[nabs-l] unemployment rate

Tue Feb 15 02:13:27 UTC 2011

Kirt,
You raise some really good points and I happen to totally agree with you. I think now with unemployment in general being high, unemployment amongest the blind is higher then 70 percent. The 70 percent was the unemployment in the 1990s and early 2000s when the national employment was at about 4 to 5 percent. Of the 20 percent of blind people who are employment half or more are working in a non-main stream environment meaning blindness pesific or disability pesific agency or serving people who are eather blind or disabled. Others go through a special training to directly related to their blindness in order to work in a main-stream organization. For example, those who are working for the IRS are working for a main-stream organization, but most have gone through a special training at Lions World Services for the Blind in order to do their job. The problem I  see is that how many blind people can go to work for the Division Services for the Blind or the
 Indistry for the Blind?
You are also correct in that we must consider that some have more then just blind as a disability which effects  their ability to hold a job. We have been discussing such issues in one of my class. However, I see to many perfectly fine people who's disability is only blindness waste away good potential.
I could on all night discussing this, but these are just my thoughts for now.

Anmol
I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.
Hellen Keller

--- On Mon, 2/14/11, Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Kirt Manwaring <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] unemployment rate
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Monday, February 14, 2011, 2:56 PM
> Sean,
>   I'd like to point out a few things.
>   First...other disabilities, particularly severe
> cognative
> disabilities, are extremely relivant to a person's job
> eligability.  I
> don't want to sound prejudiced...but that's just the way it
> is.  I
> know lots of people with severe mental disabilities who
> happen to be
> blind as well and, while I'm not under-valuing them as
> people, I am
> fully aware that some of those disabilities impact a
> person's ability
> to work.  That's why I'm curious what the unemployment
> rate is for
> people who are only blind...because, for a lot of those
> people, other
> severe cognative disabilities are definitely a factor in
> their
> unemployed status.
>   As for the question about blind people working in
> the blindness
> field...I'm a little lost as to why you think I was
> implying that was
> inferior.  I'm just curious because that's where most
> blind people I
> know work.  Indeed I'm hard-pressed to find a totally
> blind person in
> my local area who I know that doesn't work in the blindness
> field...so
> I think it's a legitimate question.  It's like if I
> were to ask what
> percentage of the American working population works in,
> say, the
> lobbying business.  That, to me, does not imply the
> inferiority or
> superiority of that kind of work...it just means I'm
> interested to
> know how many employed blind people have jobs in the
> blindness field.
> Do you see my point?  I just want to know because I'm
> a blind person
> and most blind people I know work primarily with other
> blind
> people...so I wonder if anyone has any kind of data to show
> how many
> blind people work outside of the blindness arena. 
> That's all, I just
> want to know because I'm probably not going to have a job
> in the field
> of blindness and I want to see where that puts me,
> percentage-wise.
> In this case, I'm not looking down my nose at anyone.
>   All the best,
> Kirt
> 
> On 2/14/11, Sean Whalen <smwhalenpsp at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > People who are not actively looking for employment are
> considered not to be
> > part of the labor force.
> >
> >
> >
> > Of course the 30% for nonblind folks' rate of
> nonparticipation is vastly
> > higher than the rate that would apply to only those,
> say, under 65.
> >
> >
> >
> > Blind people with other disabilities are blind people
> too, so why shouldn't
> > we count them? Nonblind folks with other disabilities
> count in the general
> > unemployment and labor force nonparticipation rates.
> Sure, you could figure
> > out an unemployment rate for people who are blind and
> have no other
> > disabilities, but how is that instructive? You could
> also find the rate for
> > the blind people who have no additional disability, a
> college degree and
> > IQ's above the national average, but then you are hand
> selecting who you are
> > looking at and ignore the population as a whole.
> >
> >
> >
> > I wouldn't trust numbers from AFB - they say there are
> 25 million blind or
> > visually impaired people in the US. Right. And NFB has
> 50,000 members.
> >
> >
> >
> > Finally, related to the initial post, why does it
> matter how many of the
> > blind people with jobs work in the blindness field?
> That hearkens back to
> > the ridiculous notion that these are somehow lesser
> jobs. Yes, it may be
> > easier to get them because you are working with and
> being hired by people
> > who have experience with blindness, and are therefore
> less likely to be
> > freaked out by it, but they are not inferior jobs, nor
> are those who do them
> > less successful people.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sorry for the list of disjointed thoughts, but take
> them for what they're
> > worth.
> >
> >
> >
> > Take care,
> >
> >
> >
> > Sean
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > nabs-l mailing list
> > nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your
> account info for
> > nabs-l:
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/kirt.crazydude%40gmail.com
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your
> account info for nabs-l:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/anmolpbhatia%40yahoo.com
> 