[nabs-l] Efficiency and Productivity

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Rahul,
Thanks for clarifying. I have a few quick suggestions and others may have more.
1. Try increasing the speech rate of JAWS by opening the JAWS program
and pressing Alt to get into the basic menus. Increasing the speed
should make reading line by line go faster. You don't want it to be so
fast that you can't understand, but just try increasing by 5 or 10%.
2. I suggest partnering with a sighted colleague, if possible, to work
on the PowerPoint charts and any inaccessible software. You can still
do the majority of the thinking, but just utilize the sighted person's
efficiency with the mouse-clicking in those situations. There is
nothing wrong with using a reader, hired or otherwise.
3. To quickly read Track Changes comments, use control-shift-apostrophe.
4. Sometimes it's necessary to ask your employer if you can use a
different program to do the work; for example reading a file in Word
instead of in PDF format.

Good luck and congrats on the internship!
Arielle

On 8/22/14, Derek Manners via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello, I can definitely understand how you feel. I think there are three
> things I'd keep in mind.
>
> 1. Any new job takes time to get in a rhythm where you are getting things
> done quickly.
> 2. Practice makes perfect, just as any job takes time to learn, so does
> using assistive tech.
> 3. It's perfectly fine work at your own pace. Your goal should be to do the
> best you can under the circumstances and just look for ways to do better.  I
> work faster/hard than some of my sighted colleagues and I work slower/less
> hard than others.  The main thing employers want to see is improvement and a
> good attitude.
>
> Best
> Derek
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Aug 22, 2014, at 3:19 PM, Rahul Bajaj via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I often find it hard to maintain the same level of productivity as my
>> sighted colleagues. I guess this can primarily be attributed to the fact
>> that I have so far been merely a casual user of assistive technology which
>> is perhaps why I am not able to use it as expeditiously as I should be
>> able to in a professional setting.
>> That being said, my uniform experience has taught me that jaws is often
>> unresponsive and unreliable. This makes it virtually impossible to work
>> with the same level of efficiency as a sighted person.
>> Most blind students get double the time that their sighted counterparts
>> get for writing exams. However, this is not really a feasible option in
>> the private sector where you are not only required to do your work well
>> but are also expected to complete your tasks expeditiously.
>> My inability to meet the latter requirement has often been a source of
>> frustration for me during my internships. My employers have never raised
>> any objections about my inability to complete the same amount of work as
>> my sighted counterparts within a given time period. I guess this is
>> reflective of the low expectations that society has from blind people.
>> Be that as it may, this has greatly reduced my job satisfaction and has
>> been a major cause of concern.
>> I'd like to know what you guys think about this. Has anyone here had a
>> similar experience?
>> What strategies would you recommend for effectively grappling with this
>> challenge?
>>
>> Best,
>> Rahul
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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