Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba

Including artists and audiences with disabilities into all facets of the arts community.

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Arts and Disability Mobile Library

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This is a photo of. the packing materials for the mobile lending library. There is a roll of brown paper with AANM's logo on the right, a book wrapped in brown paper in the upper left corner, book with the title "the future is disabled" in the middle of the image with a stack of library cards over.

Arts and Disability Mobile Library



The Arts and Disability Mobile Library has a mission to support the collective knowledge of the Deaf and disability art community of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Announcing the Arts and Disability Mobile Library

Are you interested in learning more about the topic of art and disability, but don’t know where to begin? A new initiative called the Arts and Disability Mobile Library could be for you! The library will be open on May 1st, 2023. Instructions on how to access the library, will be found on AANM’s website. The library is available to all members, books are free to borrow, and will be delivered straight to your door!

The Arts and Disability Mobile Library is a small curated mobile lending library, operated for and by members of the Deaf and disability arts community. It is being made available through Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba, and was conceived of by artist and volunteer librarian Kristin Nelson who says: “After reading The Future is Disabled by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha who writes ‘(b)ooks are a community organizing tool, a friend, a home.” (p. 41) it was my desire to curate a Deaf and disability lending library in Winnipeg to share relevant discourse on the subjects of Deaf and disability art, justice and theory.”

The Arts and Disability Mobile Library is a tool for the Deaf and disability community to access shared books containing discourses on Deaf and disability arts. At this time, the service will be available only to those living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Please check out the AANM’s website on Monday May 1st for a list of available titles, instructions, and more information.



What is The Arts and Disability Mobile Library?

The Arts and Disability Mobile Library is a small curated mobile lending library operated for and by members of the Deaf and disability arts community. It is made available through the Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba. The Arts and Disability Mobile Library is a platform where the Deaf and disability community can access shared books as resources, which contain discourses on Deaf and disability arts. 

Borrowing books from the library is free to members of Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba. Books are delivered to your door and retrieved 2 months later by a volunteer. The service is currently available only to those living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. 

How to:

  • Requests for books are made by emailing mobilelibrary@aanm.ca
  • Please include the name of the book(s) you wish to borrow, your name, address and phone number as well as best method to reach you.
  • Books will be delivered and retrieved on the last Sunday of each month 
  • Drop off and pick up times will be determined by mutual agreement between the volunteer and the borrower

Terms and Conditions:

  • Up to a maximum of 2 books may be borrowed at one time 
  • Borrowing time is 2 months 
  • Books are to be returned in good condition
  • A membership to AANM is required (available for free here)
  • Books must be returned before others are borrowed

Books in the library have been generously donated by: Queerly Anonymous, Dr. Christine Kelly, Kristin Nelson, Jenel Shaw.

The library prioritizes the purchase of books by Deaf and disability QTBIPOC* writers. If you know of a book that the library should have on the topic of art and disability, please let us know.
*QTBIPOC = Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour

Books currently available: 

  1. The Future is Disabled: Prophesies, Love Notes, and Mourning Songs by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022. (paperback)
  2. Mobilizing Metaphor: Art, Culture, and Disability Activism in Canada edited by Christine Kelly and Michael Orsini, UBC Press, 2017. (paperback)
  3. Disability Injustice: Confronting Criminalization in Canada edited by Kelly Fritsch, Jeffrey Monaghan, and Emily van der Meulen UBC Press, 2022. (paperback) 
  4. Stage Turns: Canadian Disability Theatre by Kirsty Johnston, McGill University Press, 2012. (paperback, 224 pages)
  5. Occupying Disability: Critical Approaches to Community, Justice, and Decolonizing Disabilityedited by Pamela Block, Devva Kasnitz, Akemi Nishida, and Nick Pollard.  Springer, 2016. (hardcover 390 pages).
  6. Curating Access: Disability Art Activism and Creative Accommodation edited by Amanda Cachia. Routledge, 2023. (hardcover, 298 pages).
  7. Aesthetic Nervousness: Disability and the Crisis of Representation by Ato Quayson. Columbia University Press, 2007. (264 pages)
  8. Disabling Barriers: Social Movements, Disability History, and the Law edited by Ravi Malhotra and Benjamin Isitt. University of British Columbia Press, 2018. (244 pages)
  9. Disability and Contemporary Performance: Bodies on the Edge by Petra Kuppers. Rutledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2004. (192 pages)
  10. Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure by Eli Clare. Duke University Press Durham and London, 2017. (218 pages)
  11. Crip Kinship: The Disability Justice and Art Activism of Sins Invalid by Shayda Kafai, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021. (204 pages)

Online Documents

  1. Go Confidently into Hiring: A Guide for those with disabilities for hiring caseworkers. By Gemma Yates-Howorth
GO CONFIDENTLY INTO HIRING – Gemma Yates HoworthDownload
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