‘‘


In early March we started work on curating a reading list around disability. Covering memoirs, life stories, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction.


INSIGHT


Disability Network


Amplifying voices W


E continue to focus on how individuals and the committee can support equity


and social justice for disabled people in the wider information profession. We want to continue to amplify the voices of the LIS community when speaking about disability and so always welcome your comments, feedback, queries or case studies.


One of the ways this has been done recently is sharing with the Disability Network, the work of a member who is undertaking research as part of a master’s dissertation on the subject of Library Staff and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). The researcher will be working with network members over the summer of 2022. If this research is of interest to you then please do join the network to find out more information.


In early March we started work on curating a reading list around disability. Covering memoirs, life stories, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction we are crowd sourcing resources which will help LIS professionals design with accessibility in mind.


We aim to share and highlight authors and story tellers as well as signpost to best practice. If you have a resource suggestion, or have read one of the books and would be happy to write a book review, then make contact info.disability@cilip.org.uk. The list can be found on the resources section of the CILIP Disability Network Pages. A conversation that the committee has been having recently is about spaces and disabled people. We have been asking, where are the spaces in society where disabled people are fully accepted for who they are and what they can bring. Where are these


April-May 2022


spaces if you are disabled and are a carer; disabled and LBGTQ+; disabled and come from an ethnic minority? Issues around intersectionality show us that social identities work on multiple levels, which creates unique experiences, opportunities, and barriers for each person. We would hope that libraries across all sectors and specialisms would provide a safe space. Unfortunately, we know this is not always true. We need to continually reflect and challenge ourselves to make changes within our organisations and to our behaviours to ensure that equity and social justice remains at the centre of our profession.


If you are interested in getting involved in these discussions and taking this work forward or would like to get involved in the committee’s work, please do contact us chair. disability@cilip.org.uk. We would value any contributions you feel you can make. The committee is planning the network focus for 2022. Some of the work over the next year will be raising awareness, via Twitter (don’t forget to follow us on @CILIPDisability), our member newsletter, columns like this and virtual events. During World Autism Acceptance Week 2022 (28 March to 2 April 2022) we asked our twitter followers “As an information professional, what does World #AutismAcceptanceWeek mean to you?” We wanted to hear from autistic people and allies, working across the information professions about their workplace experiences. Were workplaces understanding, equitable, inclusive and appreciative of all people bring to their work. We got likes and retweets but are keen to learn more. We will be engaging through Twitter with awareness-raising sessions throughout


Catherine McClaren, co-chair.


Morag Clarkson, co-chair


the year and it would be great to hear from you.


Some of our other events we will be marking include:


l Deaf Awareness Week, 3-9 May 2022


l Mental Health Awareness Week, 9-15 May 2022


l STAMMAFest Global, 24-28 August 2022


l Sickle Cell Awareness Month, September 2022


l International Day of People with Disabilities, 3 December 2022


If you have any suggestions for events or activities you would like the network to take part in, do get in touch or sign up and join the network. IP


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 47


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