[Blindtlk] Possibilities of the Blind

[Julie J.]

Peter,

I find it interesting that you keep bringing up laziness as a reason for 
unemployment.  I haven't seen anyone else suggest that laziness is the 
reason blind people don't have jobs and I know I haven't said that.

the bottom line is that you have to do what you have to do.  This will 
probably mean that you have to apply for a lot more jobs than a sighted 
person would before you get hired.   You will have to learn alternative 
skills that a sighted person doesn't.  You have to learn to advocate for 
yourself when you need an accommodation at work.

So here's what I'd suggest because you asked.
firstly honestly assess whether or not you're ready for work.  Can you 
comfortably use your preferred technology to do routine tasks?  What 
that technology is and what the routine tasks are will vary widely and 
depend on what sort of work you want to go into.  I'm understanding that 
you want to go into an office type of job.  So perhaps a screen reader 
with word processing, spreadsheets and data bases is most important.  If 
you are comfortable doing these skills with a particular type of 
software, it will be easier to change to other software if you're 
employer uses something different.  the chances of being able to learn 
all the software before starting the job are pretty slim.  You need to 
be flexible and adaptable, learning as you go.

Are your other non core work skills where you feel they need to be?  If 
your boss or co workers ask you to make the morning coffee would you be 
comfortable doing that?  If a meeting is announced at the last minute 
that is in a different part of the building where you've never been or 
in another building all together, do you have the ability to get there 
without undue stress?

Next, I'd think about my strengths and what I like to do.  Do you like 
working with people, researching, doing the same things all day or a lot 
of variety, creating things, etc.  For myself I need a balance of alone 
office time and time with individuals or small groups.  I need a variety 
of responsibilities that aren't overly repetitive.  I need the freedom 
for my job to be flexible and allow me to create new programs or adapt 
existing ones to meet the changing needs of the people I work with.  I 
also need the opportunity to attend training events a couple times per 
year.  Your needs may be entirely different.  It may also be that some 
trial and error is necessary to figure out what works and what doesn't.  
I once thought that I wanted to work with statistics and research, until 
I got a job doing that and it about drove me nuts in a few months.  It 
was a learning experience though.   I wouldn't know how important direct 
service to people is to me if I hadn't had that experience.

I'd then think about where my strengths are.   I'm good at grasping 
concepts and explaining those to people in an understandable way.  I'm 
good at working with young people.  I'm good at presenting to 
individuals or small groups.  I'm good at planning and organizing.

Next fill in the gaps.  After assessing your work readiness and 
strengths and wants there are probably things you've identified that you 
feel you need to do to be really successful on the job.  Learn as much 
as you can, but realize you can't learn everything.  Hadley is a great 
resource.  They have a wide variety of offerings, quite a bit of it is 
directly transferable work skills.  I'd also suggest joining a community 
organization, group, club or volunteering somewhere at this point.  
Something like 60% of jobs are filled by word of mouth connections.  If 
you're out there meeting people, showing your talents and getting some 
experience you are much more likely to meet someone who knows someone 
who is hiring.  Using this method will also give you a boost in 
addressing the blindness issues.  You will have already demonstrated 
your ability to do meaningful work and you will have someone who will 
affirm your abilities to the potential employer.

Being out in the community, making those connections, will start things 
rolling on the next phase, which is finding and applying for jobs.  I'd 
highly suggest broadening your search beyond strictly federal 
employment.  The more open you are to a wide variety of opportunities 
the more likely you will be to finding a job.  It's just math, if you 
apply to 100 jobs your more likely to hit the jackpot than if you only 
apply for 1 job.    I like indeed jobs.com for finding relevant job 
listings.  You set it up once and then they send you an email daily with 
all the available jobs meeting your criteria.   There's lots of 
information on the internet and in books about cover letters, resume's 
and the like.  I'd only mention two things, have someone else look at 
your resume and offer their honest opinion.  I'd also highly recommend 
writing an original cover letter for each job your applying for, adding 
in specifics about that particular company.

All of that said, I think the absolute most important thing is 
attitude.  My husband and I just hired a farm hand not quite a year 
ago.  We had specific things that were needed to do the job, farming 
experience, a CDL, mechanical skills etc., but the thing that kept us 
looking was attitude.  This would be a person that my husband would be 
working with on a daily basis for a long time.   We had to find a person 
that was excited about the opportunity, who was creative, who was 
willing to learn new skills, who was willing to take direction and who 
had a strong work ethic.  Farming is a lot of independent work.  We had 
to have someone who could take a set of directions and carry them out 
independently, knowing when to ask for help or further directions.  It 
took close to two years to find this person.  BTW we never placed a job 
ad in the newspaper or did interviews or anything like that.  It was 
entirely by personal reference and word of mouth.

I know your not interested in farming, but the same principals apply.  
My teenage son got his job at a bakery using the same methods.  He went 
to the bakery, complimented the owner on her excellent carrot cake, 
asked lots of questions about where she learned how to bake and 
expressed his desire to be a chef.  Six weeks later she hired him to 
work part time.

Anyway this has gotten really long.  I'm sure others will have job 
search ideas.  Also there is an NFB list specific to jobs that would be 
another excellent resource.

HTH
Julie