[nabs-l] Stop Blaming the Economy

Fri Nov 15 04:50:16 UTC 2013

Minh,
Well what a successful academic life you had.
thanks for clarifying. I admire those immigrants who came here and succeeded 
in school.
Its not easy to go to top schools, very demanding. Its more complex if 
english is not one's first language.
So I do find immigrant stories pretty admirable.
Its not as easy as Joe makes it seem. I do agree with him though we have to 
keep our skills sharp and
set ourselves apart and network. But as you illustrate, you can do all that 
and work your butt off for good grades and still face barriers.
I had internships in the federal government but it seemed they dismissed my 
abilities and found little for me to do.
I have lost volunteer jobs because there was too much paperwork involved to 
work the front desk.
I was trying to volunteer at this front desk at  a nonprofit for the very 
reason Joe talks about, to get experience and set myself apart from others.
So we do live in a visual world and obstacles abound. Believe me, been 
there, done that.
I just found another volunteer door slam shut because they would not let me 
install jaws there; and yes, people, I did offer to bring it in at no cost 
to them.
They just are scared of software on their machines.

Keep up the good work and perseverance. I t sounds like you are doing well 
and got that internship after all.

Ashley
-----Original Message----- 
From: minh ha
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 11:32 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Stop Blaming the Economy

Ashley,
I do live in the U.S.; I was born in Vietnam but I moved here 12 years ago.

Joe,
Maybe you don’t agree with the part about the economy, but I have had
too many personal experiences of being denied opportunities because of
my blindness for you to tell me it’s soly because I’m not qualified
enough. I graduated high school top of my class with hundreds of
community service hours and am currently attending one of the best
universities in the country; I have built a solid professional network
filled with teachers, professors and leaders who can vouch for my
competence and yet I was almost rejected from an internship position
from the nonprofit I spoke of earlier. I think it’s quite insulting to
those of us who work our asses off and are extremely well qualified
for internships and jobs but get rejected for you to say that the
reason we get denied is because we don’t sharpen our skills enough.
Sure, you could argue that there are other factors involved in the
decision making process like maybe the supervisor discriminated
against me because I am Asian or female, but I’m not quite that
dillusional. I’m all ears though if you would like to explain further
how I and other blind students can sharpen our skills in order to make
ourselves more qualified than we are now.

On 11/14/13, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Min,
> Do you live in the US? I thought you lived in an eastern country based on
> earlier posts.
> I agree with you. I've also volunteered at a nonprofit and  seen very 
> highly
>
> qualified people looking for work now.
> Its not an excuse to give up. But the jobs are in shorter supply and to 
> just
>
> dismiss this is very well, shortsighted.
> We just have to work harder to find unadvertised jobs; network all you can
> and volunteer because volunteering can turn into a job.
>
> Ashley
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: minh ha
> Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2013 8:01 PM
> To: jsoro620 at gmail.com ; National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Stop Blaming the Economy
>
> Are you kidding me? The economy is in the dumps right now and no
> matter how well qualified you are, there just aren't enough jobs to go
> around for everyone. I volunteer at a nonprofit that helps low-income
> people look for employment, housing and benefits, etc, and I work with
> people that have bachelors degrees and Ph.D.'s and they are hanging on
> by a thread or actually homeless. If perfectly able bodied people
> can't gain employment, then it's definitely a hundred times harder for
> us to get a job because of our blindness. When the market is inundated
> with qualified people looking for a position, who do you think
> employers are going to look at first, the person with all the
> qualifications that don't need accommodations or the person with the
> same qualifications but need extra resources in order to work on a
> level as everyone else. This is not an excuse for blind people to be
> lazy and just sit at home and blame it on the economy, but it is a
> reason why so many of us are unemployed.
>
> Minh
> On 11/14/13, Joe <jsoro620 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Yes, the economy could be better, but I have to say it irritates me to
>> hear
>> people blame the economy for being unemployed. There are lots of jobs out
>> there. The shortage has more to do with unqualified applicants. Brush up
>> your skills. Don't be picky about the job you can grab. Prepare a
>> compelling
>> resume. Be honest at the interview about what you can and cannot do.
>> Think
>> outside the box, because if the training centers are as phenomenal as
>> people
>> say, we ought to see more blind people working the fast food circuit. I'm
>> not saying you should settle for minimum wage for the rest of your life.
>> I'm
>> not saying you're going to get hired tomorrow if you pound the pavement
>> according to the suggestions above. I'm not even saying that everything
>> you
>> find will be easily accessible, but I am saying you need to stop blaming
>> life for not getting a fair shake in the job market. I met a guy once who
>> was really ashamed to admit he was working at a Lighthouse, and it pissed
>> me
>> off to no end because to me what mattered is that he had a job.
>> Eventually
>> you work your way to the job you really want, work up the corporate
>> ladder,
>> and you know, you work your ass off to get there just like everyone else,
>> blind or sighted. Figure out your weaknesses and make it your full-time
>> job
>> to strengthen them, whether it's screen reader proficiency, Excel, Word,
>> whatever. But, for crying out loud, stop blaming the damn economy,
>> because
>> if you wait for a perfect economic state, you'll still be looking for a
>> job
>> when you kick the bucket.
>>
>> Joe
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
> recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
> their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
>
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-- 
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence

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