Jenny speaks with Center for Accessibility Manager Julia Wolhandler about her experience as a member of the disability community, some of her favorite bits of disability media, and how the Center for Accessibility makes the library an even more welcoming place.
SPEAKER #1 (Voiceover)
DC Public Library Podcast is made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and is a production of the Labs at DC Public Library.
JENNY
You're listening to the DC Public Library Podcast, recorded from the Labs recording studio in ther historic modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, DC. I'm Jenny and welcome to "Access This, our series on disability culture and community brought to you by the Center for accessibility at DCPL.
JENNY
My guest today is Julia Wolhandler, manager of the Center for Accessibility. Julia is a disabled advocate residing in the District of Columbia since 2011. In her current capacity, Julia works to ensure that programs and services offered by the DC Public Library are fully accessible to an inclusive of all its residents and visitors. She frequently provides trainings and technical assistance on inclusive emergency preparedness, disability rights laws, policies, and effective communication strategies. Previously, Julia worked as a Public Affairs Specialist for the Office of Disability Rights under the Executive Office of the Mayor, and formerly as a disability integration advisor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA. Julia holds a master's degree in International Development from Gallaudet University and a bachelor's degree in American Sign Language English interpretation from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
JENNY
Well, first, Julia, I want to welcome you. Thank you for being on the podcast today.
JULIA
Thanks, Jenny. I'm excited to be on this podcast and love the "Access This" channel. Thank you.
JENNY
Yeah we're, we're so glad that we're able to talk with you today. And I guess I just wanted to get started, if you could tell us a little bit about your background, as a member of the disability community.
JULIA
Sure. So I think it started out really when I was quite young, not yet knowing that I was even part of the community, but growing up with people who are Deaf and autistic, and really just embracing the fact that diversity is a great thing. And when I was growing up, I was diagnosed with a learning disability but again, didn't know about the broader disability community and rights didn't know my rights are aware of what my rights were, until I was probably in college. I didn't have access to extra time on tests or even any types of reasonable accommodations. So school for me was pretty hard, made it through though. When I was in college, I really got to know the Deaf community, I went to what you just mentioned, Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT, and the college I went to at that campus was actually the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, NTID. And so there is where I met some of my closest friends who are Deaf and truly learned American Sign Language.
JULIA
Now I grew up signing, but I grew up signing English Sign, cuz my dad's friends were deaf. So I didn't learn true American Sign Language until college. And that's also where I ended up getting my degree in Interpretation. And that's when I started to learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA and then how it actually apply to myself. And I've always had my learning disability, mental health stuff, but again, still just never felt a part of a community quite yet. And I learned about this program at Gallaudet University here in DC, the International Development Program, and its focus was on disability rights at the time. And so when I applied that is actually when my world of disability rights really opened up. It was through internships and just meeting some prominent figures in our community is where I learned about my own, I guess, internal acceptance, and being part of this really great, wide, diverse community that is the disability community.
JULIA
So it all sort of stemmed from childhood but kind of grew as I grew older. And along the years, I had really great experience and influence. So I got to work on getting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, trying to get it passed in the US, which unfortunately didn't happen. It wasn't ratified. But from there I met such wonderful people. I met Judy Heumann, who, you know, huge thanks to her is one of the major reasons we have the ADA and Section Four of the Rehabilitation Act. So that's kind of how it got started. And from there it it led me to different aspects of my life. I went to Belgium and work for an international development, with a disability rights focus, nonprofit. I came back and worked for another. And then I worked for the National Disability Rights Network. So I was focused on the representative payee program, which is basically people oversees Social Security benefits for people with disabilities, and was just making sure that there was no abuse or neglect by them. And from there, I went to FEMA, which was really where my emergency management skills and expertise developed, and being deployed to all these different disaster areas and meeting with so many different people and, and making sure that our that we were completely accessible to people who who've lost pretty much everything because of disasters, so and that led me to so many different places that led me to where I am now at the library. So I've just had really an incredible, lifelong years of experience in so many different arenas, but all related to disability rights. And it's been, it's been amazing.
JENNY
Yeah, yeah, I imagine you've seen, you've seen a lot of different things, and you've helped people access the things that they needed. In kind of intense situations, especially working with FEMA, people are just struggling to meet basic needs in those situations and, and disability intersects and makes that more difficult, of course.
JULIA
Absolutely. Absolutely.
JENNY
So you came on to the library was it about two years ago?
