[humanser] Client handwriting, accessibility, and confidentiality

[Ginny Duff]

Kaiti - I'd get the client to read the lyrics to you while you type it into a format that is useable for you.   It gives you an opening to be able to talk about your disability / his disability / what we need to do to accomodate our disabilities.  It models for him that its OK to talk about your limitations.  Its not something you are ashamed of and have to run off in secret to deal with - but rather you can deal with it with the client right then and there and both can benefit.  It allows him to do something that is helpful for you.   Its a win - win.    It also gives you an opportunity to go through the lyrics together at a slow pace and you can talk about them while you are typing.  

Sometimes our disabilities can be useful tools that open doors to communication.   

Ginny 



Dr. V. Duff 
Clinical Director, West End ACT Team, 
St. Joseph's Heatlh Centre , Toronto
Staff Psychiatrist, Complex Mental Illness, CAMH 
Lecturer, University of Toronto
Tel:   416.530.6000, ext 3101
FAX:   416.530.6363

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 9, 2015, at 3:17 PM, Kaiti Shelton via humanser <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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!"
> 
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