[humanser] Response to Driver's License Concerns

[Alyssa Munsell]

Hi everyone,

 

I just caught up with all the NFB e-mails from the last couple weeks because
I haven't had e-mail access. The driving issue has been a prevalent one for
me, too. I moved to Boston, MA from NH to take advantage of the public
transit. While the public  transit here has made my life a lot easier, I
thought it would help me a lot more in regards to jobs. Many jobs in social
services require a car because you need to drive to client's homes or to
different community locations. I know a few sighted people who have taken
these types of jobs without cars, and they said it was a nightmare to travel
so often on public transit. Much of their job became being on the transit
lines. 

 

In MA at least, I think it is really rare that employers will pay for you to
have a driver, especially with the budget cuts so many non-profit and
government organizations are going through right now. I want to, and
probably will, apply for a job at a domestic violence shelter I used to
volunteer at. The supervisor really liked me, and told me to let her know if
I ever need a job. A driver's license is not required, and in fact, only a
couple employees have cars at all. However, I think the fact that they use a
remote desktop server is definitely going to be a challenge because they are
not accessible at all with screen-reading software, but I've been told that
JAWS can be scripted for it. The other bigger issue is that they do
community outreach, usually by going to court with clients. The sighted
employees have used public transit to get to courthouses, but more often,
they borrow another employee's car for that time. This would be challenging
for me because not all courthouses are accessible through public transit,
and even if they were, where I'd need to be would change depending on which
court the person is at.

 

Ideas? 

 

Also, to answer your question, Sandy, about whether the NASW has a
disability group, I don't think they do. 

 

Alyssa