Neurodiversity for Children and Teens: the Burnaby Public Library

What is neurodiversity?

Have you heard the term neurodiverse, neuroatypical or neurodiversity being used more recently?  If you would like to learn more about what this term means click here.

People who identify with being neurodiverse may also seek sensory-friendly experiences due to sensory sensitivity or sensory overload.

The neurodiverse experts are in our communities.

For the past two years, the Burnaby Public Library has been going outside the walls of the library to meet the needs of the community.  It has been an important switch to listen and learn about how the library can support all individuals.  This has been a shift from the library seeing themselves as “the experts” and instead, listening to the voices within the community where the real experts are.

A very special friend of Denise’s told her that she would never bring her son, Theo* to the library.  Theo’s mom sees the library as a traditionally quiet space where her son would be “shushed”.  She was fearful that people would judge his behaviour as they would not understand he is neuroatypical.  She was even more fearful that people would be judgemental of her parenting choices. At the library, with this feedback, we recognized we were not supporting this family in the way we wanted to. We realized that we had to change.  We want to help the neurodiverse community feel welcome at our library.  So our journey to connect with neurodiversity began.

Welcoming people who identify with neurodiversity.

Our steps to be welcoming to everyone led us to seek out and develop relationships with the neurodiverse community.   For instance, we know we need to hear from them directly.  We seek to understand what they want and need to make visiting the library a successful and pleasant experience for all. As an example, we heard from the community about the need to provide sensory tools.  These sensory tools would help to support people while visiting the library.  Since receiving this feedback, we have purchased sensory equipment, like weighted lap pads as an example, to help those who experience sensory sensitivity or sensory overload.

In partnership with the Autism Society of British Columbia, we are working towards developing a safe space for children to be themselves.  Moreover, we want parents to have a chance to build face-to-face relationships during our Sensory Friendly Library Hour.  The first event will take place on March 27, 2020, at the Cameron Library.  Click here for our program listings.  

Thanks to our partnership with Autism BC, we have also created a story about what to expect while visiting the Cameron Branch of our Library.

Please join us for our Sensory Friendly Library Hours in the future.  We look forward to making your library visit warm and welcoming to everyone in the community, including anyone who identifies as being neuroatypical.

Finally, if you have any questions about the library experience, please contact us.

*Name changed to protect privacy.

Welcome customers, clients, patrons, and people who are neurodiverse.

There are wonderful examples of how other types of environments adapt the experience to be sensory-friendly:

• Sensory-friendly movies
• Relaxed performances
• Churches and places of worship
• Swimming pools and programs
• Retail stores and shopping hours
• Dentists
• Massage therapists

Are you inspired to make you event or location sensory-friendly too?