[humanser] Drivers license requirement for employment

Wed Oct 16 15:59:59 UTC 2013

Hi all,

Alyssa, congrats on the interview!  Let us know how it goes.  You're
certainly lucky that you've got your awesome school internship
advisor.

In general, I wouldn't necessarily worry so much about the
Commission/rehab agency paying for technology or other accommodations,
unless the interviewer asks you.  First of all, with Jaws, at least,
assuming you've already got it at home, you can simply bring the CD to
your job/internship and install it yourself, assuming the company
permits it.  Second, although the Commission/rehab may play a
significant role, the focus should be on you and how you can do the
job.  Once you're hired, if you need a mobility teacher to orient you
to the building, then you'll have to mention this to your
employer/internship supervisor (at the internship site, not the one
through your college/university.)

Serena

On 10/16/13, MARY CHAPPELL <MTC5 at cox.net> wrote:
> Alysa,
> Congratulations on the interview. I am selfishly excited for you. My hope
> is
> that the info that so many provided will offer you ease and a go to space
> in
> your mind when you are facing the interviewer.  I am eager to hear about
> the
> outcome.
> Genuinely,
> Mary Tatum Chappell, Psy. D.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: humanser [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alyssa
> Munsell
> Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 7:19 AM
> To: 'Human Services Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [humanser] Drivers license requirement for employment
>
> Thank you for this, Mary. This is really inspirational. I'll actually be
> going on an interview to apply for a different internship than I have now,
> so all of the information people have posted here is extraordinarily
> helpful. In this case, because it is an internship through the school and
> because I'm already in a unique position of changing internship sites, the
> potential placements know about my visual impairment. I am extremely lucky
> in that I have an amazing field placement advisor who is determined to
> advocate on my behalf until I am placed in a truly meaningful internship.
> There are a few possibilities of new placement sites, which is exciting!
> However, in an interview situation for a job, I would agree with what most
> have said. I wouldn't disclose prior to interviewing unless there was a
> practical reason to do so.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: humanser [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of MARY
> CHAPPELL
> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 11:35 PM
> To: 'Human Services Mailing List'
> Cc: 'Mary Chappell'
> Subject: Re: [humanser] Drivers license requirement for employment
>
> JD,
> Thank you for the reframe on the challenges and opportunities we might
> face.
> I, like you, learned not to disclose prior to a face-to-face meeting.
> During
> my pursuit for my first practicum experience I decided not to disclose. The
> interview was a distance from where I live, an hour and a half cab ride to
> a
> very rural area. On the day of the interview, despite my diligent
> pre-planning, the cab company called me to inform me that the greater
> number
> of her drivers had "decided not to come to work today..." and if I chose to
> travel the distance I should expect to stay the night because there was no
> way I would get back home. I phoned the supervisor, who had been thrilled
> to
> get me on paper and contacted me mere minutes after reviewing my
> application, and told her of my dilemma and was at a point where disclosure
> was necessary.  Initially she offered to reschedule after the match
> notification date and then she said in the most condescending manner "I am
> not sure what we would do with someone like you, who is not whole... I
> mean,
> we are not a metropolitan area and I don't know what our patients would do
> with a therapist who couldn't see." When I reminded her of blind clinicians
> she said, "I have seen them at conferences and training but I never thought
> that they practice." Long story short, while I was devastated by her
> ignorance and short sightedness, I reflect on that experience and am
> grateful. Her dismissal of me opened me for greater opportunities and I
> wound up with training opportunities in places that I truly wanted to be. A
> private university counseling center; a foster care and adoption agency; a
> community-based center for survivors of torture and trauma, a psychiatric
> hospital on the inpatient trauma unit and, now I am employed in a role that
> I dearly love in a training hospital. I am paid to do what I love to do
> and,
> I suspect, had it not been for that first, wicked supervisor, I might be
> stuck in some miserable experience.
> All that to say, sometimes a no can be a powerful opening for a yes. Am I
> frustrated that I may be confronted by someone who might want to stop me
> before I walk through the door? Yeah, you better bet it. I also know that I
> am a darn good clinician and, if I get in front of them they are going to
> want some time. So I force them to focus on my strengths and use questions
> as a chance to briefly educate. I loved  that JD mentioned, " I tell the
> interviewer that I dislike paperwork, but that I sleep much better when it
> is up to date;  should they ask me how I do it I say that I have PC add-ons
> that have served me well in the past and that it should not be a problem
> with whatever system they are using.  Should they ask about transportation
> I
> tell them that I got here on my own and on time and that I should have no
> problem.  "
> All that we go through can be heavy and we can grow weary but, that is not
> all there is. I ask that we find a place of solace to rest and revitalize.
> Please do not hear me minimizing the arduous tasks we face as blind
> professionals; I simply ask that we consider a broader plausibility.
> Together we can make a change and, though it will not happen overnight, we
> owe it to ourselves to see it through. This division with its leadership is
> making   moves and we can choose to stand by and be nay sayers or we can
> join them and move beyond this miserable employment state. I trust there
> are
> those among us who have had some successes and I welcome those accounts,
> too.
> Genuinely,
> Mary Tatum Chappell, Psy. D.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: humanser [mailto:humanser-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of JD
> Townsend
> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 10:29 PM
> To: Human Services Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [humanser] Drivers license requirement for employment
>
>
>
> Sadly some folks are prejudice on the outset.  I took a 2 hour trip for an
> interview once and the interviewer told me at the door that the job was too
> intense for me, without even letting me speak;  seems my white cane said
> all
> she wanted to know.
>
> I learned after many interviews that I had to compete not as a blind
> applicant, but as the best applicant.  Some people tell an interviewer on
> the outset that they are blind or visually impaired, but I have never seen
> the wisdom in this.  I find that the initial hand-shake and the walk down
> long corridors to the interview room, finding my seat and addressing the
> real issues of the job have served me well.  When I have taken this
> attitude, ignoring my blindness as an issue, the interviews have gone much
> better.  I tell the interviewer that I dislike paperwork, but that I sleep
> much better when it is up to date;  should they ask me how I do it I say
> that I have PC add-ons that have served me well in the past and that it
> should not be a problem with whatever system they are using.  Should they
> ask about transportation I tell them that I got here on my own and on time
> and that I should have no problem.  It isn't my job to explain about
> adaptive equipment or transportation, just that I can do the job, then I
> re-focus on my strengths as a clinical social worker and how I might fit my
> skills into serving the agency.
>
> If we allow disability or adaptations to become a focus of an interview
> instead of our skills and work ethic we have no chance for employment.
>
> Just my opinion, sorry for the lecture.
>
> JD
>
>
>
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