[humanser] introduction

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi all,

This list has picked up steam in the last month or so. That is great. I’m mostly a lurker, but with some time on my hands I wanted to introduce myself and ask questions.

I  noticed that many human service jobs require drivers licenses so its good that you all are discussing it. I am glad to see some of you have overcome the hurtles and are in your chosen field; we have accessibility to computers issues and also the constant education about what we can do issue.

Well, about myself.
I am a young visually impaired adult in Virginia. I grew up legally blind as well and received accomodations in public school.  I also use blindness tools where needed such as my white cane and braille and Jaws. I have fairly good central vision.

I am a Graduate of Marymount University with a BA in liberal studies; long story, but I could not decide on a major and was too discouraged with my original major of elementary education; so being a liberal studies major meant that I combined two fields of study to complete my degree; those fields were social science which mainly used my psychology classes, and communication.

I just earned a certificate in writing from our community college this year, Northern virginia community college, nova, for short.
Currently, I’m trying very hard to get volunteer experience in an office and also assist people. I love the idea of assisting people at work.

My career goal now is actually to just get an entry level office position as a clerical assistant or program assistant.
Its extremely hard though because everyone wants you to have experience already, but you need a job for that experience. I had internships in the government and at national crime prevention council, but this is not enough experience.
I’m also exploring careers to decide if I want to pursue something as a professional and therefore go back to get a masters degree.

That is why I’m on this list. If  I were to pursue a human service career, I’d likely need a masters.
I would go into  either social work, case work, an outreach coordinator, volunteer coordinator, those positions to assist low income people find housing which I’m not sure what its called, or just something in community outreach.
Other career interests I have are in communications which will not require a masters; I love writing and putting people’s stories down; so I could also see myself in development, event planning, public affairs, journalism, and marketing.

I would like to know who you all are and how you got into the field. Given that I am not crazy about getting a masters as its so much work and research, undergrad was a struggle with access to texts
, I want to get into something with a BA. 

I want to know if you can do something human service driven with a Bachelors.
If so, what? I see most of you have masters degrees. A few of you have a BSW though.

I realize you may be stuck at a certain level without that lovely masters, but can you get into something with a bachelors? Could I be a coordinator of community programs or do something with case work at a nonprofit?
Another benefit to working like this, even as assistant to a manager, is you get a feel for if you like the work, before spending a fortune on grad school.
Thanks for ideas. I have some questions about accomodations too which will assist with any field.

Ashley