Below I’ve reproduced the personal statement essay I submitted when applying to my MLIS program. It outlines a bit about my history, and one of the things I might do with my MLIS after the program. I guess you can use this to get to know more about me and why I’m blogging about my experiences.
Navigating the education system as an autistic person gave me a unique perspective on accessibility limitations. Despite my alma mater directly facilitating my autism diagnosis, I was denied accommodations and access to support resources. I was also discriminated against due to being transgender. When I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Computer Science, I began looking for opportunities to utilize that education to make a difference for people like me.
Since graduating, I’ve spent nearly two decades working on a variety of projects including educational software for schools for autistic students, accessibility technology for people with visual disabilities, and privacy tools to improve the safety of LGBTQ+ people online. Working in a cubicle farm, I rarely had the opportunity to interact with the people who would directly benefit from the work I did. I found those projects rewarding, but also distant from the people I was hoping to help.
Eleven years ago, I was given an opportunity to bridge that distance. I built housing and provided medical care in the Dominican Republic to people who were displaced by the earthquake in Haiti, and assisted a team of doctors in providing medical care. Through that work, I found a way to fill that need to connect directly with people. On my return to the US, I pursued training as an Emergency Medical Technician. I spent several years working on an ambulance, helping patients who had inadequate access to healthcare and connecting them with community resources. I’ve since shifted my focus to volunteer work, specializing in First Aid and behavioral health support for diverse populations. I have that sense of connection I longed for, but my scope is limited to helping one person at a time.
At the intersection of these experiences, education, and passions, I have discovered a two-fold need. First, the education and healthcare systems are woefully unprepared to address the unique needs of special populations, including autistic and transgender people. Second, these special populations are woefully underserved without sufficient understanding of these systems to effectively advocate for their healthcare needs. There is a clear lack of an organized collection of information, best practices, and accessibility resources for these at-risk populations.
I believe an MLIS degree would uniquely position me to leverage my experiences and passions to create resources to address this two-fold need. In order to realize this goal, I will also need to effectively curate information, understand how to make it comprehensible to different audiences, make those resources known and accessible within my community, and leverage technology to further that reach. This school’s MLIS program covers these areas more thoroughly than a traditional computer science masters program ever could.
As an autistic person with unique social and communication needs, I feel an online program like that offered at this school would be an excellent fit for my learning style.