University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Disability, the Silent D in Diversity

Williams, Teneka; Hagood, Asha

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/104672

Description

Title
Disability, the Silent D in Diversity
Author(s)
  • Williams, Teneka
  • Hagood, Asha
Issue Date
2019
Keyword(s)
  • Diversity
  • Disability
Abstract
Diversity is a benchmark that is sought after in workplace organizations as there is a proven correlation between institutional diversity and customer satisfaction (Association of Research Libraries, n.d.). Fulfilling the aspiration of a diversified workforce can prove challenging. When organizations aim to fill staff positions with representatives from certain subsets of the population, tokenism and merit may enter the conversation. Most organizations want to be diverse, but when diversity extends to impairments that require money and time to be invested, change can be slow to come. But what if one organization has a wide array of representation resulting in an enriched understanding of their customer base and how to serve them, but the same cannot be said of organizations that they partner with? Through interviews with library personnel, we examine their experiences and perceptions about the efficacy with which they are able to perform their job. We also include insights from Mike Galifianakis, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) coordinator for the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission,1 whose mission is to provide comprehensive educational and technical support for state agencies so that those programs, services, and activities operated by the State of Georgia are accessible and usable by everyone.
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press. The School of Information Sciences at Illinois. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Series/Report Name or Number
Library Trends 67 (3). Winter 2019
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/104672
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2019.0008
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2019 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Owning Collections

Library Trends 67 (3) Winter 2019: Disabled Adults in Libraries PRIMARY
Library Trends 67 (3) Winter 2019: Disabled Adults in Libraries. Edited by Jessica Schomberg and Shanna Hollich