[nabs-l] Part time/campus jobs

Wed Jul 13 12:21:20 UTC 2016

I applaud your DS office, and your music department, but, that's when you
would want to look outside of those places.  I like Tour Guide, had a good
feeling about that, and if you can get the Telephone position, that would
give you some work during the semester.  Could you Tutor younger college
students in the music department; your department is familiar with you and
might let you help. Could you work with one of the professors? Maybe
something like a GA position, especially if you are going to attend the same
college as a grad student?  The tour guide is good because if you know the
root, and then the shortcuts around it, you can do the tour jus like anyone
else.  You can tell the same stories, and give the same information if you
time everything because  you know the campus.  My friend told me about a
tour guide who was totally blind at a museum in New York. 
Justin

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
via NABS-L
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 1:36 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com>
Subject: [nabs-l] Part time/campus jobs

Hi all,

I'm wondering if some of you who have done work study programs at your
universities could weigh in on this.  Being just 13 credits shy of earning
my degree, I'll be a part time student this year.  I'd like to find a part
time job on campus and do qualify for work study, but there are also a lot
of businesses within walking distance or a short bus ride of campus that I
could get to.  My issue is that I'm having difficulty finding something that
I think I can do throughout the semester for a few hours each week that is
accessible.  I had a somewhat disastrous experience in my sophomore year
with work study, where I was hired to work in the computer lab for my
department and eventually was let go because due to an inaccessible main
work station I wasn't doing anything beyond babysitting the place (while
that was a big part of the job and the lab needed to be superfvised and
cleaned regularly, I wasn't able to edit and catalog the audio and video
files which are processed in the lab as well).  A lot of the readily
available jobs I'm seeing in the listings are in cafeteria food prep, and
I'm slightly hesitant to apply for desk jobs because while I do have
secretarial and receptionist experience it has only been at blindness
agencies that made sure to supply braille extension lists and the like.  I
know work study is practice for the real world, and since I qualify for it I
have just as much as a claim to a work study position as a sighted student
would, but a lot of the jobs seem to be things that present with
accessibility barriers that staff will not be invested in sorting out for a
short-term student employee, and I'm not sure if battling them for it is
really worth it if I can find something that doesn't require so much effort
just to get my foot in the door.  I'm also looking for something that goes
all semester long; the telethon positions were an idea I was going to
pursue, but they tend to have pique times of the semester and not do much
else.

I will say that my university has a wonderful disability services office who
I know would help with accessibility where they can.  In the last case there
were legitimate reasons for the accessibility being an issue that was just
beyond anyone's control, but both the DS office and the music department
made a good effort to give me equal work opportunities before we saw how
unreasonable that would be for a simple work study position.  I also know
what my rights are and how I should be equally treated, but going into my
last few classes and prepping for my internship to follow, I really just
don't want to fight a long and hard battle to get into a job to make maybe
$50 extra each week.  Maybe some would agree, but thinking ahead to my next
steps after college, I'm just not all that invested in potentially fighting
the good fight like I know I may have to do in the true employment arena.
I'm wondering if anyone has experience or positive ideas of jobs that might
be innately accessible or easily made accessible.  I'd prefer campus jobs
but I'm willing to look out in the community as well; I just know the
majority of things like food prep and waitressing are probably going to be
hard for me to score, as would be working in any type of store since
products move and I can't read the packaging.

Tutoring is something I've already considered, and if I can find a
receptionist position that doesn't have a ton of print filing I could
potentially do that.  I know the dorms need desk workers and have a sign in
sheet, but I might even be able to make the students fill out paperwork more
than usual and accommodate that way.  What worries me about that position is
that the desk workers have to be a little vigilant for anything shady that
goes on, and I'm worried that the potential for someone to take advantage of
that would be very real and considered a liability.  My other idea that I'm
still thinking of is tour guide.  I don't know if I'd get hired to do that
one because they tend to go for the stereotypical campus pride type of kids,
and although I don't make a bad poster child for my school I certainly am
out of the norm.  Still, I know my campus and all its little shortcuts very
well and as long as I could get hired, I think I could do that.
I'm still interested in hearing what has worked for others in case none of
these leads pan out.  Thanks in advance.

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