A Family with Disabilities Volunteers for Bookshare

Hello Bookshare Readers!

Our family has taken so much pride in volunteering for Bookshare. I want to thank everyone who makes volunteering such a joy! Before Bookshare, our family could count on one hand how many books we had read together.  I have severe dyslexia, my husband, Doug is a quadriplegic and my daughter, Nichole, has cerebral palsy.

We first became acquainted with Bookshare about six years ago when our older daughter, Cindy, wanted to be able to read books in a digital format. She passed away four years ago at the time Nichole, our second daughter, was starting to read books on the computer.  I can honestly say Bookshare has grown tremendously in both quantity and quality since then.

We’ve just marked a milestone event for my husband and I.  He has proofread more than 133 books and I have scanned and proofread over 257.  Doug does an exceptional job of proofreading books through voice capability only.  He has an incredible ability to ensure that glossaries are accurate. And he is remarkable at describing images through text descriptions.

Initially, I scanned schoolwork for both of my kids, so volunteering for Bookshare allowed me to share the work products I already produced with others who would enjoy reading and learning from text I was already scanning for my daughters.

We keep track of our dates and completed books.  Doug’s first book submission to Bookshare was on 8/6/09.   My first proof was submitted on 7/31/09 and my first scan on 8/25/09.  As of today, we’re very proud that we have grown the collection by more than 300 books.  As a family, we’ve enjoyed virtually every book we’ve added in the process.  Nichole helps too!  It is a blessing to involve her in volunteering activities.

These days our focus is primarily on juvenile and youth text, but we have also done a fair amount of Christian books and Christian fiction. The more I volunteer, the more I enjoy reading.  I no longer struggle using my hands.  Because of my dyslexia and a slight case of OCD, proofreading suits me better than just checking out a book and reading it.  Our local library benefits from this new-found hobby too since we often buy bargain books and then donate them to the library.

I hope we can continue to volunteer for a long time to expand Bookshare’s collection.  Our goal is to improve options for everyone who wants to read electronic text or to listen to a book read aloud.  I think our family has benefited even more than Bookshare!  (GRIN)

We look forward to growing the Bookshare volunteer community and have found a greater purpose under your amazing leadership.

Sincerely,

Valerie, Doug and Nichole Maples