[Nfbmo] what jobs are we doing?
david hertweck
david.hertweck at sbcglobal.net
Mon Oct 8 02:52:39 UTC 2012
After reading Matthew Sievert's excellent comments and Debbie's post about
wanting to know what types of jobs people are doing I would like to share
part of my story. I apologize if this is a little long and I do not mean it
as bragging I want to share my experience so that if I can help anyone or be
a mentor or just talk with someone that wants to know about working I would
be glad to help.
Again this is a little long but I think we as the blind comunity can do so
much more.
My name is David Hertweck I am 48 years old and legally blind from birth.
I live in St. louis and I am currently an engineer / project manager for
Bausch & Lomb.
I am a product of the St. Louis special school district that had a resource
room to teach brail, and help out with other things. This school was a long
distance from my home and I spent 2 to 3 hours a day on special school
district busses. Starting in first grade I spent almost all my time in the
resource room and deeply desired to be in the "normal" class room. By the
time I was in 6th grade I spent all my time except for test taking in the
"normal" class room. I truely believe that this first 6 years layed down
the foundation for my life.
next came middle school and I did not fit in with that resource room or
middle school. I stuck it out for 2 years and in 1978 I decided to main
stream myself and go to my local highschool. At that time special school
did not want me to do this but with the support of my family we did it and
it was a turning point in my life. As Mat states it is a matter of wanting
something so badly you make it happen your self. I believe this is no
different for anyone weather you have a handicap or not. The people I have
had the pleasure to work with through out my life share this idea. To put
it bluntly I worked my but off to complete high school ranked in the low 20s
out of a class of over 400 and yes it was hard getting books in brail and on
tape in a timely way to complete the work.
All my life my parents did not treat me any different from my sighted
brother. They did not restrict me or expect less of me.
In college it was more of the same putting in a lot of effort. One turning
point in my life was when my chemistry prof stated if I would take the
required lab he would give me an F no matter what. He did not want a blind
person in his lab. At the time I was 18 years old this was hard to take and
respond to this. I did not take the class and changed my direction. It
worked out for the best, but from that point on I never let anyone tell me I
could not do something.
I completed college in 1986 with a BA in mathamatics. In looking for my
first job there was lots of rejection. My eyes look strange and by looking
at them you can tell I am blind. Many interviews ended at hello. This is
very disappointing that they would not even talk to me or just give lip
service just to get rid of me. With persistence I got my first professional
job working for Washington University dental school. This job was as a lab
technition doing data analysis.
In 1990 the dental school closed and I could not find a job. The Dr. I
work for ask me if I wanted to continue to work with her but the lab was
moving to the University of Cincinnati. This was a big chalenge moving to
a new city but I took it and it turned out for the best meeting my wife and
byeing my first house.
I left the lab in 1998 after getting my masters and went with a start up
company. This job lasted for 2 years and the company did not start up.
During this time another engineer and myself were sent to South America .
It was amazing how I was received by the engineers in South America being
technically competent being blind just never came up as a limitation other
than not being able to drive the truck. professionally I was the expert on
sight and we worked as a team. The biggest problem on the entire project
was not speaking Spanish.
I left that job in 2000 when I had an opportunity to move back to St. Louis
as and engineer for Bausch & Lomb. Now I design ophthalmic surgical
equipment used to restore sight.
In my day to day life I have erned the respect of my coworkers. Through out
my working life I do not expect to be treated differently than any other
person and I strive to do my job in such a way that being blind just never
comes up.
Now that I am older and have interviewed several people for entry level jobs
I have learned that looking and finding a job is one of the hardest things
a person will ever do in their entire life . This is treu for everyone
regardless if you are blind or not. I state looking and finding a job not
just looking, there is a big difference. To find a job one must make
finding a job their job. That is working at least 40 hours a week on
finding a job. Many people out there just do not do this. It is very very
hard for everyone to get that first job. Once you have that first job let
your track record speek for itself.
If there is anyone out there that would like to talk or write please do so.
>
-----Original Message-----
From: Debbie Wunder
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 2:35 PM
To: nfbmo list
Subject: [Nfbmo] what jobs are we doing?
Hello, I have been following this thread on employment, and I am curious to
see if folks would be willing to share some information with the list? What
job are you doing, what type of training was required for your job. Do you
use any type of computer software, or other technology to do your job.
Have you completed a traing program for employment placement? Have you been
to a rehab center? Are you a Braille user, if not would you benefit by using
Braille?
Do you have skills or talents that you have put to use in order to make a
living? Maybe you are a carpenter, seamstress, artist, daycare, please share
with us.
Many of us are looking for work, deciding what work we can do, and would
very much benefit by your input.
Maybe we can build a list of what blind people are doing here in Missouri,
turn it into a mentoring program to get more folks working.
Thanks,
Debbie
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