[Blindtlk] Common college degrees of employment for blind americans

Sun May 30 06:03:10 UTC 2010

Peter,

I, like you, am blind, rely on braille, a screen reader, and other
blindness-related assistive devices. I share many of your same
interests (computers, political science, cooking and traveling), and I
just moved to Austin TX. Before this, I was living in Denver, CO. I
will tell you that one of the biggest considerations you'll want to
make is transportation and the size of blindness organizations that
can advocate on access issues such as the NFB or ACB. Most of the
cities on your list, to my knowledge, have a strong NFB presence and a
pretty good transportation system. In Denver, the bus system is pretty
good provided that you live in central Denver. The more you moved out
in to the subborbs, the less frequent busses ran. However, the down
side is that if you live in central Denver, the cost of living is
higher than if you lived in the subborbs. Denver's bus system is good,
and they also have a light rail system for fast access to the
different areas in Denver. As of last year though, night service isn't
as good, but that'll be a problem anywhere.

In Austin, TX, schools are very good, UT being one of them. They have
political science and computer-related majors. The university is very
good, and I plan to begin attending shortly. Transportation is very
good. Buses run often, and go all throughout Austin. A rail system is
being worked on, and so far one line is up and running. The other
thing I like about Austin is that many tech companies are located
here, and many are and will continue to be hiring. The unemployment
rate has, in large, stayed the same throughout TX unlike Minnesota and
Indiana where unemployment has gone up. Blindness-related services are
very good here in Austin as well. Both NFB and to some degree ACB have
a presence here, and state services for the blind are excellent.

Ultimately, it'll have to be up to you where you move. Most cities
have good educational programs and you'll be able to get along just
about anywhere you move to. Some things that may make it easier is
consideration of weather (in CO it snows quite a bit in winter),
services that are offered to blind by different organizations,
transportation, and the area in which you intend to seek employment.

Thanks, and hope this was helpful. Please don't hesitate to contact me
off list if you want to talk about this further. My email address is
nimerjaber1 at gmail.com or you can just reply to this email.

Nimer J

On 29/05/2010, Mari Hunziker <marihunziker at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Peter,
>
> I would like to introduce you to Austin TX and to the University of Texas at
> Austin. It is a fantastic University in the heart of the city of Austin.
> Check out their link to learn more at http://www.utexas.edu. Also you might
> want to visit http://www.austin360.com to learn more about the city of
> Austin TX. The transportation is good, there are several Catholic Parishes
> in town as well. Here are some links you may want to visit to learn more
> http://www.austindiocese.org/ Here is a listing of some of the centrally
> located cathedrals in Austin TX.
> http://www.google.com/search?q=catholic+parishes+in+Austin+tx.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a.
> Aside from that, if I were in your situation, and I have been. I am
> legally blind, married with two children. My husband has recently returned
> to school at The University of Texas at Austin. And he works full-time. It
> is tough. But what we did is take it to the Lord, and you may have already
> done this, we prayed long and hard about what to do, what to study, when to
> to have children, where to live, etc. Sounds like the same stuff you are
> dealing with. Well, I would love to help and think pretty highly of Austin
> TX. I have lived here 10 years. I used to live in Southern California and
> would have loved to have stayed there except it is WAY TOO expensive to live
> there. I however, loved it so much really because I grew up there, so its my
> home. But Austin has a great atmosphere. If you stay true to your heart and
> your desires they will come about. Just have faith, pray, and let the Lord
> guide the way. Good luck and God Bless you and your family. Take a look at
> the links I've provided and let me know what you think. I have lots of
> friends that are always willing to lend a hand.
> Talk soon.
> Mari Hunziker
>
>
> On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 6:45 PM, Peter Wolfe <sunspot005 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> --
>> Peter
>> Webmaster
>> http://www.darkstruggle.com
>> webmaster at darkstruggle.com
>> alternative e-mail
>> sunspot005 at gmail.com
>>
>> To list:
>>
>>
>>   It's Peter again with another general question about blind
>> professionals. The last question was about the best city to be moving
>> to after college with a small family. Now, I've been wrestling with
>> this decision so I'd like you to really give me some serious feedback
>> about this matter. First off, I use a speech synthesizer, read
>> braille, use public transportation and have only a few really strong
>> points. My major hobbies are history, political science, computers and
>> programming, traveling, cooking, languages, etc.
>>    My major concern is in deciding what my final major is going to be
>> in the United States. My cities that I want to move are as follows:
>> Raleigh, North Carolina, Boston Massachusetts, St. Paul, Ninnesota,
>> Tallahasse, Florida, Bloomington, Indiania, Denver Colorado, Bolder,
>> Colorado, San Diego, California, Seattle, Washington, Portland,
>> Oregon, and or other places unforseen right now. Ultimately I want to
>> own a small house so the bigger cities are off in the long run. So, I
>> grapple with tthis issue of whether or not I can do it or not being
>> blind. I can't see print, mobility minor problems and such things such
>> as that. But the main thing is whether assistive technology, policies
>> and procedures can be done in a ever changing world in which we live
>> in. I would like to move in a place that has a catholic community of
>> several parishes in the area as I'm going to be going through RCIA
>> program in the future. Plus the strength of enduring through lots of
>> computer courses like one that I took that are terribly visual in
>> theme and job makeup. I'd appreciate any majors in the undergraduate
>> level like by a weeks time and no later. My current major is social
>> science/history education and the issue there is with the policies,
>> procedures, pay and benefits, independence, discipline, maps and
>> graphs for history and that is it. Unless you guys know of something
>> else that would help.
>>
>>
>> sincerely,
>> Peter
>>
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