[blindlaw] fed work
AZNOR99 at aol.com
AZNOR99 at aol.com
Sat Mar 20 23:13:04 UTC 2010
Mike,
Congratulations on your new job. Where will you be working? See below
for my answers.
First, legal research. Does your agency give you an agencywide ID and
password for Westlaw and Lexis? Or do you have to sign up for either or both of
these services yourself and pay for it out of your own pocket?
Each federal agency has a subscription to either WestLaw or Lexis; some
have both. You will need to request a user name and password from your
agency or division librarian (or sometimes the rocurement officer can get it).
I'd suggest you ask your first level supervisor how to get one.
Next, mobility. Specifically, do the federal buildings have signs with
braille denoting the room number, restrooms, etc.?
Most federal buildings do have proper signage, however there are a few
that are out of date or lacking some in some areas. However, this is very,
very rare.
Third, documents. Is there braille on the vending machines? Braille menus
in the cafeteria? Agency manuals in braille or electronic form?
Agency manuals have to be in electronic form because of Section 508
Guidelines. On occasion those manuals will be generated as PDFs, and once in a
while someone will forget to OCR them. But this too is very, very rare.
As for vending machines and menus, that'll depend on the specific agency's
policies. For example, DHS does not have Braille on vending machines. I
asked them to make a way for me to be able to purchase snacks, so they
requested overlays on the machines the manufacturer could provide one, and they
gave me a reader to read me the options so I could Braille out a list that
was posted on the side. A matching list in large print was posted, and it
became part of the guy's job who filled the machine to check to make sure no
product was moved and to let me know if it was. The cafeteria menus were
emailed to me, or a staff member reads them to me if they change day to day.
Finally, transportation. If any of you use Metro Access to get back and
forth from work, I would like to know what you've experienced. Specifically,
how reliable are they if you want an early morning 6:00 a.m. pick up? How
about picking up after work? How often do you get straight rides to work or
from work to home versus shared rides? (I'm especially interested in the
experiences of those of you who do a nine hour week, then four days of eight
hours with the fifth day being a day off. California calls it 9-8-80; I
don't know what the feds call it.)
I don't use Metro Access so can't help you with that. But DC has perhaps
the best system of public transportation in the country - I've literally
never had to go anywhere that wasn't on a bus or Metro Line. The federal
government will likely give you a transit subsidity to cover your public
transportation costs, and trains and buses run nonstop.
You're talking about AWS or Alternative Work Schedules.
That's all I can think of for now. Thanks.
Let me know if you have other questions. Also, consider reaching out to
Herald Wilson for some mobility training and orientation to DC when you get
here and Bridget Doherty for help learning the Metro.
Ronza
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