[blindlaw] First legal internship: suggestions needed

[Deepa Goraya]

Hi Rahul,

I've had several internships, most in DC. When I first came to DC, I used a
mobility instructor to help me learn how to use the metro system and to
learn the general area around my internship and housing. After that, I
occasionally used an instructor or friend to show me the location of each
office I interned at. As for navigating the office building, I just asked
co-workers to show me the general layout of the office the first couple of
days, where the bathroom was, the cafeteria if they had one, etc. Then I
just got used to the layout as I walked around. If I got lost, I would just
ask for directions. Usually co-workers were fine with helping me get
oriented.

Hope this helps.

Deepa

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Nicholas
Parsons
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 5:42 AM
To: Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] First legal internship: suggestions needed

Hi Rahul,

I'm a law student myself. I've done a few internships, but perhaps someone
with more experience will be able to help you more than I can.

However, to start with, I'd have to ask how you usually navigate around? For
instance, how did you learn your way around your university campus?

When it gets closer to the start date of your internship, I'd suggest you
contact the organisation and discuss this with them. It might be a matter of
you going in a few days earlier than your scheduled start date to do some
orientation work with someone. Alternatively, they might say they're happy
to show you around the first couple of days until you get the hang of
things.

In short, I suggest you propose a couple of suggestions to them and let them
choose which is most convenient for them.

In the States or Australia where I'm from no company would really have the
spare resources to designate one person to be the eyes for an intern for
their whole program. I know India is likely very different given the
different cost of labour. However, it's hard for me to imagine them
providing this for an intern.

So, depending on how well and fast you usually orientate yourself to new
environments, I'd suggest you ask someone to show you around the office
initially. After that, for the first day or two you could probably just ask
a colleague or other office staff (such as security, secretaries or other
general office staff) to show you from A to B if you don't know your way.
Depending on how much moving around in the office your job will require,
you'll probably get the hang of things very quickly. For me, the main thing
has usually been to know the way from the entrance to my desk, and from  my
desk to the toilet and back. When I'm going for lunch or attending meetings
there's usually other people whom I can follow.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your internship.

Nic

On 13/05/2013, at 4:34 PM, Rahul Bajaj <rahul.bajaj1038 at gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

I hope this message finds you well.
This is my first message to the list. I'm a first-year law student from
Nagpur, India.
I'll be doing my first legal internship later this summer.
The internship will be at an institution which acts as a connecting link b/w
consumers and brands in order to resolve consumer disputes.
I'm a bit nervous and apprehensive as this will be my first ever internship.
I did mention about my disability in my CV and in the application form, but
they didn't bring it up during the telephonic interview.

I would be extremely grateful if you would be kind enough to answer the
following question:
How should I navigate independently in the office? Should I take someone
with me for my assistance, or should I ask them to delegate this function to
one of their workers?
I will just need some assistance for the first couple of days in order to
familiarise myself with the environment. I'll be able to navigate
independently after that.
Any tips/suggestions would be really appreciated.

Best,
Rahul

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