[nabs-l] Stop blaming the economy

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Joe,

I agree with you to an extent, but in a way, you're over simplify  this
situation yourself.

First, disabled or not, employment is difficult to come by right now.
Yes, there are jobs, but not many, and depending on your qualifications,
you may or not be considered.

My husband works full-time but hopes to find a better job with better
benefits. My son and I can't be on his work insurance because it would
cost over half of my husband's paycheck to do so. He's also a full-time
student. He's searched relentlessly for new employment, applying for all
and any job. Most employers keep telling him he's over-qualified since
he has a degree already with 15 years of work experience. Some places
haven't given him the time of day. A couple of places were very
interested until they found out he was blind. One employer even bluntly
asked during the interview how my husbanded expected to work as a blind
person. So applying for jobs and being motivated doesn't always yield
results. And, unlike like many of you, he has a family to factor into
the equation.

I also have my degree, but I haven't worked for ten years because first
I was very sick, which caused me to lose my sight. Then I was in
training then got married and went back to school. I was lucky and was
able to go to school full-time. Then I had a baby, and with the cost of
daycare, it makes more sense for me to be a stay-at-home mom, plus my
son was very sick when he was born. He's fine now, but he spent six
weeks in the NICU, and when we finally brought him home, he wasn't able
to go out much to make sure he didn't get sick. So, my point is that
employers don't want to give me the time of day.

Also, most employers won't allow you to provide software like JAWS or
Window Eyes. In our experience, employers won't let us do this; they
claim they have to purchase it. My husband has offered to supply JAWS
but so far, employers won't let him do it. So your argument of supplying
accommodations on your own isn't always a valid one.

And blaming the economy doesn't mean we are claiming it's specific to
blind people; it's anyone seeking employment regardless of a disability.
And all Minh is pointing out is that employers still hold those negative
perceptions of blind people, and many will hire a non-disabled person
over the disabled person, especially if a lot of accommodations are
necessary. This is not to say blind people are less qualified, but that
employers may think this.

You're very idealistic, but at the end of the day, this is a complicated
situation. The economy is bad for anyone; it has nothing to do with
blindness. You can have the best blindness training possible, the best
college degree, loads of work experience and still not be hired. You can
apply for job after job, regardless of what that job is and still not
find one.

Bridgit

Message: 16
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:16:02 -0500
From: "Joe" <jsoro620 at gmail.com>
To: "'NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLIND STUDENTS'" <NABS-L at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Stop Blaming the Economy
Message-ID: <007701cee1b1$044fc240$0cef46c0$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Tyler,

An employer would not need to pay hundreds of dollars for accommodations
if
we took it upon ourselves to come into the job with our own resources.
In
fact, that's a good way to minimize the perceived burden of hiring a
blind
person. It's not altogether impossible to keep up our software licenses.
Anyone who goes into business for themselves has to front the expenses
associated with creating an accessible working environment.

I don't buy the argument that because many college graduates are living
with
parents blind people should feel justified in being unemployed. A lot of
our
generation is also doing ridiculous things like taking parents along to
job
interviews. Does that mean we as blind people should start doing the
same?
I'd like to see how well that bodes for the argument that blind people
are
seen in a negative light for having a disability.

You say that while I'm keeping my skills sharp so are they. Okay, I got
the
job. They didn't. You can't have it both ways. Either blind people can
compete, or they can't. It seems like the economy becomes this
convenient
card to play when no other arguments hold water.

I'm not entirely sure what it is I'm in denial about. I've never said
the
economy couldn't use improvement. I've never said finding a job is
always a
piece of cake. All I've said is that it would be great if we could stop
hanging our hat on the economy as a reason to explain the persistent
unemployment among blind people, because the jobs are out there. Whether
we
are ready or qualified to compete for them is another story altogether.