In the context of libraries and information agencies, do you think it is important to understand that persons with disabilities experience oppression? And how would you use issues of oppression in working with persons with disabilities?
If those working with people with disabilities such as libraries and information agencies do not understand how persons with disabilities experience oppression, then they cannot help them as much. Miscommunication can form and actually hurt instead of helping the person, and being naïve of reality is not helpful either. Just like any other culture, there is a Disability culture, with a capital D, which exists with those with disabilities (Mackelprang & Salsgiver, 2009, 109-132).
Some issues of oppression in working with persons with disabilities include being sympathetic to those with disabilities, trying to help even if you don’t agree with their decisions, and listening. Working at the local library, I met a high school student and her mother who were looking for books and books on tape. The mother pulled me aside, and said that her daughter had a learning disability but she didn’t want her stigmatized as someone with a learning disability. She would not have her daughter get extra services for having a learning disability, but still wanted to have a book on tape and regular book for each of her daughter’s school books. I tried to explain in private to the mother that if her daughter would get the testing for a learning disability, her daughter would have many resources available to her, including audio books on flash drives mailed to her house from the Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled. The mother did not want her daughter to be stereotyped as the “slow” child, and refused to give her daughter the tests. So every time the daughter needs to read a book for school, we have to find the book on CD, have the mother drive to the library where the CD is located for each book since the local libraries do not interlibrary loan AV, and then she has to return the CDs to the same library she received them. They also have to get the books from interlibrary loan, so her daughter can look at the book and listen to the words at the same time.
I suggested that the daughter read some books that interest her to help her with her reading, and that their school teacher should have these books and books on CD or any electronic format for their students, but I don’t know what happened to either of these ideas. If I didn’t know that some people with learning disabilities need to see and hear the books at the same time, then I may not have understood why this was so important. There are so many resources out there for people with learning disabilities, but this family was not at the point of being able to buy any special software for their daughter. The mother didn’t want her daughter stereotyped, because of how people see others that may learn in different ways as “different”, or “bad”. I was happy that the mother spends the hours driving to help her daughter learn to read and comprehend, and I was able to encourage her as well. I suggested that she take the test from the doctors, and just not tell anyone. It is sad that the girl cannot get the services she needs, just because they are afraid of what other people will think.
Having a learning disability myself, I was able to understand and help this family. I am not sure what another person would have done, and I know they would not have been able to advise them on personal experiences. I never did tell her that I have a learning disability, even if it is slight. I hid it by saying that I am studying learning disabilities, not mentioning that I also have a learning disability. Why did I do that? I was able to be tested, receive tutoring, and finished an undergraduate degree with a high GPA, and now I am working towards a master’s degree. Next time I see this mother, I am going to tell her my own story, and see if that helps her understand that it is not a terrible thing to let people know that one has a learning disability.
I have experienced oppression with having a learning disability, but only when people know about it, making me work twice as hard as others to prove myself. It is a hidden disability, since people can’t tell by just looking at me that I have a learning disability. People put on the “learning disability goggles”, where once they know that you have a learning disability; they don’t see you the same way once they know. That is why I like to let people know me better before I tell them, if at all possible.
It is good to know the sigma that comes with having a disability, and to treat everyone the same. This is just one girl; there are many people who come into the library who need services with disabilities. We also have people who come in with mental illness, brain injuries, people who are going blind, and even a group home that comes in once a week. I enjoy when they come in the library, and that I am able to treat them like everyone else. I also don’t deny them services like I have seen other people do just because they are disabled. In fact, I feel like I can help them more than others, since I have my own diversities and understand them. It is good to make library services accessible to all, and to do this, it is good to understand that persons with disabilities experience oppression, and work with them where they are.
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