[Nfbwv-talk] Fw: [announce] Employment Project

[keri]

keri

"Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart."
--Robert Sexton

"For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it."
--Ivan Panin

Find that guy that will pick up every piece of your shattered heart & put it back together; Replacing it with a piece of his.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Mitch Pomerantz 
To: leadership at acb.org ; announce at acb.org ; 'ACB List' 
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 4:52 PM
Subject: [announce] Employment Project


Colleagues:

The information below may be of interest to those of you who are currently employed.


Mitch Pomerantz, President
American Council of the Blind
**********
"Blind People at Work in the world:

Some often incredible but true success stories".

 

 

CALL FOR SUCCESS STORIES.

 

 

Thirteen years ago, the book "Blind People at Work" got published in France under my direction to give blind people, organizations trusted with their professional guidance, public and private employers and the general public a better knowledge of the jobs we could access to. Thanks to 106 success stories, more than 75 activities were then presented, covering very different aspects, such as:

  a.. Reception-Communication, 
  b.. Administration, 
  c.. Agriculture, 
  d.. Arts and Shows, 
  e.. Craft industry, 
  f.. Commerce-Trade, 
  g.. Teaching-Education, 
  h.. Industrial issues, 
  i.. Law, 
  j.. Medical-Paramedical, 
  k.. Politics, 
  l.. Press-Audiovisual, 
  m.. Sciences-Research-Computer science, 
  n.. Social work.
 

The publication was successful since under various formats, more than 1,500 copies of the book were sold, several radio programs and TV interviews took place, many press articles were published, and I received a great number of success stories.

 

Since May 1999, the blind employment situation has changed: some new careers have appeared, jobs considered « traditional » are disappearing, whereas some others are still very common and buoyant in the employment market. Even if the global economy crisis and the growth of unemployment in the developed countries are increasingly challenging for the disabled employment, in spite of the measures undertaken in many countries to encourage it, I maintain that any blind person who wants it must, like any other citizen, have the right to work so as to obtain decent resources and occupy his/her place in the society.

 

That's the reason why the book publisher in 1999 has just accepted to issue with me a second edition, planned for the second half of 2013.

 

We wish to do better than the first time:

-          Thanks to the support of WBU members associations, which help will be required during the General Assembly of next November, and thanks to the facilities of communication offered today by the web, I wish to gather success stories from all over the world, whereas in the first issue hardly more than 10% of the articles were coming from out of France. The experience taught me that in Asia, Africa, America or elsewhere, even if cultures and economic conditions are very different from those of Europe, we can collect innovating experiences and good practices to emulate so as to extend the range of occupations accessible to blind or seriously visually impaired people.

-          An issue in English, and maybe in other languages, will greatly help widen the dissemination of this book.

-          Its distribution will be offered to every WBU members associations, and they might create in situ some adapted format releases.

-          An electronic version could be made available on line so that the visually impaired can download it.

-          Any other suggestion is more than welcomed.

 

Each success story, of between 5 to 7,000 spaced characters, will clearly present the job practiced, the challenges faced and how they were overcome, the technical support received, the positive aspects to underline and recommendations to make to any other person wishing to take the same professional path. The story will be chosen according to its originality, the clearness of the information contained and the possibility to replicate it in other countries. 

 

If you are totally blind, that is if you cannot use any vision remain at work, if the revenue you obtain from your job is enough for you to make a living, if you are satisfied with the activity you are developing, and if you wish to share your experience with other blind people, I would greatly appreciate your contacting me either by e-mail: blindatwork at phchazal.fr ; or by post: 3 rue des Chantiers 75005 Paris (France), preferably in French, English, Italian or Spanish. Together, we will shape you success story. I will also give an answer to any additional question you may have.

  

Around thirty of the contacted people to contribute with their story have answered favorably, but this is only the beginning and I'm still very much in need of you all to carry out my project. So please talk about it to all your friends. I also thank in advance all the associations that will receive this letter and disseminate it through their newspapers and information bulletins, on their sites. Because the more success stories I'll receive from you, the more different this second "Blind People at Work" release will be from the first and the more interest it'll raise and, as it occurred in 1999, the closer it'll be from reaching its goal.

 

It was my pleasure to prepare the first issue, since it was for me the opportunity to meet many people and discover their extremely exciting success stories. If you so wish, you can help me and repeat this wonderful experience.

 

Many thanks to you all and warm regards,

 

 

Philippe CHAZAL.

 

Contact information:

e-mail: blindatwork at phchazal.fr ;

or by post: 3 rue des Chantiers 75005 Paris (France



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