[nabs-l] disclosing blindness

Sat Oct 17 00:40:07 UTC 2015

Afternoon, Sandra,

         Those are my precise Sentiments, and I couldn't have put it 
so succinctly!
Thank you for that, Sandra.
  Car
At 10:16 AM 10/16/2015, you wrote:
>I aggree with Robin on this. I disclose my blindness in relation to
>everything I get involved in and sometimes, I let people know I'm
>registered blind before I apply for whatever the job/event is. It's
>not what you say, it's how you say it. It's a matter of how you
>present your disability. Portray it like a shadow and that's all it
>will be. Weave it into how you have acquired particular skills and it
>will be perfectly relevant. As for me, it's a key part of who I am as
>a person and hiding it until an in person interview would be extremely
>discourtius! If someone did that to me; said nothing until the 11th
>hour, I would think, "Hmm. If she kept that rather important thing to
>herself until now, what else is she hiding?"
>
>Everyone has their opinion and everyone is different.
>Very best wishes,
>Sandra.
>
>On 10/14/15, Julie McGinnity via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > This is a great topic.  Here's my rule for resumes and bios: Say what
> > you do rather than what you are.
> >
> > I am proud of who I am, but future employers don't really care about
> > that on paper.  They might care when I come in for an interview, but
> > before then, I like to focus on what I have done.  Since much of my
> > relevant experience outside of the music world comes from the NFB or
> > other disability-related work, they might gather that I am blind.
> > Then again, they might not.  I have learned over the years (I'm really
> > not that old :)) that people know less than we think they do about
> > blindness organizations, assistive technology, and disability
> > anything.  I mean... Forget about knowing what a screen reader is,
> > they may not even understand that the adaptive computing technology
> > center, which is where I currently work, is a place where I deal
> > mainly with assistive technology and issues of web accessibility.
> >
> > If I apply for a job at an independent living center or some other
> > place geared towards people with disabilities, then they will
> > understand the terminology and appreciate it, but the general public
> > will likely not know exactly what it is I do, let alone that I am
> > blind.
> >
> > I stick to what I do, don't lie about my experience, and let them
> > think what they will.  If they suspect that I am blind and do not call
> > me in for an interview, I probably didn't want to work for them
> > anyway.  Of course, my confident attitude may not serve me as well
> > come January when I will no longer be a student, but I believe it to
> > be true.
> >
> > On 10/13/15, Lizzy via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >> Hi All,
> >> I love this conversation because so often we talk about
> >> disclosing blindness in a job setting, but the really significant
> >> piece of this thread is that though it is professional, it is not
> >> at all about getting a job.  In an academic setting, with no
> >> interview, no job on the line, published given that it is
> >> grammatically correct and makes sense, why not include blindness
> >> if it's something that's important to you.  Why not show that we
> >> the blind are well read, great writers, good researchers etc.? In
> >> this case, it's a simple bio, no one is bringing a camera and
> >> putting you on the news to create "disability porn" (sorry if I
> >> got the phrase wrong lol).  Sometimes people are so wrapped up in
> >> what others will think that they forget to think about themselves
> >> first.  Your bio shows relevant or very important parts of your
> >> life that you choose to let others know about.  Whether or not
> >> you decide to include blindness or any other physical
> >> characteristic is solely your choice and you should not be judged
> >> for it one way or another.  I personally, would only include
> >> things that relate to my major or hobbies.
> >> Darian made some really great points in his post, and I would
> >> like to answer a few of his questions (though I know they were
> >> rhetorical):
> >> D: Is it different when creating a profile for a dating site? Is
> >> Disclosure different in a academic setting?
> >> L: I'm going to also add is it different in a work environment.
> >> Yes.  They are three completely different areas where you are
> >> trying to convey three different things.  In a work environment
> >> you're trying to make sure that no one is discriminating against
> >> you, and you're trying to prove that you can do the same amount
> >> of work as your sighted counter parts.  In an academic
> >> environment, you know that you can't be discriminated against, so
> >> you can be very open about your blindness and from there you just
> >> need to show that you are a competent, hardworking student.  In a
> >> dating environment, you can totally be discriminated against,
> >> also you're trying to be attractive in many ways.  However,  it's
> >> not good to leave blindness out because if you like someone and
> >> vice versa, they're going to know that you are blind eventually.
> >> Since this thread is related to an academic setting, I'm all for
> >> disclosing, because there really aren't any downfalls.
> >> D: And how different is the disclosure of blindness from
> >> disclosure of being a man, a woman, gay, straight, latino/Latina,
> >> asian, etc?
> >> L: I don't think they are different at all, they are
> >> characteristics that make you who you are and in an open-ended
> >> setting, you can disclose them whenever you're ready...
> >> So...  Is blindness an important part of your life? Is it
> >> something that you'd like to share with people? Does it relate to
> >> anything else in your bio? In your published work?
> >> I'm curious to know what the original poster decides to do,
> >> Lizzy
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Julie A. McGinnity
> > President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division,
> > Second Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
> > "For we walk by faith, not by sight"
> > 2 Cor. 7
> >
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>
>
>--
>Soprano Singer
>  www.sandragayer.com
>
>Broadcast Presenter
>
>www.insightradio.co.uk/music-box.html
>
>Voiceover Artist
>
>www.archangelvoices.co.uk/content/sandra-gayer
>
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