Getting a job in the Information Industry with a wheelchair in tow

One thing about me: I have difficulty with mobility. I have been using crutches to walk increasingly since the beginning of 2010, and have used a wheelchair as needed since March 2012.

My current employer, FPWA Sexual Health Services, does not have an issue with this. Considering one of the services FPWA offer is sexual health education for people with intellectual disabilities, and the promotion of sexuality and disability, I have never felt that there was a chance I would be discriminated against because I can’t shelve the returns on the top shelves.

This year the Health Department received a 10% budget cut, and as they are our main funding body, those cuts have passed on to us. This means that in April, when my contract with FPWA runs out, they are unable to fund an extra staff member. I am not alone in this. A number of the Education Unit and the Clinical Services staff have also had hours cut, contracts not renewed, or been forced to resign.

So now what do I do? Before I got my wheelchair, I used to apply for jobs and not tell them I should be using crutches to walk. I would just limp heavily and take a handful of pain meds every day, which didn’t really work. After all, there is no way to prove it, but the moment you tick the box that says I have a disability or a medical condition, you know your CV goes to the bottom of the pile. Legally, I don’t even have to declare my disability until after I have a job offer, but a wheelchair is a bit hard to hide.

I am worried about finances. My partner is autistic and has bipolar disorder, and is unable to work. Right now, we are living off my wages, her pension, and my meagre Centrelink Newstart Allowance. Yet things are still pretty tight when we get to the end of each fortnight.

Because of my income levels, my Centrelink payments won’t change when I lose my job. This means that we are going to be relying on around $1000 per fortnight, for two people. That works out to $250 per person, per week. There is never much left after rent, and we are still trying to save money for the wedding.

I am worried about transport. Most library jobs are in public libraries, or in schools. Wherever I work, it needs to be easily accessible by public transport from the city. I can’t drive, and I am not eligible for taxi vouchers.

I am worried about my studies. I only have four units left to complete, and I am doing two units per semester (that is, Part Time). Hopefully, I should graduate at the end of next year, but usually you can’t get the librarian positions until your degree is complete, and Library Assistant positions have a lot of job competition. I want to work. I want to support my family. But when a local government official looks at me, they see someone who can’t reach the bookshelves. They don’t see someone with an education, a family to support, a wedding to save for, and a drive to succeed. All they see is the chair.

By Suzie Day

This post originally appeared on CatalogueThis.com

Being published as an undergrad: The fast track to academia

As a gay teenager, growing up in regional Western Australia was not easy. It meant that my only resource, my only connection to the wider LGBTI community was though my local public library. Because of this, as a librarian, I am passionate about providing services for the LGBTI community though libraries. 

So I started writing short stories and essays, which I sent to magazines, and would occasionally get published. This turned into Tweeting, and blogging, and eventually, writing academic papers. Right now, I have two papers in the works. The first is being published in Gay and lesbian issues and psychology , the second is to be presented at the International Conference for the Future of LGBTI Histories in Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections. 

This is almost unheard of for an undergraduate. As partner put it, “being published as an undergrad is the fast-track to academia”. But you know what? I am not interested. As much as I love promoting a form of inclusiveness that is often overlooked in libraries, it isn’t what I want to do full time. At least, not within academic circles.

I am currently the Library Assistant at Family Planning WA Sexual Health Library, and I love it. Today, I sent 100 condoms to a remote indigenous community, to be distributed to teenagers that probably couldn’t afford condoms, even if they could find somewhere to buy them. Last week, I referred a friend of a friend to our People 1st Program, which provides sexual health education to people with intellectual disabilities. Last month, I spent the afternoon unpacking newly arrived pink rubber dildos, which we repackage and sell to schools as “condom demonstrators”. 

I am changing lives, both within the LGBTI community, and other high-risk demographics of our community. And nothing can beat the feeling it gives me when a 50 year old woman comes in to tell me that a book I recommended helped her achieve her first ever orgasm.

By Suzie Day

How Pinnacle helped me build my library

I had to leave home for uni, because my family home was in Kalgoorlie, more than 600km from Curtin University, in Perth. Having wanted to be a librarian since a small child, where I studied was non-negotiable, so I was always expecting to need to leave home. However, as I spent my gap year using up my savings in Europe as a Rotary Exchange Student, I had nothing left when I eventually moved to the big bad city, to start my new life. My parents have always been low income earners, and could barely support me. It was because of this I started applying for every scholarship I could lay my eyes on.

Among them was the Pinnacle Foundation. I applied for enough funds for a new computer, textbooks, and software. I cannot say how relieved I was. I knew this scholarship was going to help me get through uni, I didn’t realise it was going to change my life.

The first thing that happened was my new laptop. The computer I had purchased back in high school was on its last legs, and was only just chugging along. So when Pinnacle helped replace it, I was able to give my old one to my younger sister, who was a Year 12 TEE student, and still sharing a PC with two other students. It wasn’t a great machine, but it was still a computer she could call her own. Also, I could now run library-specific software on my new laptop that I couldn’t before.

My mentor is an amazing woman called Robyn. Unlike most Pinnacle Mentors, Robyn is not from the same profession as me (I suppose they didn’t have any librarians listed as Pinnacle Mentors back then…), but despite that, she has been an amazing life coach, mentor, sounding board, and friend. I really cherish everything she has done from me. Around once a month, she picks me up, and we go for a coffee or a meal somewhere, and just talk. Everything from queer politics, to my uni course, to my love life. I also have learnt a lot about queer history from her. This year, she took me to the International Women’s Day Breakfast. Also, when I thought I had to move house, she offered to help me look. When I bought a new bookcase, she drove out with me to pick it up, so I could save money on delivery. And anyway she can see an opportunity to help me, she does. It has been amazing, and I hope to continue our friendship long after our formal Pinnacle Mentorship relationship has ended,

Pinnacle are also helping me attend a number of conferences, relevant to my profession and interest. Last year, they paid for my rego for the 5th New Librarians Symposium, held in Perth. Next month, I am going to Adelaide for the Children’s Book Council Biannual. And, should my paper get accepted, The Pinnacle Foundation have agreed to help me partially fund a trip to Amsterdam in August, for the International Conference on the Future of LGBTI Histories, in Archives, Libraries, Museums and Special Collections!

We are expected to be pro-active in supporting the Foundation though. Last year, I attended the annual Queer Collaborations conference for Australian students, which Curtin hosted. There, another Pinnacle scholar, Veronica, did a presentation on the Foundation, and handed out info of applying for scholarships, with myself and Iz supporting her. We were actively advertising Pinnacle throughout the conference. More than one person at that workshop is now a Pinnacle Scholar.

Above all, it has changed my life. I can never thank enough the donors, and the volunteers, for everything they have done for me, and for making the Pinnacle Foundation what it is. 

By Suzie Day - you can follow Suzie's own blog at www.cataloguethis.com/