[nabs-l] Scholarship for Rising Blindness Professionals

[Justin Salisbury]

Hi everyone,

I want to share with you a scholarship program that I wish someone had shared with me when I was beginning my graduate work at Louisiana Tech. I accepted a grant from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) instead of this one. This program is sponsored by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (which people commonly call "the V A") and is basically paying for your education with the expectation that you will work for the V A once you graduate. So far as I know, the V A has never hired a blind orientation and mobility instructor. If they get you in on this scholarship, though, they'll be pretty likely to give you a job, I would think. I think the catch is that you have to commit to working for the V A for a few years instead of working anywhere else, and you have to agree to moving wherever they want you to work. I would do it. A lot of orientation and mobility instructors will tell you that V A jobs are the most coveted jobs, especially because they give the highest pay and overall best benefits. I have read through everything I have found on this program, and it appears that the Louisiana Tech program would qualify.

The application deadline is June 15, but I'd rather share it late than never. Here it is: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/426951600/

Take care,

Justin Salisbury

Justin M. Salisbury, MA, NOMC, NCRTB, NCUEB
Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety
National Federation of the Blind
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=325734822
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

William Butler Yeats