The saga continues
Last month, I wrote about my negative experience with a local branch of our public library. As a Hard of Hearing person, I was asking for reasonable accommodation and accessibility when booking their tutoring room, and was met with micro-aggressions and outright ableism from their staff.
After that, I booked in person whenever I could, and emailed as far in advance as possible whenever I wasn’t able to reserve the tutoring room in person. I understand public libraries are under-funded and under-resourced, so I was willing to be flexible. Things seemed to be resolved… until today.
On the morning in question, the same issue which arose on March 6 resurfaced. Myself and the student I am tutoring had just settled into the room when a staff member came in and said I must check in at the desk every single time I use the room.
When I asked why, they said it was to ensure people are showing up for their bookings. I said we’re the same two people arriving on the same day at the same time, it is pretty clear that we are showing up for each booking every time, so there is no need for us to check in.
The staff member insisted it was “protocol” and said “yes you do have to”. They made us leave the tutoring room and said someone else had booked it before I did, despite the fact that I booked by email and had received confirmation a few days prior.
When I explained that I had received confirmation by email, the staff person very curtly said “well, we have our own booking system, so they wouldn’t know if this room was already booked.”
That sounds like a them problem, not a me problem — A problem which could be very easy rectified by using a shared Google Sheets or similar online document that anyone responding to emails could access virtually.
It is not too much to ask
In a completely connected society, one in which there are a plethora of free and inexpensive technological options for improving accessibility, there’s really no excuse for this.
They could even save time and provide an online booking option, there are plenty of websites and software programs that allow companies to do this for free or very low cost.
In a society that is supposed to be much more cognizant and considerate of various disabilities and needs, it shouldn’t take so much legwork for people to get the most basic of accommodations.
In this particular case, it’s really more of an annoyance and inconvenience, but I’m not just kicking up a fuss for myself.
I’m thinking of all the other disabled, neurodivergent, Deaf, Hard of Hearing, non-speaking, or otherwise marginalized people out there who don’t have the resources I do to advocate for themselves or their community.
I will use my big mouth and my privilege to speak up when something is not right because I can, and hopefully this will make things just a little bit easier for me, and everyone else who comes afterward.
I will use my big mouth and my privilege to speak up when something is not right.
Because I can.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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