[nabs-l] Part time/campus jobs

STOMBERG, KENNEDY kestomberg at coe.edu
Wed Jul 13 23:01:14 UTC 2016


Hello, Kaiti,

I tutored at  my college, and there were no access barrious, and I loved
it! The Academic Acheivement Office at my school kept track of who was
tutoring  who, and I got the phone numbers of my tutees, so we scheduled
appointments that way. I loved it, because that way, my tutees could text
me questions at ay time, especially before a test. This was something that
the Academic Acheivement Office at my college  did for every student, not
just me. So, if you want to tutor, and your schinol has weird software like
Ashley's, you might be able to schedule appointments this way.

Being a tourguiee might also be a lovely option, especially if you know
your campus. You expressed a concern that you might not be what your school
is looking for. But I think you she apply anyway. Admissions offices are
always looking for a variety of students to give tours.

Bottom  line, if you think you can be successful at a job, just apply for
it! The worst they can say is no, right?

Good luck!
Kennedy Stomberg

On Wed, Jul 13, 2016 at 4:57 PM, Ashley Bramlett via NABS-L <
nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I did not qualify for work study but was eligible for part time work at my
> university, Marymount university.
> I had some of the same barriers you faced. I thought about working at the
> dorm desk as they needed desk staff to sign in visitors or student guests
> to the dorm.
> I did not apply because the job was too visual such as needing to check
> Ids at night. After midnight, you were supposed to scan your ID and show
> the desk worker.
> If your school has information desk jobs where you mainly answer
> questions, this may be a good fit.
>
> Tutoring may be an option. When I tried that at Northern Virginia
> community college though, the software system to track our tutees was
> partly inaccessible. Other tutors could make appointments but I could not.
> I was let go of that position for another reason though.
> So, just be aware that tutoring may have access challenges too.
>
> You might want to see if working in the front desk of some offices is
> doable. It depends on the duties and if they use paper forms.
>
> Good luck in finding a job.
>
> Ashley
> -----Original Message----- From: Kaiti Shelton via NABS-L
> Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2016 1:35 AM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Cc: Kaiti Shelton
> 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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