[nabs-l] Part time/campus jobs

Karl Martin Adam kmaent1 at gmail.com
Thu Jul 14 00:07:51 UTC 2016


Hi Kaiti,

I second the tutoring suggestion.  You might also look in to 
being a teaching assistant if your college has those.  ANother 
thing you could try is being a research assistent for one of the 
professors.  There would probably be accessibility challenges to 
working in say a biology lab, but I would imagine that it would 
be relatively easy to do this in psychology, and since you're a 
minor you probably know professors you could talk to about being 
their research assistent.

Best,
Karl

 ----- Original Message -----
From: "STOMBERG, KENNEDY via NABS-L" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 13 Jul 2016 18:01:14 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Part time/campus jobs

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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