“Universal design helps everyone”: An interview with Ann Abney

Ann Abney (Digital Initiatives Metadata Librarian, University of South Florida)

Hello! Welcome to the Conversations in Accessibility series of our blog, which features conversations with information professionals and researchers who work in accessibility, identify as having disabilities, or both. My name is Ruohua Han, and I am an assistant professor at the Research Methods and Information Sciences Department, Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver. I have been a volunteer for the blog’s editorial team since last year. To kick off the series, I had the pleasure of inviting Ann Abney (she/her) as our first guest to chat about accessibility, disability, universal design, and thinking critically about ableist language in job requirements. 

Note: Ann and I completed the interview by posting and responding to interview questions asynchronously on a Google Doc.

Ruohua: Hi Ann! Could you start with briefly introducing yourself to our readers?

Ann: Hi all! I’m Ann Abney. Since February 2023, I’ve been the Digital Initiatives Metadata Librarian at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa. I’m also an adjunct lecturer for the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; I teach arrangement and description and archival appraisal. Before USF, I worked at the University of South Carolina and at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, MD. I consider myself a disabled archivist. I injured my back in high school and pushing those ubiquitous “40 pound boxes” caused me to need spinal fusion within 6 months of starting my first full-time permanent archives job. I also suffer from anxiety, depression, and a sleep disorder that leaves me chronically fatigued. I’m a proud Carroll University and University of Maryland-College Park alumna with a BA in History, an MA in History, and an MLS in Archives, Records, and Information Management. I also am starting my PhD in History at USF in the fall. (Because clearly, I am not overeducated enough!)

Ruohua: Could you tell us a bit about your work on accessibility and disability? What sparked your interest in this work? What went well? What are you most proud of?

Ann: When I exacerbated my back injury in Fall 2015, I found the entire accommodation process baffling and frustrating. I remember an initial run of physical therapy before surgery and the therapist saying “Okay, here’s how you properly lift a box.” I had to show him a picture of the stacks saying “Yeah, but that’s not possible.” When I returned from work after surgery I was assigned menial tasks because they didn’t know how my position could be done under light duty considerations. It was demeaning. I knew there had to be a better way. When I left that position and moved to the University of South Carolina, institutional funding meant I could afford SAA so, sort of a whim, I applied to be on a panel with the fantastic Michelle Ganz, Veronica Denison, and Chris Tanguay. And the rest, they say, is history. 

The thing I’m probably most proud of is Chris and I’s upcoming chapter in an edited volume by Gracen Brilmyer and Lydia Tang about disability in the archives. We evaluated job ads over a period of time looking for ableist language… and found a lot. I’m proud of the chapter and my hope is that it will force a reckoning with institutions as they post positions to think, “Do I really need to require them to lift 40 lbs? What if they’re not outgoing – is that really a job qualification?”

Ruohua: That sounds like an amazing book chapter that I can’t wait to read. Do we know when the book is coming out?

Ann: It’s made its way to the copy editors so my guess is either this summer or this fall!

Ruohua: That’s awesome, I will definitely check it out when it’s available. I know that accessibility work can also be challenging to do. What was the most challenging thing that you have encountered in your work on accessibility and disability?

Ann: Money. I did an accessibility audit of our reading room and exhibit spaces at the University of South Carolina and suggested getting a few adjustable height tables and a variety of chairs – chairs with arms, chairs without, chairs with wheels, chairs without wheels, etc. Our reading room also didn’t have an automatic opener button. Neither did our bathrooms and the multi-stall men’s and women’s bathrooms each had two doors to get through. And this was a building built less than 15 years ago! While administration was on board for making some of the changes, the cost was prohibitive. 

Ruohua: Costs are always really tough. How did you and the administration deal with the cost issues at the time?

Ann: It ended up being that the Associate Dean for Special Collections looked through the endowments and found one that could be used for this purpose. We also explored a University program that offset the cost of adaptive and ergonomic equipment but ended up not using it for that particular project.

Ruohua: That’s really helpful to know! On another note, who are you inspired by in the accessibility field or in your work? Has there been any disabled professionals or disabled centered/led content you are moved by to improve your daily life and/or work?

Ann: I’ve been really impressed by the work the National Council on Public History has been leading on studying and interpreting disability history. They assisted with the National Park Service’s Disability History Handbook that’s to be published as well as working groups and other projects. Their work and guidance has definitely helped as I consider my own research on memory. Who is remembered? Who is forgotten? How do we talk about those forgotten?

Ruohua: That’s amazing. We need more research on disability history to help folks to be more aware about archival silences and their implications. Speaking of raising awareness, what are some of the most important things about accessibility and disability that you think people are unfortunately often unaware about? 

Ann: How much universal design helps everyone. There’s a slogan that we’re all just one bad injury away from a disability. But we shouldn’t be thinking about procedures or spaces just to check a box or because we might at one point become disabled. Take my chair example. Fat people aren’t always disabled but they’d appreciate chairs in a reading room that has chairs without arms. Or transcripts for digital collections help patrons who never learned to read cursive (or heck, anybody because have you seen some of that historic handwriting?!). Accessibility aids shouldn’t be thought of as something to do for a pat on the back like “Yay! We did something good for a marginalized group!” It should be something to pat yourself on the back because you did something for everyone.

Ruohua: Absolutely. What do you think (or hope) the future of accessibility will look like in ten years in your field? What do you think is the key to making that vision into reality?

Ann: I hope that it’s become second nature to consider everyone in planning for anything. That we automatically turn on captioning on Zoom. That we automatically consider how those with crutches navigate our buildings. That we send out interview questions ahead of time because it gets the best candidates. As to how we get there, some of it is awareness, definitely. But some of it is setting up cultures and processes that include everyone. For the Zoom example, can organizations change the subscription to Zoom so it automatically turns on captions? For interviewing, could the procedures be looked at by people of various abilities, cultures, faiths, and race to make sure the policies aren’t inadvertently leaving someone out? 

Ruohua: I certainly would love the option to have Zoom automatically turn on captions every time. As our final question, what is your advice to disabled aspiring professionals?

Ann: When you see a job requirement you’re not sure about if you can physically do, ask what percentage of the job is that. For the “lifting 40 lb boxes” – that could mean anything from “This is your whole job” to “I do this once a week.” For my particular disability the “once a week” would be okay but I couldn’t do it everyday. If you get a chance to interact with H.R. ask about the accommodation process. And take any personality requirements with a grain of salt. An organization may say it values “interpersonal communication” but there’s a variety of ways to do that. You might be able to find a way to fit a requirement that respects your worth, dignity, and disability. 

Ruohua: Great advice, and that is a fantastic note to end on. Thank you very much, Ann!

Are you interested in sharing your work on accessibility and disability or would like to recommend someone you know for an interview? Please contact us at SAAdisabilityarchivists@gmail.com to let us know! We are always excited about finding new interviewees for our interview series!