The Ethics and Truth of Disability Access: An Information Perspective

Abstract

The Disabilities in LIS SIG session features presentations on a wide array of disability and accessibility-related topics. The session consists of three sets of 10-minute research and experience-based talks followed by discussion.

The first section begins with Copeland, Kawooya, Robinson and Swartzendruber discussing the findings of the pilot study focused on the “Equitable Access for the Blind, Visually Impaired, and Print-Disabled (BVIPD) Students in Online Learning” (funded by USC). Day continues the accessibility theme with an examination of “Accessibility of Academic Reading Materials: Insights from Librarians, Students, and Disability services” while Phillips and Anderson consider innovative best practices in “Accessibility Over Accommodations: Inclusive Teaching Practices for Neurodivergent Students” with a special focus on teaching graduate students.

The second section begins with Dreeszen Bowen and Dudak’s “Beyond Accessibility: Empowering Physically Disabled Voices in Academia and Librarianship” where the authors explore specific problems of doctoral program expectations of conference participation and travel for students with disabilities. In “Not your story to tell: Amplifying the Voices of Disabled Library Workers” Velez reports on a critical bibliography of North American library disability studies literature from 2010 to 2022 and considers the important issue of not simply viewing disability as a “problem” to solve, but rather to considering the real needs of people with disabilities in the library profession and ensuring their voices are heard as participants or investigators in the research process. 

The third section begins with a report on the IMLS-funded grant “Public library makerspaces and maker programming for youth with disabilities: Experiences of librarians” with results reported by Jung, Abbas, and Munyao while in the final presentation, “Disability and Inclusion in 10 Seconds and Less: Researching, Collaborating, and Storytelling in TikTok Information World(s)” Lundy highlights the ability of social media to give a voice to people with disabilities and also considers the difficulties encountered in conducting research as a person with disabilities.