s about handicapped children. I just found it a

Living Fully

December 23, 2013 Mary Kelly Parent/Teacher Collection 2 comments

Living Fully A Guide for Young People with a Handicap, Their Parents, Their Teachers, & Professionals Gordon 1975 This is a book of essays with resources for families with handicapped children. It also contains some discussion of job hunting, sex,

Who Cares?

November 5, 2012 Holly For the Kids, Society Explained 6 comments

Who Cares: Community Involvement with Handicapped People
McConkey
1987

Submitter: Imagine walking down the street after a long day at the office and a long morning of styling your giant 80’s ‘do, having a big yawn, only to have someone surreptitiously snap your photo and put it on the cover of a book entitled “Who cares?” It could happen to you.

Holly: Imagine walking into a public library for some information on how to help handicapped people in your community, and being handed this 25 year old book. That could happen to you too. And you’d be a little disappointed. Until you got a load of the tallest woman in the world on the cover, surrounded by various yawning short people. Then you’d be entertained. Followed by more disappointment.

A Button in Her Ear

January 9, 2011 Holly For the Kids 13 comments

A Button In Her Ear Litchfield 1976 Submitter: Here’s one that’s truly, truly awful. I came across it recently when another library in our system requested it for a patron. I somehow doubt the patron knew what they were getting. The

Does this make my butt look fat?

July 7, 2009 Holly Looking Good 20 comments

Clothes for Disabled People
Goldsworthy
1981

This lovely title comes to us from an anonymous ALB spy in Michigan. I would imagine that this is a great topic for a public library. Ease of dressing for people who have limited mobility and other physical issues is important. However, looking at the cover now – in 2009 – suggests that if you are in a wheelchair, you cannot be fashionable.

I think the guy in a wheelchair is saying to the woman, “Do I really have to dress like Mr. Rogers?”