JULIA
It was almost two years ago, almost two years.
JENNY
Congratulations. And you are for the record, you are my manager at the Center for Accessibility. So we have a kind of a celebrity guest on the show today. And what appealed to you about working for the Center For Accessibility and transitioning into the library world, because you hadn't worked in that arena before?
JULIA
That's correct. I had not worked in the library world at all, I was very new to it. I think what appealed to me was the fact that the library is a place for the public, it is for everyone and anyone and that really drew me in was the notion that no matter what your background is, no matter what your socioeconomic level is, or it just doesn't matter who you are, you're welcome to come into the libraries. So that really drew me in. And I knew about the Center for Accessibility prior, because I had been introduced to some of the staff actually, while I was in college, because I use the library very much so to go and study and write papers, and was introduced to the staff by another member of the community. And so when I had heard about this position, just knowing that there was such a great team of people and experts and disability rights advocates already in place, and knowing how important it was to allow access to every individual in our community, whether it's DC residents or people that are visiting or college students, high school students, what have you. That's just another another big aspect that drew me into this position. And, and I also just have this envision for growing. I mean, one in four people have a disability, that's a tremendous amount of people. Whether they have a disability that's obvious, or whether it's not- just like me, where you can't see it. And I just wanted to make sure that we are really able to touch such a huge number, and population of people that are accessing the library services that we provide.
JENNY
Right, because like you mentioned, the library is for everyone. So that has to include the disability community as well and making things more broadly accessible. You know, the library world, we believe in accessibility of information, and freedom to explore ideas. And without true accessibility, we're kind of, you know, missing a huge part of that. So that's great. Yeah, I've really enjoyed that aspect of working for Center For Accessibility as well. Can you for those who are listening who aren't familiar with what we do at Center For Accessibility, talk about some of our main services that they might not be aware of.
JULIA
Absolutely. So at the Center for Accessibility, we do so many different things and offer so many different programs. One of the big things, big things we do is to make sure that we're allowing access to all of the entire library system. So one of the ways we do that is by offering reasonable accommodations. An example of of that is if there's a program, and someone who is Deaf that uses American Sign Language needs an interpreter to access that program. That's one of the ways we offer reasonable accommodations. We also have a Braille printer. So if there's a handout or a flyer, or something in typical printed is typically printed material, and they need it in Braille, we can print it in Braille. So those are some examples of how we provide reasonable accommodations. We are also the state designated Library for the Blind and Print Disabled under the National Library for the Blind and Print Disabled. And that's NLS. So under that service, we offer the DC Talking Book and Braille Program. So anyone who's eligible, whether they're blind, low vision, or have a print disability, which could be a learning disability, or maybe someone has a physical disability, where they're not able to open a traditional book, they can sign up for this service, and they will access talking books. So audio described books. And we also have Braille books and magazines through that service.
JENNY
Can you- sorry, really quick- can you explain, because this is something I didn't understand the distinction of before I worked for C4A, which is what we call the Center for Accessibility, is the difference between a Talking Book through that program and a standard audio book that other folks might be used to listening to through the library?
JULIA
Sure. So the big difference is that the audio books that we provide through the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, NLS, is that the narration goes through a very, very rigorous process. And it's matched up with a reading voice that makes sense. A lot of times, especially if, let's say the book has visual material, it will be audio described for that visual material. So let's say there's an image of a person, then that person would be described. And also, because of this service, it's, it's free. So it's free to anyone who's eligible. So you don't have to pay to download or pay to have access. So those are some of the big, big differences.
JENNY
Yeah, and we also send them a player that these play on, which is different and believe it It plays, it can play at different speeds as well.
JULIA
That's correct. It can play at different speeds, we send it through the US Postal Service for free through the Free Matter for the Blind, uh, postage.
JENNY
Yeah. And anyone who's eligible can sign up for that through our website, or by calling us. We'll provide our email at the end of this as well. Yeah, it's an awesome service. And it's for all ages, which is amazing, too. So there's lots of great kids material, stuff for for all kinds of interests. So just a little extra plug.
JULIA
Thanks.
JENNY
So, great. Great. So we have the NLS service. And then we also have the Library by Mail. Can you talk about that a little bit?
JULIA
Yes, we have Library by Mail, which is for patrons who are eligible that have a temporary or permanent disability that aren't able to come to the library because of that disability. So it could be physical, but it could be for other reasons. So people who just are unable to leave their home. And it's a service that we offer for free as well. And we basically either pick out books on behalf of the person or they let us know what types of books or DVDs they want, and then we send it to them in the mail.
