[Colorado-Talk] Friday's Food for Thought

[Darian Smith]

Scott, and all.
  Thank you for bringing this up.
 I have been thinking about how to add to this and  while  thinking this through a number  of things came to mind.

The first is a quote from the Dr. tenBroek speech “within the grace of God”.  In  this speech he  asserts,  that as blind people living in this country, that we are entitled to all the rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship. Dr. tenBroek said, as it relates to employment that “ We have the right freely to choose our fields of endeavor, unhindered by arbitrary, artificial or man-made impediments “.
What he speaks to,  is our collective experiences or, struggles as it relates to getting into the jobs that we want, or really any employment that will allow us to live as opposed to simply survive.

Now, as Scott  has nicely illustrated,  we have moved the needle on the issue  of unemployment for the blind, but how do we move it further?
To me, I think that we should celebrate employment of our blind brothers and sisters no matter where that employment happens to be. 
I can remember my first convention, hearing speeches from blind lawyers, blind academics, and blindness professionals.  I remember  people introducing me to these impressive and intelligent  people and thinking that this is successful employment and what I should strive for.
 As time went on, and many of my friends went into these fields, I came to realize that while this was what was held up as success, this was not what I wanted for myself for my own personal reasons.  Despite this,I felt ashamed if I hadn’t made a career there.
 These days, I know that it is about living the successful life that I want, the one that brings me fulfillment, and that definition of fulfillment is allowed to change.  
Fulfillment can be the simple pleasure of saying “I have to go to work today” or earning my paycheck every two weeks,  it can be much more than that for the  next person.
I loved the panel at state convention that highlighted the diverse jobs blind people hold, and I think that more opportunities like these to showcase the different jobs blind people have, and holding their successes up as real successes is one way this can happen.
Another way we can address this is by way of  mentorship. This could be accomplished  on an individual  level, maybe in concert with group meetings  focusing on specific topics such as   resume writing, leveraging linked in, answering common interview questions and basic interview etiquette as some examples.
 National service  has been a great pathway to employment  for many of it’s alumni, getting more blind people into  national service programs can be a great way to connect blind people to opportunities that  will allow for the exploration of interests and potentially the discovery of passions.
 I look  forward to other thoughts.
 Best,
  Darian 
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