Functionally Diverse in the Library

JJ PionkeUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

What kind of language do we use when we are referring to people

who may be having a mental health problem?

A few words on language…What’s the difference between handicapped, disabled, and functionally diverse?• Handicapped – derogatory, focuses on the deficiency of the person• Disabled – more politically correct, but enforces ableist binary• Functionally Diverse – more inclusive, disability is a spectrum, part of

the population and not separate from it

• People First is a good general rule (people with disabilities NOT disabled person)

What is disability?

Lenn, K. (1996). Library services to disabled students: Outreach and education. The Reference Librarian, 25(53), 13-25.

American Disabilities Act of 1990“Physical, sensory, mental, and emotional disabilities are all covered by the ADA. A mental impairment is defined by the ADA as: ‘any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.’ Thus, mental illness is recognized by the law as a disability, with the same protections as other disabilities such as paraplegia, blindness, or hearing impairment.”

Hecker, T.E. (1996). Patrons with disabilities or problem patrons. The Reference Librarian, 25(53). 5-12.

What does disability look like in your library?

Some Numbers• 1 in 5 adults (18.6%) have a mental disorder of some kind in a given year• 57.4% of the population will experience a mental disorder during their

lifetime.• In any given year:

2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Mental Health Findings

What is the average time between onset of a mental disorder and seeking assistance?

About 10 YEARSMental Health First Aid Association. (2013). Mental Health First Aid.

Hello, My Name Is…• Complex PTSD• Strong “knee jerk” reactions, especially to perceived threats• Sensitivity to sound• Sensitivity to crowds and people in general• Miss a lot of social cues• From traumatic events to therapy, 25 years.

This feels kind of overwhelming.

How do we assist our patrons with disabilities when there is so much variety to what their needs might be?

1. Know your Space!

2. Get More Educated!• Training such as Mental Health First Aid• Read a book! Making the Library Accessible for All: A Practical Guide

for Librarians (2014) Jane Vincent – excellent primer• Creative use of communication strategies• Non-verbal communication like having people write on the board, email you in

real time, have a chat client open, communication boards• Clickers or some other real time surveying software

• Understand how assistive software works like JAWS, Kurzweil 3000, Zoomtext, etc.• Compassion and Empathy

Compassion vs. Empathy vs. Sympathy• Compassion: The motivation we feel when others are hurting to reach out

and help them, to reach them where they are, a physical interaction• Empathy: Understanding what someone is feeling, to identify yourself

with their feelings and experience, an emotional state• Sympathy: Feeling pity or sorrow for another, “I’m so sorry” or “That’s

horrible”. It’s an othering technique that creates distance between two people.

Brown, B. (2015). Rising Strong. New York: Spiegel & Grau.

Brene Brown: Empathy vs. Sympathy• https://youtu.be/1Evwgu369Jw

3. Have a conversation – be willing to:• Push on the boundaries of our own comfort• Think about being an Ally/Advocate – what’s the difference?• Ally – a person who is committed to educating themselves about oppression,

challenge their own prejudices, learn the skills of anti-oppression, interrupt oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies and institutional structures. (Cultural Bridges, 1995)• Advocate – a person who represents and works with a person or people who

need support and encouragement to exercise their rights, to ensure that their rights are upheld.

• Engage in self-reflection and forgive yourself when you make mistakes

Special Population: Veterans• PTSD and TBI• Physical wounds• Relationship issues

Take Care of Yourself!• If you have had an interaction with a patron that upset you, talk to

your supervisor/another librarian.• If the situation was violent or overly emotional, as soon as you can,

write up everything about the encounter that you can remember. This will help you remember for meetings/police reports/trainings/etc.• Get help – no shame in talking to a therapist (of whatever flavor you

prefer).

Conclusions• This is the tip of a very large iceberg. Not discussed were things like

web accessibility or OCR (Optical Character Recognition).• Many of our libraries conform to the letter of the law for physical

disabilities but mental disabilities are often ignored.• Compliance means minimum.• We can do a lot better and we should.

Works Cited - Statistics• Mental Health Association of Maryland, Missouri Department of

Mental Health, and National Council for Behavioral Health. (2013). Mental Health First Aid USA, Revised First Edition.• National Alliance on Mental Illness. “Mental Health by the Numbers”

http://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers • National Alliance on Mental Illness. “Press Release – Veteran

Resources” http://www.nami.org/Press-Media/Press-Releases/2007/NAMI-Launches-Veterans-Resource-Center-on-Mental-H

Thank you!

UIUC has a new disability resource.

http://guides.library.illinois.edu/alacwgdisabilitytoc

Have Questions?

JJ Pionkepionke@illinois.edu