Dear Sarah:
As one of those people with disabilities, I can speak to your frustrations
but from the other end of the telescope.
I find that aside from the choir, it is hard for outsiders to reach the
insiders. Many of the library lists where most librarians hang out are
closed. Librarians often do not take kindly to help or advice from people
without the library credentials. But enough of my crying. Where do we go
from here?
I think we need to develop a working group of people from both sides of
this fence . .
1 library professions who care
2 non-librarians who need the services.
Sarah may be right . . even the working groups and committees come from one
side or the other.
Is there a need for a coalition of librarians and clients to mount a more
broad-based approach?
This is exactly what we at EASI have been caring about for a decade. In
fact, it is exactly why we created this list.
Norm
At 02:16 PM 2/15/02 -0500, you wrote:
>>>>
I'm very interested in this "preaching to the choir" issue but I have a
somewhat radical view about it. I'm an active member of LSSPS, the section
of ALA's ASCLA division that is devoted to services to people who are
traditionally "underserved." I'm also actively involved with the ADA
Assembly, another ALA group. I work at Gallaudet University, the only
liberal arts university in the world for people who are deaf or hard of
hearing. I spend a great deal of my professional life dealing with issues
relating to services for people with disabilities.
For several years now I've been concerned about the fact that LSSPS and the
ADA Assembly have been putting on great programs at ALA Conferences with
the same audience year after year. Certainly in terms of programming we're
preaching to the choir. Three years ago at the Chicago conference LSSPS
presented a program on services to "diverse populations," and quite a few
new faces appeared at that program. I certainly think more programming and
publishing that includes people with disabilities as part of a larger
population will help us reach more people. The problem with that is we are
still limiting ourselves to an audience that is already interested, to some
extent, in providing services to people who are "different" in some way.
For years I've tried to use every venue I can to promote issues surrounding
services to people with disabilities. I speak to vendors, especially about
captioning videos (a particular concern for our students). I give
presentations routinely to public library staff groups in my area on
services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. I've worked very
closely with ALA Conference Services staff on issues relating to
accessibility for our members, specifically on providing interpreters
(again, a particular concern for the staff where I work).
Have I been successful? A little, I think. Many people are willing to
consider accessibility issues when they become aware of them. The problem
I've found, in virtually every situation, is that I myself do not need any
of the accommodations for which I am advocating. I recently spoke to the
diversity committee of a large library system in my area. After my
presentation one of the members told me that she knows there are lots of
deaf people in the area but they simply don't use the library. She would
like to do some outreach, but frankly her budget is limited, and she has
other groups who are themselves asking for services. She feels she needs
to meet the needs of the groups who are asking for things themselves
instead of reaching out to a group that isn't asking.
My experience with the ADA Assembly and ALA Conference Services is much the
same. Assembly members can get very indignant in discussions about the
accessibility of conferences. In fact, Conference Services is more than
willing to provide accommodations when they are requested, but the fact is
they have very few people making requests. It doesn't make sense to them
(nor to me, as a dues-paying ALA member) to spend money on accommodations
that won't be used. Unless someone who needs the accommodation asks for
it, the chance is very good that it won't be used.
All of this rambling is to get to my radical point of view. Here it is: I
think we need to find a way to step back and let people with disabilities
take the lead in demanding accessibility for library services. We need to
find ways to support them in that cause. Most service providers
(commercial or not) want evidence that the service is needed. They want to
see or hear from an individual who actually needs the service. I can talk
until I have no voice left and I can spout all kinds of statistics, but
that won't have nearly the impact of one person who has an actual
accommodation need asking for the same thing. How can we get people with
disabilities to take the lead in this? What support do we need to provide
to make that happen??
ALA is no different from any other group. I can contact ACRL and tell them
their web site isn't accessible, but that won't have nearly the impact of a
phone call from someone who says "I'm trying to get this information from
your web site and I can't because it isn't accessible. Can you please help
me find what I need? And by the way, with whom may I speak about the fact
that your web site isn't accessible?" If that happens and *then* ACRL
starts hearing from others about the accessibility issue, I think they are
much more likely to pay attention.
Of course I know that a number of subscribers to this list are people with
disabilities. What can we do to back you up when you approach a vendor or
a library or even ALA about an accessibility issue?? I really think
that's the best way to accomplish what we want!
Sarah Hamrick
Gallaudet University Library
"Schmetzke, Axel" wrote:
If in a hurry skip the first two longer paragraphs:
It appears to me that ALA is a colossus with many heads and gazillions
of tentacles. What happens at one end of this body tends to go unnoticed
elsewhere. While advocacy pertaining to disability issues has been
happening in some parts of the body, it does not easily penetrate into
other layers or sections. Just two examples: (1) Despite the fact that
the "Library Services for People with Disabilities Policy," which was
recently approved by the ALA Council, calls for universal design of
online resources, web pages leading to ACRL's electronic publications
(e-Pubs Corner and e-Learning Webcasts) contain major access barriers.
(2) The ACRL Distance Education Guidelines continue to fail to address
the needs of all potential beneficiaries.
As information resources and library services migrate online, one of our
major current concerns is the creation of a fully inclusive virtual
environment. Currently, this concern is addressed by relative small
segments within the professional library community. In a way, the
discourse about disability-related issues is segregated. We have to find
ways to get it into the mainstream. (Of course, this goes not only for
ALA but also for other contexts: the professional literature,
conferences, professional development and our daily activities/decisions
in the library.)
A concerted effort sounds great! Does anyone familiar with the workings
of ALA (not I!) have any suggestions about suitable strategies? How,
other than through conference presentations (which tend to draw an
audience from the choir), can we bring our concerns for a fully
inclusive online environment into the mainstream?
Axel
*********************
Axel Schmetzke
Library
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
-----Original Message-----
From: Rhea Joyce Rubin
[<mailto:[log in to unmask]>mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 10:38 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accessibility: Preaching beyond the choir
In response to Audrey's question, yes! I am interested and, as chair of
the
ADA Assembly I volunteer the Assembly to be involved In an organized
concerted effort.
Rhea
* * * * * * * * *
Rhea Joyce Rubin
5860 Heron Drive
Oakland, CA 94618-2628
510-339-1274 (phone & fax)
[log in to unmask]
--
Sarah E. Hamrick
Director of Information Services
Gallaudet University Library
800 Florida Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 651-5214 V/T
(202) 651-5213 FAX
[log in to unmask]
<<<<
Norman Coombs, Ph.D.
Cell (949) 922-5992
Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology
http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh
CEO, EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information)
http://www.rit.edu/~easi
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