[NABS-L] Employment Accessibility Obstacle

[Kiana Harlan]

Hello everyone,

I haven’t mailed in for quite some time, but I’ve always found so many
helpful people when I have. Hopefully I can find someone who relates
to my current scenario and can provide some guidance. Right now, I’m
in a bit of a complex situation. I’ve been looking for a job for the
past 4 months, and I may finally be at a point where I’m going to get
an offer. It’s an incredible position in a city I’m in love with. I
went in for the interview last Wednesday, and the supervisor contacted
me on Friday to ask some follow-up questions. They mainly consisted of
whether I felt safe with the clients. I told her I did. She’s also
concerned about accessibility when it comes to me using their
electronic health record to input client information.

I’ll be a clinical social worker, and this is a therapist position, so
using the EHR is going to be a big part of it. Their record isn’t
mainstream. They developed it within the agency, so the supervisor has
been trying to contact their IT people to see if they know anything
about the usability with screen reading software. She called me again
today and told me that she’s still trying to find answers, and she
doesn’t want to extend an official offer until she knows something. I
absolutely do not want this to fall through due to that unknown
factor. I’ve tried contacting my counselor at Division of Services for
the Blind. I feel like I’m on shaky ground and would rather have
guidance and someone in my corner before proceeding. Unfortunately, my
counselor has been on leave since the end of May, and the person who
is covering my case has not answered my calls or returned voicemails.

This is a very time sensitive situation, and it’s something I want to
be on top of. The accessibility may be an obstacle, but I’ve been able
to problem-solve in the past to get around it. Has anyone else been in
this situation? Any suggestions, advice, or guidance would be greatly
appreciated, especially from people who may be in a health-related
field and have encountered electronic records. The one at my graduate
internship was inaccessible, but I was able to do assessments and
notes via word document. The secretary would upload the documents. I
could present this, but that would be putting additional work on
another employee and it’s not ideal, especially since this is an
actual employment position. I’m determined to make it this last step
and land this job!

Warm regards,

Kiana Harlan