[Community-service] Discrimination in volunteering based on blindness

[jonathan franks]

Greetings everyone,
I wanted to get people's experiences and thoughts on this topic.

Last year, I was to find a volunteer agency to do 45 hours of
volunteer work for one of my Social Work courses. I had ran across an
agency dealing with children and I wanted to offer my services there.
During the initial interview portion of the volunteering process, I
was told that based on my blindness that I could only do
administrative work. The reason I was given was that the children in
this agency often got into fights and that if there was a fire, they
were worried that I could not get out of the situation for my safety.
Even though I expressed that I had orientation and mobility skills,
they refused to let me volunteer with the children in this agency.

I felt as though I had been discriminated at this point and felt as if
it was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, my
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor explained to me that since it was
not an interview for compensated employment, that there was a loophole
that they could do this.

Luckily for that semester I found a great alternative place to
volunteer. I was hoping to get other people's experiences so that we
can all come up with strategies to advocate for ourselves so that we
can show our sighted peers we are efficient contributors to society.

I hope everyone is well.

Jonathan Franks


-- 
Jonathan Franks
Austin Chapter Board Member
National Federation of the Blind of Texas
www.nfbaustin.org

Hook the Cure Board Member
Social Media Manager
The University of Texas at Austin
www.texashookthecure.weebly.co

Diabetes Action Network (NFB)
National Board Member
https://nfb.org/diabetics