[blindlaw] fed work

[AZNOR99 at aol.com]

Mike,
Congratulations on your new job.  Where will you be working?  See  below 
for my answers.
 
First, legal research. Does your agency give you an agencywide ID and  
password for Westlaw and Lexis? Or do you have to sign up for either or both of  
these services yourself and pay for it out of your own pocket?

Each federal agency has a subscription to either WestLaw or Lexis; some  
have both.  You will need to request a user name and password from your  
agency or division librarian (or sometimes the rocurement officer can get  it).  
I'd suggest you ask your first level supervisor how to get  one.

Next, mobility. Specifically, do the federal buildings have signs  with 
braille denoting the room number, restrooms, etc.?

Most federal buildings do have proper signage, however there are a few  
that are out of date or lacking some in some areas.  However, this is very,  
very rare.

Third, documents. Is there braille on the vending machines? Braille  menus 
in the cafeteria? Agency manuals in braille or electronic form?
Agency  manuals have to be in electronic form because of Section 508  
Guidelines.  On occasion those manuals will be generated as PDFs, and once  in a 
while someone will forget to OCR them.  But this too is very, very  rare.  
As for vending machines and menus, that'll depend on the specific  agency's 
policies.  For example, DHS does not have Braille on vending  machines.  I 
asked them to make a way for me to be able to purchase snacks,  so they 
requested overlays on the machines the manufacturer could provide one,  and they 
gave me a reader to read me the options so I could Braille out a list  that 
was posted on the side.  A matching list in large print was posted,  and it 
became part of the guy's job who filled the machine to check to make sure  no 
product was moved and to let me know if it was.  The cafeteria menus  were 
emailed to me, or a staff member reads them to me if they change day to  day.
 
Finally, transportation. If any of you use Metro Access to get back and  
forth from work, I would like to know what you've experienced. Specifically, 
how  reliable are they if you want an early morning 6:00 a.m. pick up? How 
about  picking up after work? How often do you get straight rides to work or 
from work  to home versus shared rides? (I'm especially interested in the 
experiences of  those of you who do a nine hour week, then four days of eight 
hours with the  fifth day being a day off. California calls it 9-8-80; I 
don't know what the  feds call it.)

I don't use Metro Access so can't help you with that.  But DC has  perhaps 
the best system of public transportation in the country - I've literally  
never had to go anywhere that wasn't on a bus or Metro Line.  The federal  
government will likely give you a transit subsidity to cover your public  
transportation costs, and trains and buses run nonstop.  
You're talking about AWS or Alternative Work  Schedules.  

That's all I can think of for now. Thanks.
Let me know if you have  other questions.  Also, consider reaching out to 
Herald Wilson for some  mobility training and orientation to DC when you get 
here and Bridget Doherty  for help learning the Metro.  

Ronza






_______________________________________________
blindlaw mailing  list
blindlaw at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
To  unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for  
blindlaw:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/aznor99%40aol.com