[Nfbf-l] Fears thwart many blind jobseekers - by yahoo news

[Alan Dicey]

Fears thwart many blind jobseekers - by yahoo news
Back in the late 1980s, when Maura Mazzocca was a human resources 
administrator with a Boston-area firm, a blind man showed up to apply for a 
job. Today, she remembers the encounter ruefully.
"What I kept thinking about was, 'How can this man work in a manufacturing 
company?'" Mazzocca recalled, saying she looked past his abilities and saw 
only his disability.
"I wish now I'd given him a chance."
That reflectiveness is heartfelt. Mazzocca lost her own eyesight in 1994 
through complications related to diabetes. Now as a jobseeker herself, she 
knows firsthand the many hurdles the blind must overcome in pursuit of 
full-time work.
At a job fair for blind and low-vision people, there she was going table to 
table, with a sighted volunteer by her side. Some of the other 80 jobseekers 
carried white canes, a few had guide dogs.
Like the rest, Mazzocca was greeted with firm handshakes and encouraging 
words - but none of the employers she spoke with had job openings matching 
her interests and qualifications.
The venue was the former Radcliffe College gymnasium where Helen Keller 
exercised en route to becoming the first deaf/blind person to earn a 
bachelor of arts degree in 1904. Over the ensuing decades, Keller helped 
increase public awareness of blindness and empathy for those affected by it.
Yet blind people remain largely unwanted in the workplace, despite 
technological advances that dramatically boost their capabilities. Only 
about 24 percent of working-age Americans with visual disabilities had 
full-time jobs as of 2011, according to Cornell University's Employment and 
Disability Institute.
"There's a lot of stigma, a lot of obstacles," said Mazzocca, 51. "It comes 
down to educating employers... It's going to take a really long time, if 
ever, for them to see us for who we are and what we bring to the table."
What they bring, according to national advocates for the blind, is a strong 
work ethic, plus deeper-than-average loyalty to their employers. That's in 
addition to whatever talents and training they bring, just like any other 
applicant.
But the blind face huge challenges. Even employers professing interest in 
hiring blind people often don't follow through out of concern that they 
might be a bit slower with key tasks or require assistance that could be 
burdensome.
In some cases, said Mazzocca, who has held professional jobs since losing 
her sight, "They're thinking: 'What if I have to fire them? Will they sue 
me?'"
Many organisations are working hard to change the equation, through a mix of 
outreach to employers, training and counselling for jobseekers, and support 
for technological development. Though sometimes costly, there are now myriad 
devices and technologies that can convert computer text or printed pages 
into Braille or spoken words.
Still, the steadiest sources of jobs for many blind people are nonprofit 
organisations with missions related to blindness and other disabilities.
A survey of 400 hiring managers and human resource executives by the 
National Industries for the Blind, found 54 percent of hiring managers said 
they had few jobs that blind employees could perform, 45 percent said 
accommodating such workers would require "considerable expense," 42 per cent 
said blind employees would need someone to help them, and 34 percent feared 
they were more at risk of work-related accidents than sighted employees.
"We're having to deal with lots of misconceptions and myths," said Kevin 
Lynch, CEO of National Industries for the Blind. "From that standpoint, the 
study was clearly disappointing, but it gives us the opportunity to find a 
way forward."
Joe Strechay, program manager for CareerConnect, said visually impaired 
people tend to be dedicated workers - less likely than others to miss a 
shift or quit the job, and no more likely than others to sue in the event of 
dismissal.
A glance through listings of prominent blind people conveys some of the 
challenges faced by jobseekers. There are many famous blind musicians, such 
as Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, but a dearth of notables in many other 
fields.
Lynch is among a number of blind Americans who have built successful careers 
as advocates for the visually impaired, but the pathway often is difficult.
"We are one of the best kept secrets here in this country," said Kevin 
Lynch. "We need to change that."