I got some feedback that certain topics were difficult to find on the website, so I have reorganized the page layout. I hope this makes it easier to navigate "Libraries for All!"
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The importance of role models for kids with disabilities seems to be one of my pet topics lately. Thinking along those lines, I was toying with the idea of writing some short biographies of famous individuals with disabilities that concerned adults could share with kids. Before I actually started research, however, I realized that the bio project may be unnecessary. In the past two weeks, routine reference work has led me to non-fiction books with biographical information on six individuals with disabilities. Note that NONE of these sources stemmed from reference queries asking for information on disabilities--information on positive role models with disabilities just happened to be included in information on other types of topics, such as sports and art.
I am stunned and delighted by this development. Look for reviews of the books I came across in the near future. Just after having reviewed a "Little Critter" book that included children and adults with disabilities in a book where the focus was learning about communities in general, rather than specifically on disabilities, I came across a book about libraries that completely ignores both customers and staff with disabilities. Although this book highlights libraries which are doing important work in serving their communities, by completing ignoring all disabilities, the author and illustrator are, at best, overlooking many, many people who could (and, perhaps, are) benefit from library service. The disabled population as a whole is often overlooked--and this can lead to inaccessibility. I've started the "Non-Inclusive Book List" to bring attention to the fact that very many good books about libraries and library skills ignore customers and staff with disabilities. I definitely welcome suggestions for the "Non-Exclusive Book List" and the other book lists as well--I'm sure there are many more titles, both good and bad, that could be included on the list.
I'm back! Having survived Hurricane Sandy and metaphoric storms, I'm once again ready to plunge into reading, reviewing, and writing. Today I added a book not explicitly about disabilities (This is My Town by Mercer Mayer) to my reviews of books for children. I'm including this book on the site because I feel it's important that people with disabilities be included in all types of literature, not just books focusing on disabilities. I'm also reviewing the book here because some of the action takes place in and around the town library.
Yes, that's the title of a book by Eric Carle--a book of poems that includes both types of dragons--those that need to be vanquished and those that bring luck.
First, the evil kind: I became very, very ill recently. Fortunately, that particular dragon turned out to be fairly easy to vanquish. I had a one week follow up appointment with my primary care physician today--my heart rate is back to normal--which accounts for my energy and strength having returned. The pain is gone as well. Turns out the problem was the med we had added to deal with an increase in the intensity of the Tourette. Which brings me to the next type of dragon. My tics can be very, very gross motor--which makes actually holding still enough to write difficult. I *can* suppress my tics much of the time, but that entails constant, conscious effort--not all that compatible with the "creative flow." It's also fatiguing and,sometimes I just can summon up the extra effort to suppress my tics outside of work. I recently learned about "Dragon" software which allows for dictation--I'm looking into the possibilities that "Dragon" might help by at least allowing me to dictate drafts that I could then go back and edit. (The editing stage being less in the "creative flow." Anyone have experience with this? In spite of the fact that my recent surgery was, after all, just day stay surgery, I have been absolutely run down and exhausted. I did, however, manage to read the article "Encouraging a Love of Reading: 7 Ways to Inspire Your Kids" in the August 2012 issue of FamilyFun magazine. I am absolutely delighted by the article! I wonder why, when I am so convinced that it is both unrealistic and damaging to try to force a love of reading.
I think that it is the matter-of-fact tone of the article that I find so delightful and inspiring. The article begins by naming the conventional wisdom on encouraging a love of reading and goes on to say that sometimes those methods just don't work. It was a relief to see admission of that fact in print, in a magazine that is both mainstream and popular. While my most recent version of "LD Librarian" on this site talks about the damage that insisting on always inspiring a love of reading can inflict on a child, the fact is that it hurts parents as well. I can't count the number of parents who have said to me over the years, "But I did everything right." My observation over the years has been that parents inevitably, on some level, harbor guilt of their children's disabilities--reading experts inflicting more guilt just isn't right. I am hoping this article will lighten the load for some of those parents simply by pointing out that conventional means of creating a child who loves reading don't work. I also loved how matter-of-factly some of the parents wrote about their child's disabilities. To someone like me, who grew up ashamed of my disabilities and consistently warned to keep my struggles secret, seeing parents openly acknowledge their children's invisible disabilities in a national magazine seems, in and of itself, fantastic and miraculous. I am further moved that said acknowledgement is accompanied by neither shame nor breastbeating, but simply presents disabilities as a practical problem that can be addressed in a straight forward manner. The tone of the article suggested that not loving reading is a side effect of certain disabilities, which can be alleviated, if not eliminated, through certain activities. I matter how consistently I'm having surgery on Friday--& afterwards I will hopefully be healthier & back to life, in both the virtual and actual worlds. Like many born with clefts, I have battled many, many infections. They are growing increasingly antibiotic resistant and harder for my body to fight. My psychiatrist suggested this procedure as a way to reduce the number of infections that I get and my ENT is performing it as day stay surgery on Friday. I wonder, though, why I was not aware of this procedure earlier. Upon hearing about the procedure, my mother said that she and my father were told that everything that could be done surgically had been done. I believe that was probably true at the time--after all, that was 30 years ago and there have been some advances in the field of medicine since then. This is not a brand new procedure, either, and I'm wondering why no ENT suggested it to me before then. Or was I supposed to somehow know that this procedure had been developed?
I apologize for not updating the website in so long. My silence has not been intentional. I have been ill with an antibiotic resistant infection. Saturday was the first day that my doctors released me to work and today is the first day I've managed to get back to the website. Now I'm better with a mind brimming with plans for more writing and more additions to the website.
I added two new titles to the "New Books for Children" booklist, including a Coretta Scott King Honor book. Is there anyone out there who, like the teacher in The View from Saturday has returned to work after being disabled and would be willing to write a review for the website. Many thanks in advance.
I've been thinking a lot lately about trying to implement some kind of program(s) where I would mentor kids, teens, and young adults who share my disabilities. I'm thinking that having a model of an adult who is successful--and I consider myself successful, largely because of my career success--would be helpful and reassuring to younger people & their "grown-ups" (as we say at the library). Also, I've gained a good deal of experience in dealing with these disabilities that I would like to share. I'm concerned, though, on how the parents (& other concerned adults) will react. What do the parents\other concerned adults of kids with disabilities think? Have any other adults with disabilities tried this type of activity?
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AuthorThe content on this website mostly comes from my perspective as a youth services librarian with disabilities. The further I travel along life's road, the more entwined these two parts of my identity become. Librarian: I have an MLS from Rutgers University and have working in public libraries for nearly 20 years. The focus on my career has always been youth services. Disabled: I've been disabled more than twice as long as I've been a librarian. My experience started at birth when I was immediately diagnosed with cleft palate. Also present was a non-verbal learning disability (NLD) for short. This was not formally diagnosed until I was 19, leading to years of frustration. My Tourette Syndrome was not present at birth, but surely started young as I don't ever remember living without it. The Tourette was also not diagnosed until adulthood, further compounding my frustration. Coincidentally, I was also diagnosed with IBD (more commonly known as Chron's\Ulcerative Colitis) at the age of 19. That was another easy diagnosis--as with cleft palate, they look and they see it. Archives
September 2015
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