[nfbcs] Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against Disabled

[Vincent Martin]

I first read this when it was first published last Fall.  As a fan of
Behavioral Economics, I was delighted to see that the bias mostly disappears
at large publically traded companies.  I have  seen this is the norm in most
cases that I have been around.  In keeping with the norm that about 85
percent of jobs are gotten through a contact rather than through a simple
cover letter and resume, every job I have had since high school was through
a contact.  The last three jobs before I went back to graduate school were
created for me.  I turned in a resume and cover letter and filled out the
application after I was hired.
I have about another year to finish my Ph.D. and I have well over five
companies that keep asking me when I will finish.  I even got an unsolicited
job offer by text message on Monday.  It was in reference to a post I made
on a professional list last weekend.  I will have a casual chat with them
today at 3:30 pm.
There is going to always be some type of bias and I definitely would prefer
to see the bias ahead of time and not get disappointed later.  With that
being said, I would disclose in some situations and not in some others.



-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G Heim via
nfbcs
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 11:51 AM
To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Cc: John G Heim <jheim at math.wisc.edu>; Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against
Disabled

It'd be funny if it wasn't about putting bread on the table.
Another thing in the comments that I think is of interest is that some
people blasted the research study saying it was stupid to disclose that you
are disabled in the cover letter. But both of our examples show how futile
it is to not disclose it.  You're going to end up at a lot of interviews
where you have absolutely no chance at the job. There is always some chance
you'll wow the interviewer into giving you a chance, I suppose. Is it worth
it? Just my opinion but I don't think so. I think you are better off weeding
those people out in the first place.

The last time I was applying for jobs, I made myself out to be Super Blind
Guy in my cover letter. Of course, I didn't actually use that term in my
cover letter but I made a point of emphasizing the things I could do. I have
competed in triathlonns, landscaped the front of my house, done a lot of
woodworking. For what it's worth, it seemed to work.

You know about Super Blind Guy, right? He and his faithful guide dog
companion  go around righting wrongs with his razor sharp mind, super
hearing, echo location, and super sensitive touch. "Ah ha!" says Super Blind
Guy, "I knew the bill was counterfeit because it was dated 1936 and Andrew
Jackson didn't appear on the twenty until 1938."
On 03/10/2016 10:10 AM, Tracy Carcione via nfbcs wrote:
> I once interviewed for a job, taking a bus, a train, and walking 
> several blocks in Manhattan, only to find the interviewer could not be 
> convinced I wouldn't need someone to lead me to the bathroom.  Grrrr.
> Tracy
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G Heim 
> via nfbcs
> Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 11:03 AM
> To: NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
> Cc: John G Heim
> Subject: [nfbcs] Fake Cover Letters Expose Discrimination Against 
> Disabled
>
> http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/11/02/upshot/fake-cover-letters-expose-
> discri
> mination-against-disabled.html
>
> I think I have talked on this list about wanting to commission a study 
> similar to the one mentioned in this article except with a blind 
> applicant applying for IT jobs. The study has people with spinal 
> injuries and Asperger's Syndrome applying for accounting jobs. They 
> found disabled applicants were 26% less likely to get a call back. Of 
> particular interest are some of the comments.
>
> "Given two candidates of roughly equal qualifications the rational 
> decision would be to hire the one without disabilities. It's going to 
> be less expensive, on average . [...] So statistically, a disabled job 
> applicant would need to be sufficiently better qualified for the job 
> to overcome the disability to be the 'correct' choice."
>
> Long time readers of this list will know I've speculated about this 
> effect for years. My guess is that this factor is much greater for 
> blind applicants than it is for the types of disabilities in the 
> study. A blind person does, in fact, have greater challenges to over 
> come. But I suspect that even worse is the lack of understanding about 
> just how much a blind technologist can do. A perspective employer once 
> flatly refused to interview me when she saw that I was blind. She 
> essentially accused me of faking my resume and simply would not believe a
blind person could use a computer.
>
>
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--
--
John G. Heim; jheim at math.wisc.edu; sip://jheim@sip.linphone.org


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