“My s’pore story, a tile at a time”- (How a photo of MM Lee helps the disabled integrate into society)

From TODAYonline.com (8 Sept 2007). Article by Lois Ng:

SIX years ago, I gave up my dream of globe-trotting the world to help the poor and came home to care for my ailing father. It turned out to be a life-changing move because I became a social entrepreneur.

… This is also the story of a motley group of 15 disabled people aged 15 to 60, who work with me. They include people who are mentally and physically disabled, as well as the autistic and the hearing-impaired.

My business mission is to transform the disabled who are lowly-educated, unskilled and cannot fit into society to become part of a skilled workforce, which can contribute to our economy. This requires time, a custom-designed training programme and a holistic approach.

It led a government scholar to plainly state that what I am doing is fèi wù xún huán, Mandarin for the recycling of waste.

I was shocked and angry, but the element of truth in his words sank in. Our society does not make a distinction between charity and empowerment. All help given to the disabled is charity and the way to help is to give to charitable organisations.

Link

How do we contribute “tangibly”?

This is a belated thanks to Wrkshy, for her plug on sgLEAD. Quoting her last paragraph:

Overall, I think sgLEAD is an interesting effort and something I would support. I’m not sure about how I can contribute tangibly, but since I have an interest in museum and library design, and a desire to explore different ways to make art and information accessible and available to people, it’s worth joining in and checking out.

I’m reminded of the discussion with three other NLB colleagues (and one ex-colleague) one evening. We were mulling over the idea of the mailing list and blog (which was eventually created, as you see here).

“What would be it’s purpose?”

The ultimate aim for sgLEAD is to do something tangible w.r.t. Library Disability Services. Of course we could plan something concrete now, with a very definite future time-line. But the current reality is that we’re all caught up with our day jobs and what-nots. I’m not making excuses here. Just stating the facts.

So given the current reality, at the bare minimum there should then be a way for people of like-minded interests and motivation to network and share information/ experiences. Which is why we’re here. Sure, the cynics would say “It’s just talk”. I feel we have to start somewhere. At least we’re talking and sharing, which is two more things than what existed before.

And because we’re here, we get to know there’s someone like wrkshy, who has “an interest in museum and library design, and a desire to explore different ways to make art and information accessible and available to people”. That’s one piece of information, one more contact, that we didn’t have before. That counts for something.

As mentioned, ideally we should aim for something concrete. How we’ll use the contacts and network is something we’ll have to work out. For now, it’s still baby steps. It’s likely this baby will take longer than most to get to the running stage. Or it may never go beyond baby steps.

At least we’ve tried. And we’re trying something now.

Technology as Enablers - Vlogs by People with Hearing-impairment

[UPDATE 31 Dec 06: I've since learned that "Hearing Impaired" is not a preferred term. I should use "Deaf" or "Hard of Hearing". Thanks.]

Learnt about this blog — DeafRead.com/blog — via lenois.com, via Alvan’s post.

Thoughts:
1) The Vlogs are an excellent example of how technology/ social medium has been utilised to enable the Deaf to communicate with others and/ or serve as a means of self-expression.

2) As I watched the few Vlogs, I was thinking, “Here’s where Closed Captioning would help me, because I don’t know how to Sign!” I guess “disabilities” is a matter of perspectives, really.

3) I wonder if this statement is true — “People with Hearing-impairment who are deaf/ hard of hearing tend to take to mediums like Blogs/ Vlogs more readily than those with a different kind if disability”. I haven’t been actively seeking out blogs by people with disabilities, nor have I come across research that addresses that question. Hence, I can’t really verify that statement. Also, I don’t know many bloggers who are disabled. Mostly I get the leads from Alvan (who’s Deaf).

If anyone can educate or enlighten me in this area, I’d be most grateful. Feel free to comment at this post, or at RamblingLibrarian.

Technorati Tags: disability, blogging, people with disabilities

Workshop with kids from MINDS - cited from Youth.SG blog

Via Youth.Sg — on a workshop they did with kids from MINDS:

Seeing the kids trying out both the simple steps that we taught them and the ones that the traditional Malay dance group did was absolutely heart-warming. It was almost as if they were discovering a w hole new world for themselves through dance, where they weren’t limited by what ever people say they were limited by.

MINDS = Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore. Their website is at: www.minds.org.sg

Technorati Tag: intellectual disability

Damien meets Special Needs educators

Librarian Damien blogs his experience in meeting Special Needs educators at a voluntary session for over 20 teachers from APSN Katong School. He shares some insights into the teachers and the students:

I spoke to several of them during the tea break and it was really enlightening. I happened to ask one of them if she was an Art teacher because her handicraft was superb, and her reply was, “We are all Art teachers here”. Interesting start. Another mentioned that they have to teach all the subjects, something very different to what she was used to in a mainstream school.

