Did you ever feel like you put your foot in your mouth when interacting with a person who has an accessibility challenge? Fondren Library’s Accessibility Tips LibGuide http://libguides.rice.edu/fondren_accessibility was created to help library staff feel more comfortable and confident in dealing with accessibility issues. The guide was inspired by a disability etiquette talk by Kleo King of the United Spinal Association who was invited to speak in 2008 by the newly formed Fondren Library Accessibility Committee.
Fondren Library’s Accessibility Committee developed out of a workgroup formed in February 2008 when interlibrary loan staff members were helping a print-challenged graduate student. The workgroup identified a need to provide staff training and morphed into a committee. The newly formed committee looked at existing services and clarified or added services where needed. The committee also added annual staff training about accessibility issues usually held in October in conjunction with Disability Employment Awareness Month or in November for World Usability Day. It felt other departments on campus would also profit from accessibility training and asked if Disability Support Services would be interested in co-sponsoring the training events, a collaboration that continues. For the initial training session in October 2008, Kleo King of the United Spinal Association gave both a morning and an afternoon two-part program for library staff and members of the Rice and greater Houston communities. For each session the first part of the program discussed disability etiquette, while the second part focused on physical compliance with ADA rules. Kleo also toured the library and gave pointers about increasing accessibility. Key personnel from the library and the campus ate lunch with Kleo to get answers to specific questions.
Programs in the following years included the 2009 Forum on Universal Access in Universities and Other Research Institutions with speakers from Rice and Baylor College of Medicine. In 2010 during daytime and evening hours the Disabilities Awareness Film Fest highlighted films on various accessibility issues. Starting in 2011 Fondren’s User Experience Office joined the Accessibility Committee and Disability Support Services to organize events. Both 2011 and 2012 highlighted themes of World Usability Day. In 2011 a series of speakers and several demonstrations of campus usability efforts were organized around the topic of Education: Designing for Social Change (http://youtu.be/aPHcSn-uDys). In 2012 speakers addressed the topic of Designing Technology Around the World (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMrinM1-1hM&list=UUN3R0Y1w1Lv36N4Fe6NtpKQ ). In 2013 Mitchell Massey, a student worker from the User Experience Office, presented a workshop on iPad accessibility features. For 2014 the committee has been coordinating a special presentation from a Rice graduate, but details are still being worked out. Since the campus just hosted two Brown Bags about disability issues in late September, the event will most likely happen in the spring.
Please feel free to address any of the following committee members with ideas, concerns, or suggestions: Diane Butler, Melinda Flannery, Debra Kolah, Ginny Martin, Jane Segal, Peggy Shaw, Linda Spiro (Chair), and Jane Zhao.