[humanser] Client handwriting, accessibility, and confidentiality

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

I was presented with a unique challenge that I have not had to
overcome before in practicum this week.  I'd be interested in hearing
your thoughts or solutions you have used successfully in similar
situations.

Here's the scenario; I'm in my music therapy practicum, working with a
young man who has Down Syndrome on an individual basis.  This client
and I have formed a very successful therapeutic relationship over the
past few weeks.  The theoretical model I'm using with him places a
priority on reciprocity and working for the client to get what they
feel they need out of the music therapy treatment.  (Music-centered,
client-centered, and resource-oriented if anyone is interested in the
models).  On Monday the client presented me with a spiral notebook in
which he had written original song lyrics.  He wanted to take the time
in our session to shape them musically, but it was difficult for me
because I did not have access to his handwritten lyrics.  In the
following session my supervisor and I asked for his permission to copy
the lyrics, and another professor was able to do so while I continued
with the session so he could take his notebook home with him.

Now I have PDF files of his song lyrics, but I'm wondering how to
ethically convert them to a usable format (they're image PDFs) so I
can read his words and become familiar with them before our next
session on Wednesday.  I'm not sure if I can take them to disability
services or use robo braille because that isn't an aspect of
confidentiality that was discussed in general classes.  I don't know
if I can make sure that in either case all coppies of the files would
be destroyed.  My professor suggested that I find another music
therapy student in my class to read the lyrics to me as I type them
out.  We're technically not supposed to even share much information
between teams, but he said we could let it go since I have no one else
on my team this semester and need to get the information somehow, plus
those other students would be bound by confidentiality.

However, I would like to know how to solve this problem myself if it
ever comes up professionally for me, as I'm sure it will  I also don't
want to use a reader if I don't have to like a lot of students my age,
so any suggestions for independently gaining access to these lyrics
would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
Division 2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"