JENNY
I've really enjoyed doing that. As a librarian, you know, I have a few patrons that I work with. And it's been really fun. You know, one really likes mysteries, and I like mysteries. So it's been fun, you know, looking for recommendations and kind of that classic library work that people think about that I think we've missed a little bit in the pandemic, especially with having not as many people able to come in. And it you know, it sets up a nice relationship between us and our patrons and, and they get great books delivered right to them. So yeah, I'm a big fan.
JULIA
Yeah, it's definitely been great during the pandemic, especially because people might have underlying health conditions and just can't come in because of that, due to COVID. So it's been a wonderful, wonderful service.
JENNY
That's awesome. Yeah, and we've been doing a lot of programming throughout the pandemic and prior to that Do you have a favorite program that you helped host or set up through Center For Accessibility?
JULIA
We've had so many awesome programs. I can't say which is my favorite, because there's been so many. But I will say last summer, I was so it was such a privilege, I got to interview, Jim LaBrecht and Nicole Newnham, who are the filmmakers for "Crip Camp,"and who were just nominated for an Oscar, which is just unbelievable. And "Crip Camp," honestly, the film, seeing it, it brought me to tears, because it was something that finally was out in the public masses on Netflix that anyone could see. And it really normalize the disability experience, but also told the history so much of our history, the beautiful, hard history of how we got our rights, and so brought me to tears to see like, my people fighting for what I now have access and rights to and so many of us do. So if you haven't seen "Crip Camp" yet, definitely go watch it. It is absolutely phenomenal. Everyone I've told has probably cried watching it as
JENNY
I know I have. Yeah, amazing. It's on Netflix, you can watch it anytime. And yeah, it's it's an it's just an incredible documentary. And like you said, really making the story of, you know, the passing of the ADA and also just a lot about the disabled experience in this really lovely film that anyone can watch. Yeah, I had friends who watched it and and texted me about it, because they knew I would be into it, of course, and said how much how much they just didn't know about the ADA and all of all of the things that you know, that didn't happen that long ago, truly.
JULIA
It really didn't. And I think we're coming up on 31 years of the passing of the ADA, I'm 33 years old. I mean, it's wild to think that my rights weren't protected when I was what, two years old. I'm horrible at math, but...
JENNY
Yeah. Yeah, I'm, I'm around the same age as well. And I, you know, started school, right when the ADA was coming into effect. So I felt, you know, just things that I took for granted as a child that, you know, I had some accommodations that were guaranteed that, you know, even a few years before that they had no requirement to make that happen. I could have had a very different experience in school. So yeah, definitely watch "Crip camp." And you mentioned Judy Heumann, who's in that as well. And, and she wrote a book last year that we did a program for as well.
JULIA
Yeah. "Being Heumann". Great, great book, another book that made me cry. I mean, it really was perfect timing. "Crip Camp" and "Being Huemann" came out about the same time. And "Crip Camp," very much follows part of Judy's life. But the book, talks- is about Judy's life and everything that she went through and how she became an advocate. And it's just so influential. I think it will be influential to so many young people who are starting out in the disability community, and maybe just learning whether they're just getting diagnosed or just coming apart of this community to read about the success of this brilliant, brilliant woman. So another fantastic book, and definitely everyone should read. I mean, I hope one day it'll be part of a curriculum in school and be required, because that history is so needed to know.
JENNY
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah it's a great book. You can check it out through DC Public Library. We have it, I know we have available print editions and also digital editions of it. So yeah, it's it's a fantastic, fantastic book. Can you tell us a little bit about programs that we have coming up, you mentioned, you know, we have ADA month coming up in July, but perhaps some things that we might have going on in June that our listeners can tune into? I guess we can announce it now because it's official. We have a program coming up in July with Emily Ladau, who's coming out with a great book called "Demystifying Disability." Emily Ladau, of course, a wonderful disability rights advocate and writer, fantastic writer. We'll be having a program with her virtually on July 14. That will be up on our website shortly, it was just made official. So I'm excited about that one.
