[BlindTlk] The Unemployment Rate of The Blind

[Gary Wunder]

I don't think there is any clear answer as to whether a person should go to a vocational technical school or a college or university. My wife and I talk about this all the time. I got so much more from my education than a bachelor's degree. I got a lot of practice writing. That wasn't my goal, but it was part of the curriculum. Of course it serves me now is the editor of the Braille Monitor, but it served me well as a computer programmer because I was seen as a positive communicator bridging the gap between technical and not so technical people.

At the risk of offending people, I have to say that when I went to college, I had a pretty narrow perspective on the world. I thought Midwesterners were superior to people who lived on the coasts. I came from a racist family, and although I knew what not to say, I had never read anything of significance by a black person until forced to do so. I had no idea that such inequality existed in our country, but when a black person wrote and spoke as well as any of the white people I was accustomed to reading, much of the foolishness I believed that perpetuated racism simply collapsed. 

But it wasn't just racial stuff. I had no idea what it was like for the people working in the coal mines of America. I went around singing that song about owing my soul to the company store, but all I really knew was that it had a slick tune and that it was sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Until I took a few political science courses, I functioned under the fiction that it took no training to be a politician. Until I took some education courses, I figured that just anybody could be a teacher as long as he or she knew their subject. I didn't realize there was a methodology to education, and while I may have significant disagreements from time to time with the people who educate our children, I do know that knowing a subject doesn't ensure that one can teach it.

I used to love the saying that poor folks have poor ways. Until I read some sociology, I don't think I really knew what that meant. I was content to believe that poor people were poor because of the way they behaved. I had no idea how much more it costs to purchase food if you live in a poor neighborhood. I had no idea how advantaged I was when my parents could help with an occasional infusion of money so that what I needed to purchase did not come from the rent to own store. Although I have never been able to drive, I had no idea how disadvantaged a person was if they lived in an impoverished area and wanted a more well-paying job closer to the suburbs. 

I know there are a lot of people who become self-educated through reading, but I believe that in no small part I was forced out of my comfort zone because readings were assigned. Going to college did not create an enlightened being, and it certainly did not cause me to reject all of the values that were so formative in my upbringing. But the experience was transformative for me, and I have a much easier time relating to people that I used to think of as "those others."

So is it the job of rehabilitation to grow people up and give them a broader perspective? I think it is if that enables them to do jobs that they wouldn't otherwise be able to do. Is it the job of colleges and universities to do more than job training? I think so. I think they should not try to tell us what to think but should give us a lot of information that causes us to realize that we don't have all the answers and that people who seem different from us are still people who have value, who have values, and who face challenges some of us can never understand unless we come to meet those people, read what they say, and go out of our way to really listen when they speak. 

I think all of this relates to the NFB in two ways. We have to admit that not everyone wants or needs a four year degree or something beyond it. On the other hand, I think we ought to reject the rehabilitation agency argument that technical schools are cheaper and therefore the agency is obligated to send us to community colleges or vocational technical training simply based on the economics. I think that is blind people we need every advantage we can muster, and I am not willing to let the allure of a short-term investment derail a real chance at employment.