[nfbmi-talk] Job Finding

Sat Nov 22 12:21:05 UTC 2014

Dave and All,

Points well stated here. I would add that even when appropriately people are 
sent to a NFB training center that is paid for by the agency and with 
federal rehab funds. For example when our own NFB MI Vice President fought 
appropriately, sighting consumer choice in the rehab process to go to the 
Louisiana Center that was paid for by MCB. Ditto for some of our youth who 
attended our state convention and who went to Blindness In New Dimensions in 
Minnesota....That was paid for by BSBP.

And we're talking about basic rehab here including cane travel, Braille, 
assistive tech, activities of daily living, etc. and all the basic skills of 
blindness of which mastery leads to confidence and employability.

Now even if each NFB MI member was willing and able to teach these core 
skills for free to the growing ranks of the blind simply we could not 
logistically   or otherwise do so.

It is as simple as that.

In Solidarity,

Joe

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Robinson via nfbmi-talk" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: "Fred Wurtzel" <f.wurtzel at att.net>; "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing 
List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2014 10:02 AM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Job Finding

> Fred,
>
>   I agree that successful employment is a goal for everyone including the 
> blind.  I also agree that the path to that goal is good blindness skills 
> and self confidence.  Skills can be gained from a variety of sources 
> including interaction with skilled blind persons who have self confidence. 
> The question is more on how we in Michigan achieve that end goal.
>   I remember when we established the national center and much discussion 
> went on about how to best utilyzed the space at the center.  Some wanted 
> to start a national training center and others did not.  As an 
> organizsation we decided not to have a training center as it went away 
> from our primary purpose as an organization and would drain to much of our 
> resources which are needed in other areas of advocacy, education and legal 
> assistance.  This then led to the opening of training centers in States by 
> our affiliates who could afford to do so and had the leadership to make it 
> happpen.  Each training center clearly defined as a separate organization 
> and not the affiliate or part of the affiliate.
>   So, I suppose if the Michigan affiliate had 26 million dollars given to 
> us by the federal and state governments, we could control and direct a 
> training component in Michigan. Since we do not. we must rely on the state 
> agency that is paid to provide the training.  We all have our unique 
> interest, but if we hope to gain good blindness skills and successful 
> employment, we in Michigan must at some point be engaged with the agency. 
> We fought for good services for blind persons when we had a Commission and 
> we had three Federationists on the Commission board.  Should that effort 
> not continue?  I believe that the greater gift we can give to blind 
> persons is our encouragement and our belief in them to succeed.  We need 
> to be the ones to open the doors of opportunity. We can encourage them to 
> get the skills, get the good education and get the job they want, but we 
> don't have the resources, as we determined on a national level, to provide 
> that training or education.  Relationships to find employment are critical 
> in opening up those doors of opportunity, but they also have led to others 
> shutting the doors to the blind in Michigan.  We must continue to 
> encourage and work with others to break down those barriers, barriers put 
> up against the blind because of greed, mistrust, stupidity and hatefulness 
> for the blind and the NFB.
>
> Dave
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Fred Wurtzel via nfbmi-talk" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2014 10:15 PM
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] Job Finding
>
>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>>
>> This post may be better as a blog, however, I think finding jobs is 
>> possibly
>> the most important issue facing blind people.  Most of the other issues 
>> we
>> discuss are subtexts of this topic.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have been thinking about job hunting.  A couple weeks ago, another 
>> lister,
>> whom I have deep respect for,  commented that the suggestion of using
>> Richard N. Bolles ideas for job hunting is possibly obsolete.  Try as I
>> might, I cannot find a major flaw in Bolles' ideas, though no system is
>> perfect for every person or situation.
>>
>>
>>
>> A point that was made suggesting that Bolles approach is made less 
>> effective
>> by technology, is that automated screening systems have built-in biases
>> toward minorities.  The example given was the driver's license 
>> requirement
>> on the web-based application.  Clearly, lying is not an option and 
>> answering
>> truthfully is also doomed for a blind person.  So, what to do? I am
>> encouraged to hear that some members are reaching out to Lieutenant 
>> Governor
>> Cally for a meeting about employment.  Presumably, the topic of biased
>> applications will be a major topic in informing him of barriers to
>> employment for blind persons.    I would suggest that this tactic is
>> consistent with Bolles, since he builds his strategy on relationships.
>> After all, the only way, ultimately, that most people get jobs is through
>> relationships.  Sometimes, these relationships are  very short, being
>> created in the brief window of an interview.  More often, these
>> relationships are a longer term process.
>>
>>
>>
>> Skills of blindness are very important.  The ability to travel affords us 
>> to
>> venture into the community and meet others.  The possession of literacy
>> affords us the ability of communicating our ideas, skills and 
>> personalities
>> to others in the community. Finally, and, arguably, the most important 
>> skill
>> of blindness is self-confidence and belief that blind people are capable 
>> and
>> entitled to an equal opportunity to compete for jobs.
>>
>>
>>
>> The NFB gives us the opportunity to work collectively to help one another 
>> to
>> acquire these skills.  Part of our function is to be a training 
>> experience
>> for each other.  We share information, tools and techniques.  We observe 
>> our
>> colleagues succeeding in their goals.  This function of our organization 
>> is
>> possibly its greatest strength and benefit.  We certainly do influence
>> various institutions to change, but, mostly, we influence each other to
>> change and have a vision that blind people can achieve success in any 
>> field
>> we choose.  As the poet said, "no one is promised a rose garden."  There
>> will be struggle and opposition borne of ignorance and sometimes malice.
>> There is social inertia; it takes effort to change direction or speed or
>> slow trends.  That is why we come together: to create a force which is
>> greater than the inertia we face.
>>
>>
>>
>> So, as for Bolles, I am still convinced that his system of job finding is 
>> as
>> relevant as ever.  I also know that no job-finding system can succeed if 
>> we,
>> the job-seekers do not believe in ourselves as fully capable and entitled 
>> to
>> the same opportunities as our sighted peers and colleagues.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Warmest Regards,
>>
>>
>>
>> Fred
>>
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>
>
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