This very informative program  on Saturday morning was sponsored by Reforma, the National Association to Promote Library Services to the Spanish Speaking.

Carrie Banks, director of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Child’s Place for Children with Special Needs discussed staff training for working with Spanish speakers with disabilities.

Issues to be aware of when working with Spanish speakers with disabilities include:
- The importance of both language competency (i.e. speaking the language of the patron) and cultural competency (i.e. being familiar with the patron’s culture).
- Problematic attitudes on the part of library staff are generally related to one of the following factors: fear (of contagion, the different, or the unknown), sympathy and pity, avoidance, repulsion, or over-protection. Some of these may be uncontrollable feelings, but you must never display them outwardly.
- In the Spanish speaking communities there are additional factors that greatly affect individuals with disabilities: the idea of “aguante” (in Spanish “getting through”), the centrality and dependence on the family, and certain religious beliefs (which may view a disability as either a blessing or a curse). Also, some disabilities are culturally more acceptable than others, including physical (such as loss of limbs) or blindness, while others, such as mental or emotional disabilities, are viewed more negatively.
- Many Spanish speaking adults have physical disabilities because of work accidents; unfortunately, Spanish-speaking adults with disabilities have the highest rate of unemployment and the least success with rehabilitation, mostly due to the lack of focus on the family as part of the rehabilitation process.
- Few Spanish speaking individuals with disabilities belong to organizations or support groups because of language barriers.
- Immigration status is another big issue, as many don’t ask for help or attend meetings because of fear of deportation.
- When speaking of people with disabilities in English, the person always comes first and the disability second (for example a man with a disability, not a disabled man). In Spanish it may different, depending on the country of origin. The terms “necesidades especiales” have generally been acceptable.
- When planning service for this population, look to partner with organizations that support the Spanish speaking community, since they already have the language and cultural competences, and help them to extend their services to individuals with disabilities.
- Market your services and do outreach through nontraditional organizations, including daycare, churches, pharmacies, hospitals, detention centers and shelters.

Loida Febo Garcia from the Queens Public Library spoke on the subject of collection development for this patron population. Unfortunately, there are limited printed resources, although there are currently a number of good web sites with Spanish language information produced by different non-profit and governmental organizations.

The basic guidelines for collection development for Spanish speakers with disabilities are:
- Look for the same materials in Spanish as those published in English, making sure that there is material available for different ages
- Facilitate access to information by purchasing materials in different formats like Braille, descriptive DVD’s, etc.; these materials should mirror the books in the regular collection
- Utilize Library of Congress’s Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped to supplement collection.
Books for children with disabilities should follow the basic criteria for children’s literature, with a few additional points:
- no stereotypes
- no “special children” represented, but rather, normal children with a special trait
- no stories about overcoming disability
- disability portrayed as only one characteristic of child
- interactions between children with and without disabilities
- attempt to help change the attitudes of people without disabilities
- no sentimentality

To improve the situation and raise awareness of this patron population, librarians should push publishers to publish more and improve the choices available. One way to do this is to buy the materials that do currently exist. They also need to share information with the publishers regarding who are their users and what are their needs. Lastly, librarians should become more active and publish articles and blogs on the topic.

The last portion of the program was a presentation by students from the University of Puerto Rico’s Library and Information Science program at the Rio Piedras campus. Elizabeth Rivera and Cindy Jimenez described the Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program’s Information Center, which although based on the University campus, provides resources and services to the general public. The goal of this center was to increase access to assistive technology, and it offers training, consultation, evaluation, and technical support to all. For more information about the center, see http://www.pratp.upr.edu