[NFBWATLK] Frustrated

[Marci Carpenter]

Hi Kris and Listers,

Kris, I am so sorry you experienced this discrimination. It can feel very disheartening when inaccessibility and unwillingness to solve issues block our efforts at meaningful employment. I know you will find a job that works for you because you will not give up. We are here to support you in whatever way we can. Please feel free to call me any time. Could you also email me off list with the name of the company? I would like to find out if the Federation has had any official contact with them, and also find out from our national president if we might take further action.

Marci
> On Apr 28, 2017, at 9:50 AM, Kris via NFBWATLK <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> It's been a while. I hope to make another meeting soon.
> 
> In the meantime, I thought I would air frustrations to a community that could understand. Now that I live in Belfair Washington, public transportation is even more scarce. Not impossible, though. So yes, I have been looking for work at home options. There are a lot more out there than there used to be. Granted, most of them are customer service. While that is not my hearts desire, I would and I am starting to look at that as well.
> 
> However, I am going to share my journey for a moment if you don't mind. Many of the on line employment opportunities have assessments. Some of these assessments are accessible and some of them are not. Recently, I took an assessment for a company that was looking for people to correct English and math Mattix tests for students from kindergarten all the way up through a professional exams. By the time I was done, my head was pounding him but I did it. I passed the assessment. I did it on my own without help from either of my kids reading the screen. I meant their requirements which included sending my college transcripts. I signed all kinds of confidentiality paperwork. I was hired! When the first day of training arrived, I was ready. I sat down with my cup of coffee, my headphones plugged in and ready to work. I read through all of the training material in PDF. I clicked the start training button, and that's when it happened.
> 
> Can you guess? All of a sudden I'm running into buttons that are not labeled. A frame that is blank. Links that are labeled link, link, link. Was this my fault? Didn't I understand my screen reading program properly? I tried several options.. due to the confidentiality stuff, my kids were not here so they could not check what was on the screen. So I did what was suggested and contacted technical support.
> 
> Instead of getting blown off, technical support called me back. Jennifer and I spent an hour with her starting to understand about in the D a and doing a remote view on my computer. Finally after an hour on the phone together she realized this would have to be sent back to the developers. I gave her as much information as I had and she said she would get back to me as soon as possible. Hopefully things could be fixed. However since students work was scanned into their system in bulk batches because of the volume of the work she wasn't not sure what could be done.
> 
> This morning I got an email. Can you guess what it said? Basically, even though I am qualified for the position because their software is unable to work with my software and there is no way for them to make it so that braille or screen reading programs can read the scanned documents, so sorry Charlie. However, we will pay you for the time that you spent on the phone with our technical support person and that you attempted training. Thank you very much for your time and good luck on your future endeavors.
> 
> This was the furthest I've gotten in my online job hunting. Actually being hired. The other two positions that I qualified for, that they sent me to further assessments, I never got past their final assessment because it was in accessible. One of them was even writing letters for political change. So, if anyone ever tells you that we do not need to keep fighting and we do not need to keep educating the general public they are wrong.
> 
> I really do hope to see a lot of you soon. I hope you have a great day! Keep moving forward!
> 
> Kris Colcock
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
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