[blindlaw] First legal internship: suggestions needed

[Rahul Bajaj]

Hi Nicholas and Deepa,

Thanks for your responses --  what you said does make a lot of sense.
Nicholas, to  answer your question, I usually take the help of my
friends to move around and occasionally use my cane. But I don't need
it much because I have become  pretty familiar with the layout of  my
college campus.  When I go to unfamiliar places, I generally rely
heavily on sighted assistance.
You are right in saying that very few institutions would be willing to
designate   a person  to specially  look   after an intern.
Moreover, I would hate to ask for such a favour as it would portray a
very bad picture. I don't want to be seen as  a liability for the
organisation.
 I guess the best way would be to ask for assistance from   the other
staff from time to time.
  Hopefully, my co-workers will be helpful and supportive.

Once again, thank you for your wonderful replies. They have really
helped me to decide my future course of action.

Best,
Rahul



On 13/05/2013, Deepa Goraya <deepa.goraya at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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