I asked a couple of the more experienced ones if the ESN (educationally sub-normal) students sat for exams, and was informed that most of them would level at about Primary School standard while some took BEST programmes which were more skills-based. Some could make it to ITE. Others could progress to other APSN learning centers to learn life-skills and be employed by a VWO later on.

Read the rest of his post here.

What sparked this interest in Library Disability Services?

Someone asked me, “What sparked your interest in library services for the disabled? You have written your dissertation and published a paper on this subject before. Also, have you or are you currently volunteering your services (not necessarily as librarian) to any organizations helping
the disabled?“

My reply:

I guess it’s an area that tends to be neglected and it’s an opportunity for librarians to do something. Since we know each other fairly well, I’ll just tell you this — trying to do something for the disabled is my way of practicing altrusim. And it’s gives me some personal direction wrt my profession. I see librarians being in a position to do good, just that someone has to start the ball rolling. I hope people join, esp. librarians in singapore, but even if nothing happens, at least I’ve tried. It’s like if someone stumbles to the group and seeks help, then the group (or worse case, myself) can help or direct them to someone.

It’s like the NVPC advert — where you can help in way you are specialising at, like cutting hair. Me? I’m a librarian.

I’m not directly helping out with any specific organisations serving the disabled at the moment. I want to help as a librarian. This is my way of volunteering I guess.”

So, do you volunteer as well? What sparked off your interest?

Tag: volunteerism

Name, Objectives, Intents

Taking into consideration the comments at my ramblinglibrarian post, I’ve drafted the group description, objectives etc.:

Group Description
A librarian-volunteer network for individuals and organisations interested in providing reading, learning and library services to people with disabilities.

It is a:

• Discussion group led & faciliated by librarians;
• Open to those in the library and information profession, as well any individual;
• Who share an interest;
• In the provision of library/ information services;
• To people with disabilities

Who can join?
Membership is open to individuals who have an interest in the area of library and information services to people with disabilities. This includes librarians, educators, therapists, caregivers, individuals with disabilities etc.

Objectives of the group

• To be a platform for individuals to share their experiences w.r.t. library services to the disabled
• To allow individuals with shared interest to network
• To increase awareness and understanding of the information & service needs of people with disabilities
• To lead to some concrete actions that enables the disabled to be independent users of library and information services in Singapore

The above was as of 1 May 2006. If there are any refinements (which there would be from time to time, but not too drastically), they would be updated directly at the About and/ or Discussion Group pages.

To address some specific comments:
Q: Is this a list that informs receipients about upcoming services, or is this an initiative to raise awareness and invite contributions and volunteers? Or, is it to publicize that this group you intend to start is capable of providing physical and resource support?
A: Yes to the first and second part. No to the third.

In my mind, the primary objective is to raise awareness amongst librarians in Singapore. I believe many of them are interested in helping the disabled but there isn’t any platform to discuss or network at present.

Second, I know of some librarians who have valuable insights from working with the disabled (directly or via an organisation) but currently their knowledge is all bottled-up. Usually I discover their interest or insights when I ask them by chance. Hence, setting up the group is to enable such tacit knowledge (from librarians or anyone) to be documented and shared.

Third, the provision of library disability services doesn’t happen in isolation. There must be involvement by other partners, like the organisations serving people with disabilities and also the individuals themselves. So the discussion group is to hopefuly bring these interested parties together to network.

For a start, I don’t want to promise if this group will have capabilities to provide physical and resource support. Participation in the group is voluntary and in our personal capacities. If any individual can bring some of their organisation’s resources to help, that’ll be ideal but not the primary intent.

I’m certainly mindful not to make this group be “all talk and no action” but first we take baby-steps. There must be dialogue and sharing first. Then we see what action we can take.

Q: Good idea, but I’m not clear on what you are looking for. Does this involve interior library design (architecture) for accessibility, or a collection of resources useful for the disabled?
A: The scope of the group discussion would be anything related to library/ information services. This itself is already quite broad and can include physical access (i.e. architecture), collection, publicity, education, assistive devices, and so on.

If you’re interested in how the name sgLEAD came to be, read this post.

Tag: library disability services, sgLEAD

Hello World

Welcome to
singapore
Librarians for
Empowerment &
Advocacy for the
Disabled

This blog came about from the comments and discussions from my Starting a mailing list for Library Disability Services post (28 Apr 2006). After mulling over the thoughtful comments in the blog, as well as separate email discussions with other contacts, the crux of the matter seemed to be the name.

I came back from a morning jog on this Sunday morning, checked my email and there was a reply:

“… you shouldn’t lose too much sleep over the name itself. If in your heart you feel a strong conviction and passion that something should be done, then Just Do It! A rose by any other name smells just as sweet. Don’t be caught by semantics or technicalities. Push the envelope, experiment, try first and wing it as you go along. Doesn’t have to be perfect from the start.”

So I did.

Here’s sgLEAD — the blog and the discussion group/ mailing list. And we’ll see where this takes you and me. Yeah, I hope it’s more than me