[blindlaw] Should I be offended?

Susan Kelly Susan.Kelly at pima.gov
Thu Jul 10 17:21:12 UTC 2014


It would definitely be a good idea to look into their accommodation plans for you.  When I started losing my sight, I had to take care of finding and procuring most of the accommodations myself - which, since I did not yet qualify as legally blind, seemed reasonable because neither my employer nor I thought the ADA applied.  (We were all probably wrong on that).  As it progressed, though, my agency expected to use the same style of accommodations provided by another county agency to an attorney in their office who had been blind since birth.  For obvious reasons, that was not realistic.  Fortunately, the other attorney repeatedly advised my employers that no two people work the same way or benefit from the same accommodations, that everything needs to be tweaked to work best for the individual involved.  Hopefully, the same will work out for you with another visually impaired attorney being there.

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of ALBERT ELIA via blindlaw
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2014 10:12 AM
To: Manners, Derek; Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Should I be offended?

BAsed on the facts you've indicated, I suspect not that they wish to segregate you, but perhaps that they believe you might benefit from working with another practicing blind attorney.

In any case, I would not take offense at this point. Try calling ang see if you can suss out their reasons for suggesting health law with the blind attorney. That will also give you an opportunity to explain what accommodations, if any, you will need, as they may be very different than the blind attorney currently working there.



On Jul 10, 2014, at 12:56 PM, Manners, Derek via blindlaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> I'm applying for an externship with the Connecticut Attorney General's 
> Office.  I've indicated a willingness to work in certain subject 
> matters that interest me.  I got an email telling me to think about 
> other areas as well that also suit my long term goals.  It was helpful and friendly.
> 
> Today, I got a followup email, presumably after they read that I was 
> legally blind in my application. The email asked if I would want to do 
> Health Law since they had another visually impaired attorney and they 
> already had accommodations set up for her.
> 
> It seemed like they were indicating that if I needed accommodations 
> that I would be segregated with the other visually impaired attorney.  
> On the other hand, she framed in the form of a question and I don't 
> think she meant anything by it.  I think she just meant it would be 
> easier for me to get settled in.
> 
> Is this a normal phenomenon?  Also, should I be annoyed by it?
> 
> Thanks
> Derek Manners
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