[Nfb-editors] Getting the blind employed and how our publications can help

[Wunder, Gary]

Hello Chris. Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my post. What you and so many others have said  gives me a lot to think about. My own experience tends to confirm what you say about high expectations. I didn't have any idea what kind of job a blind person could do other than beg, work in a sheltered workshop, or be a musician. A tape recorder soon dispelled any ideas I had about singing and playing for a living. My wife tells me I used the wrong device--she sang into her hair brush and has always been convinced she sounds like Barbara Streisand. I confess I don't know how sounding like Barbara would really help me anyway.

For me the national Federation of the blind was the way to build a bridge between my family's expectations that anybody who was anybody would work and how to do that as a blind person. Rehabilitation paid for the training that made that opportunity possible. My father was always clear about the difference between a hobby and a career. He thought it was fine that I used my ham radio equipment for messages and even to help eye banks around the country to find live corneas. That didn't excite him nearly as much as the thought that I was going to pursue a career that would pay me something. So, is it really our parents who decide whether or not we go off and get jobs? That may have a lot to do with it, but I suspect it isn't that simple. It does, however, make it perfectly clear how important our parent programs are for the future of many young blind people.

What I would like to develop is an article, or maybe several of them, that will be constructive and can be used not to chastise people who confuse podcasts with paychecks but to show them that there really are expectations and that they are far better off to meet them. It's easy to use an editorial to whip someone or to opine that the world is going to hell in a handbasket because too few people are having to walk eight miles uphill each way to school. It's harder to write something that will help someone move from where they are to a better place. This has to be the goal.

A pet peeve I have about sociologists is that they are very good about defining problems but not nearly as good at proposing solutions. I remember attending a conference on aging where we listened to 2 1/2 days of warnings about the perils of getting old. I asked the coordinator of the program what solutions he would propose for the desperate situations he was outlining. His solution: work hard, pray, and hope like hell that you win the lottery because what you really need in old age is a lot of money. I think he was telling me that there really aren't solutions for most of the people in our country. I hope this isn't the case for blind people and employment.

Much of the news in the last week or so has had something to do with the federal budget. I believe we need to staunchly defend the budget for rehabilitation. One of the things that should give people who are not working or actively looking for jobs some real concern is the very real possibility that government spending is going to hit hard everyone who receives some of it, and if Medicare and Medicaid are on the chopping block, Social Security, and particularly benefits from the SSI program, may also be reduced. If we're getting one message from Washington today, it is that what we have counted on in the past to come from Washington is no longer a sure bet. For me this increases the urgency that we help where we can.

I don't expect that one or several articles will massively change the unemployment rate of blind people, but I believe in the story of the starfish. Just because we can't make a difference for everyone doesn't mean we shouldn't make a difference for those we can. Thanks to everyone who has given me food for thought. Perhaps some of you can turn this food for thought into an article or two that will change someone's life for the better.

Gary