[humanser] Ideas for career opportunities.

Sat Apr 16 01:14:53 UTC 2011

I couldn't agree with you more, and definitely with Steve, too!

It's sure refreshing to find a list where blind people are positive!  Yaay!

Karen Rose, MFT

-----Original Message-----
From: humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of JD TOWNSEND
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 5:13 PM
To: Human Services Mailing List; blinddog3 at charter.net
Subject: Re: [humanser] Ideas for career opportunities.

Hello:

Steve Jacobson said it all.  Follow your dreams, not your disabilities.

My career has gone through many changes.  I have worked in factories, 
directed a theater company, been a librarian, and for the past 30 years, 
been a social worker.  I have a BA in Theater Arts and master degrees in 
library science and social work;  post masters work as well in psychotherapy

and family therapy.  Within social work I have been a line worker, a 
supervisor, and an administrator.  Within social work I have worked with 
children, the elderly, the homeless, the addicted, the chronically mentally 
ill, the chronically physically ill in nursing homes, and each population, 
each job has been different.  It is all a part of the richness of the human 
service field that draws us.

If speech pathology is interesting to you, then pursue it.  Meet the 
blindness challenges and become a leader.  I spent a semester in a master's 
program in speech pathology and left it for psychology because my interests 
were more in that field;  however, nothing I encountered there made it 
especially difficult for me as a blind person.

When I went to social work school there were no other blind students.  When 
I   went to speech pathology school there were no other blind students.  The

teachers and students did not have a reasonable idea of what a blind person 
can do or what we cannot do.  I believe that each of us is a teacher by our 
example and each of us needs to develop our own program for making our 
educations and professional fields work.

The career guidance office looks like a fine place to start.

Best of luck.

JD Townsend, LCSW
Daytona Beach, Florida, Earth, Sol System
Helping the light dependent to see.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: <blinddog3 at charter.net>; "Human Services Mailing List" 
<humanser at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: [humanser] Ideas for career opportunities.

> Tara,
>
> Sorry if you have already explored this, but be sure to take advantage of 
> any career counseling offered by your college.  Don't fall into the trap 
> of trying to
> figure out what you can do as a blind person first and don't let them do 
> that.  First, try to figure out what sort of career sounds interesting 
> without thinking
> about blindness, and then if you narrow it down, look at what you might do

> within the area that interests you.  There is certainly a need for good 
> social
> workers and teachers of the visually impaired, but don't go into those 
> fields because you think they are safe because others have done it.  If 
> they don't
> appeal to you, you won't be happy even if you get a job there.  Take the 
> time to do the best you can at figuring it out, but also understand that 
> most of us,
> and most sighted people for that matter, don't feel that certain of our 
> choices.  Nowadays, making several major carreer changes is not uncommon, 
> so
> thinking you are making a once in a lifetime choice makes the decision 
> more awesome than it has to be.  It is hard to be more specific without 
> knowing more
> about your interests and your background, though.  Unless you are really 
> unhappy with your current major, looking at how you can use what you've 
> already
> taken the time to learn makes some sense.  As a matter of full disclosure,

> I should tell you that I was a math major and am in the computer field, 
> not the
> human services field, but am here because I have occasionally helped with 
> technical list problems, but I had a struggle somewhat similar to yours. 
> I didn't
> decide on a major until I was almost into my senior year, and didn't 
> narrow my focus to computers until well into that year.  It is not an easy

> decision and I
> wish you the best of luck.  There are blind people doing so many different

> things, though, that figuring out your true interests is very important. 
> There are
> challenges to getting a job as a blind person, but they are easier to deal

> with if you are excited about the profession you have chosen and if your 
> choice
> leverages your strengths.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve Jacobson
>
> -----Original Message-----
>>From: humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>Behalf Of Tara Sena
>>Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 9:56 PM
>>To: 'Human Services Mailing List'
>>Subject: [humanser] Ideas for career opportunities.
>
>>Hello all,
>
>>I have posted to this list previously requesting Speech-Language
>>Pathologists, and now I post requesting ideas for other career options. I 
>>am
>>now considering the fields of Social work, and TVI. I know to be a TVI I
>>need a background in education which would require me to get a Masters in
>>Special Education. Are there other ideas out there? I am young, confused 
>>and
>>unsure of exactly what I want to do now that I am a month from graduation.

>>I
>>need help and I am reaching out to my fellow blind citizens for help. 
>>Please
>>let me know of any information I can check out. I will keep looking at the
>>AFB Career connect as well as look into the different programs around my
>>state.
>
>>I appreciate anyone's assistance and information.
>
>>Sincerely,
>
>>Tara
>
>>
>
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