JULIA
Yeah, we definitely have a lot of great and very cool programs coming up. We're hoping to host Chella Man, who is a Deaf, trans Chinese Jewish advocate, actor, performer, artist. And so we're hoping to host him during Pride Month in June, maybe July, we'll see. And also in July, we're going to be having some other programs. We'll be having this great dance program with Margot Greenlee, that will be focused towards children with disabilities, but really is welcome to anyone, families, older adults, what have you. We'll be having a more serious conversation around police brutality in the disability community. That'll happen sometime in July. We don't have a set date quite yet, but really going to work going to be a great conversation about the importance and connection between the two.
JENNY
Yeah, that's gonna be really wonderful. Yeah, so just a little sneak peek at what's kind of coming up this summer. But we also have regular programming that we have throughout the year. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
JULIA
Sure. So the regular programming that we tend to have is our ASL classes, we offer both beginning and intermediate, we'll probably have an advanced class coming up. We're finishing up this semester of ASL classes, coming to an end end of this month of May. But we'll probably start again July or August with another semester of classes. And we also offer assistive technology classes. So anyone who would like to learn how to use an iPhone, or an iPad, and wants to know how to use Voiceover or some of the other assistive technologies that are offered on those devices, we do offer that we of course, with the pandemic haven't been able to offer it in person like we normally do, but we're going to start offering it again virtually.
JENNY
That's great. And of course, always free through the library, which is awesome.
JULIA
And, and of course, ASL Story Time, which Jenny is a part of.
JENNY
Yes, yes, we do that myself and Janice, who's our Deaf Services Librarian. We do an ASL storytime on Facebook Live the second Tuesday of the month at 2pm. And that's geared towards our young viewers. But anyone who wants to learn some simple signs is of course, welcome to watch. We've had other librarians watching from other library systems, which is fun too, getting ideas. And that is told in ASL and the story is also vocalized. So it's a great time, we practice fun songs and signs and we always read a different story. So we just did one this week, where we read "Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Ehlert, one of my favorite children's books. So you can check those all out on our Facebook page, um DC Library on Facebook, and they're all up there from the past several months, so.
JULIA
Yeah, and I think we'll continue to have our book club as well. We have two book clubs actually. One is in ASL and spoken voice. And then another book club called Talking Book Club is geared towards people who are blind or low vision using our DC Talking Book and Braille program. But again, everything is open to everyone. And those happen every other month and you can access more information by visiting DCLibrary.org and going to the Calendar.
JENNY
Yes, and we also have a newsletter too You can sign up for on the website if you want news specific to the Center for Accessibility. Of course the library has a general newsletter as well. You can get that delivered right to you. Now we've talked a little bit about uh, you know, some authors and books and things but do you have any other favorite writers or are books by writers with disabilities that you want to plug? Of course it's a library podcast, we always love a, love a little book connection.
JULIA
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to mention "The Pretty One" by Keah Brown. She talks about being Black and disabled and the beauty in that, that's a fantastic book. I'm actually really looking forward though to- there's so many deceit disabled people that are coming out with books, so like, Chella Man's coming out with a book and Emily Ladau, like you just mentioned is coming out with a book. So I'm excited to see .ore of what's coming out and what will be out there and available.
JENNY
Yeah, I think it's exciting to see some trends in, in publishing as far as getting more diverse stories told about the disabled experience. And you know, making it accessible to people of all ages to talking about that. I think that like the Emily Ladau book is going to be great for younger readers as well. Like teenage and adults, and yes, it's exciting to see more more of those narratives in the mix. I'm excited for that, too.
JULIA
Absolutely.
JENNY
Well, Julia, this has been awesome. Do you have any any final thoughts or words for our podcast listeners?
JULIA
Yeah, I hope that people will check out our website and and just visit with us when it's safe to do so. But also attend some of our programs and learn about our services. And you know, if anyone has questions, or does want to learn more about what we do, or maybe there's something I didn't mention, or I did mention, and you just want more information, you can always call us at 202-727-2142 or email us at DCPLaccess@dc.gov and we'd be more than happy to assist you. And if you'd like to sign up for our newsletter, just give us a ring or send us an email. We'll sign you up for that too. And it comes out every month with great information about our own programs and services. And sometimes we throw in some other external partners programs and services that are happening that month.
JENNY
Yeah, so much going on in the city. So that's awesome. Well, thank you so much for chatting with us today, Julia, and thank you all for listening. You just listened to "Access This" on the DC Public Library Podcast recorded from the Labs recording studio in the historic modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, DC. You can reach out to the Center For Accessibility at DCPL by emailing DCPLaccess@dc.gov. Stay safe and stay accessible.
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