Children’s Digital Library - Stories to spread illusion

The ONCE Foundation’s “Children’s Digital Library” is a collection of 6 tales in digital and fully accessible format, where the main characters are children with disabilities, with the aim of normalizing the concept of disability among children while promoting the reading habit.

The tales were initially available in Spanish, but during 2015 they were translated into all co-official Spanish languages and into English. Last December 16 these new versions were officially presented in Madrid in the framework of the  39 ^th Children and Youth Books Fair.

So the English version is now available on http://bibliotecainfantil.fundaciononce.es/en/home.html. All the tales can be read or listened to online.

We think they are a good means to promote non-discrimination among young children so we would thank you to share it with EPR members, as maybe some of them could be willing to use them for education purposes in their centres.

Specific Goals:
-        Motivating children to read through attractive characters having a disability, which is absolutely normalised through the story, and even sometimes showcasing their disabilities as special capabilities.

-        Providing teaching staff with didactic materials, allowing them to address disability at school. 
-        Fully accessibility of the digital format (the tales can be read or listened to). 
-        Promotion of the reading habit among children; normalisation of disability and inclusion from an early age and in education environments where there are children either with or without a disability.

Programme development path:

- 2011-2013: Writing and printing of 6 tales (in Spanish, 3 volumes including 2 tales each) the main characters of which represent the main disability groups:
o   Volume I:
Nacho Pista Tennis Player - Spina Bifida
Silvina Dancer - Down´s Syndrome
o   Volume II:
Aitor Aviator - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Rosalia the Spy – Deafness
o   Volume III:
Amador Actor - Cerebral Palsy
Aurora Broadcaster – Blindness

All the tales were validated by the relevant disability organisations before printing and spreading them.

-        2013:
o   Decision to create digital versions, given the cost of printing copies to spread the tales as well as due to accessibility criteria. Also trying to attend the high demand from disability organisations and education centres from all over Spain and Latin America.
o   Evaluation and continuous improvement.

-        2014:
o   Decision to translate the tales into different languages, given the excellent results and increasing demand.
o   Translation into all co-official Spanish languages and English. Translation into French planned to be made in the future.

-        2015: 
o   Official presentation of the new versions in Madrid in the framework of the 39th Children and Youth Books Fair.
o   Media campaign and dissemination of the new web including all language versions. 

-        2016: 
Presentation at the 1st International Congress  on Reading Comprehension for Children in Elementary Education (Online Congress, April 2016 - http://ciclip.com/). The video-conference got 98 comments.

-  Now working for:
o   Incorporation of new tales  with creators.
o   Incorporation of new materials and resources for children to download and complete their learning experience (character cutouts, drawings to colour in, etc.)
o   Possibility to print the tales from the website.