[humanser] Hi all, Fwd: To disclose or not disclose on internship apps

Fri Nov 20 05:11:40 UTC 2015

Hello Kaiti,
This is definitely a tricky situation many of us will encounter at
least once in our lives; whether it is for an internship or actual
employment. I cannot fully relate as my internship I was told to pick
out my top 7 choices and then one was chosen for me. I do know that
for my Masters Degree I will need to conduct an interview. so I will
soon be in your shoes. In my opinion, this is a perfect platform on
how you can demonstrate your blindness skills and show them you are a
confident, competent, intelligent and passionate individual. This is
an excellent educational platform to inform your future peers about
your blindness and any alternative techniques you utilize to function
just as well as your sighted counterparts. I am sure there will be
numerous opinions mentioned from this post, but in my opinion I would
turn what could be a possible negative situation into a far greater
positive one. From my brief conversations with you, I know how
passionate you are about Music therapy and I know that you will
definitely achieve that dream and be incredibly successful in living
the life you want.

Hope this Helps

Jonathan Franks
Board Member
National Federation of the Blind of Texas

On 11/19/15, Kaiti Shelton via humanser <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi all (take 2).
>
> First, I appologize for the nearly blank message preceeding this one;
> sometimes when I hit enter in my web-based email client, it thinks I
> want to send the email rather than continue writing.  Anyway, I sent
> the message forwarded in that original email to a list of blind music
> therapists to try to get a direct response, but I still haven't heard
> back and fear the list may be completely dormant.  Unfortunately there
> is nothing out there for students in the field my age, and everyone
> I've talked to on there is significantly older and nearing/already in
> retirement age.  I hope to see if I can locate some other blind music
> therapy students to create a new group for idea-sharing and questions
> like this, but as I start applying for internships in January I need
> the answer to this question relatively soon.  I'd appreciate any input
> on this tricky topic.
>
> Thanks,
>
> On 11/19/15, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
>> Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2015 01:21:24 -0500
>> Subject: To disclose or not disclose on internship apps
>> To: musictherapistswithvisualimpairments
>> <musictherapistswithvisualimpairments at yahoogroups.com>
>>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I can start applying for national roster internship sites in January.
>> I've already combed through the entire list and picked out the 18 that
>> sounded the most appealing to me.  I even categorized them into tiers.
>> I know I can have four applications out at a time, so they're in
>> batches of four according to the level of preference I have for the
>> sites.
>>
>> My big question concerns whether or not I should disclose my blindness
>> on internship applications.  I know the standard practice is to not
>> disclose information before the interview, but I'm wondering how solid
>> that advice is given the field we are in and the nature of interviews
>> now.  A lot of my older classmates participated in skype
>> interviews/auditions rather than ones on-site, which could give me a
>> disadvantage.  Sure, I could explain over skype how I do things and
>> show the internship director some of my adaptive equipment if that
>> issue arises, but it would not be as effective as doing it in person.
>> They won't have an opportunity to observe me using a cane competently,
>> or see me taking notes and referencing them from my notetaker.  I'm
>> sure my professors might have some input here, but I am also sure that
>> they would encourage me to seek out other sources for this information
>> as I am their first blind student.  I don't want to be discounted
>> before I have a shot at an interview, but could being upfront avoid
>> possible pitfalls in the interview process if the internship director
>> knows a little of what to expect?  Also, if the internship directly
>> relates to my experiences should I disclose it then to show I have a
>> possible edge in making empathetic connections with clients over a
>> student music therapist who does not have prior experience with
>> blindness, assistive technology, etc?  Thanks,
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti Shelton
>> University of Dayton-Music Therapy
>> President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
>> Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
>> Division 2015-2016
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti Shelton
>> University of Dayton-Music Therapy
>> President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
>> Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
>> Division 2015-2016
>>
>> "You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"
>>
>
>
> --
> Kaiti Shelton
> University of Dayton-Music Therapy
> President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
> Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
> Division 2015-2016
>
> "You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"
>
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-- 
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create
obstacles between blind people  and our dreams. You can live the life
you want; blindness is not what holds you back.