[nabs-l] Update on meeting with a job placement specialist

[Ashley Bramlett]

Hi Jim,

This is quite disturbing.  What was your educational background and what job 
did you want?
I know it has to do with parks and
"field work".  It may be too visual, but we don't know without more 
information.  I know there are blind people working outside.  They have been 
farmers and gardeners.  Some jobs we can't do such as jobs where driving is 
done all day.  These include being a pizza driver, truck driver for 
deliveries, fireman, and policeman.  But for some jobs where driving is just 
one aspect of the job, you can work around that.  Some blind employees hire 
their own driver; others have it provided as a reasonable accomodation.  Is 
your vision stable?
It sounds like your vr counselor is trying to pigeonhole you into a job 
before considering other alternatives or related fields that use your field 
of study.

Could you explain more on this?
"Seeing that all of my work experience has been outside of an office, they 
think the place to start is to get me an office job."
What work experience do you have outside?
I think some outdoor work can be done with alternative techniques.  Just 
because you can't do it visually now, does not mean you cannot do it at all. 
What sort of office jobs did they have in mind?

Jim also secretary jobs are disappearing.  Before managers wrote documents 
by hand and put them on a recording and then the secretary using a 
dictaphone would type the documents.  Now everyone has computers eliminating 
the need for most secretaries.  There is little need for dictation.
So I don't think you have to worry about  being shoved into secretarial 
work.

Interesting this comes up about outdoor work.  I am going to try and 
volunteer at a county  park.  I will mainly work indoors answering phones, 
registering people for programs  and more office
work but also wanted to do some outdoor work such as gardening and trail 
maintenance if I can.  I want to learn gardening so I can plant when I have 
my own home.  I want to assist outdoors to clean up and prevent pollution. 
The Potomac River here in VA is quite polluted unfortunately.  I'll see what 
I can come up with.

Hope it works out Jim.
Ashley
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Reed" <jim275_2 at yahoo.com>
To: "NABS mail list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 9:08 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] Update on meeting with a job placement specialist


Hey all,
I met with the job placement person today; my VR councilor was there as 
well. The general consensus was, and I agree (grumbleing and muttering under 
breath), that my days of being capable to work out in the field are 
numbered, and that the task is made much harder by not being able to drive. 
So, my visual prognosis being what it is, it seems prudent to begin 
prepairing me for an office job, rather than continuing my pursuit of a 
field-based experience.

I tried to argue that I should continue pursuit of field work because there 
is no real difference between an office job, and going to school (the same 
skills are used, just different application of those skills, thus my time 
would be better spent in the field), but they did not buy it.

Seeing that all of my work experience has been outside of an office, they 
think the place to start is to get me an office job. I grudgingly agreed, 
but I made a clear distinction that there are administrative jobs, and there 
are clerical/secretary jobs, and that I have not the skills or desire to be 
a secretary.

Who knows? Maybe the office won't be so bad.

Jim

"Ignorance killed the cat; curiosity was framed."



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