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I am A Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor. I am also severely disabled. I used to think it was a limitation. However, My perception has changed. It is not a limitation. I have a new found ability to see through the eyes of my consumers. It has made me a better person and a better counselor. I thank god for this new ability.

Great comment Ivan! I wrote about my experiences in obtaining my teaching certificate from a large canadian university with a world famous reputation who actually told me that no school board will hire a blind teacher after I paid em my fees but just before I was due to graduate! Did I surprise them, three did .

I also wrote about my experience working with a boss who refered to her three blind and visually impaired workers as her ' three blind mice'. I corrected her and said maybe two blind mice and one visually impaired rat. I got her good for that , it took awhile but I got her good, she was eventually fired. The article here is called ' Bless the Mess and the Happiness".

To my way of viewing it , employers who can't or won't hire employees with disabilities, really has nothing to do with us as individuals with disabilities and far much more to do with their lack of imagination , they can't imagine as a disabled person that THEY could do any sort of a job so they put their projections on us and say well of course they can't do it. It's more an issue or ignorance and projection rather than disability.

I just lost my eyesight about a year and a half ago. Before I lost my eyesight, I was working as a tutor at my college. After I lost my eyesight, I did not believe that I could go back to tutoring. However, my supervisor believed that I was no different than I previously was and tried to get me to work agian. As I started working there, I realized that some students who came for my help had no problem and left happy and satisfied and even returned. However, there were others who could not even sit with me for a minute. They got too uncomfortable and said that it's ok, I will take someone else's help and left. I later realized that some of these people who thought I could not help them were new students that I never tutored before and had realized that I was dissabled. While the students who left happy and satisfied were the students who had come to me before I lost my eyesight or that they did not know that I was disssabled (I can fool many about my dissability).

Overall, Anyone who came with a prejudgment, could not sit with me for even a minute. However,people with an open-mind had no problem at all.

All I can say is, I wish I had had Ivan for a counselor! I have decided to drop the ball on VR, since they have dropped the ball on me. I think that says something. I think it says that I am a heck of a lot more capable than they have made me out to be. I definitely know that I am much more capable, and my family and friends know I'm a very capable person. I have been visually-impaired since birth, and my vision impairment has resulted in a couple other disabilities. I really wish that I would've been given more of a chance by my state VR agency. But sadly, it seems that from day 1 they saw me as rather incapable and therefore did not give me much of a chance to prove myself. I haven't yet decided how else to go about the job search, but I can tell y'all this. I am so glad to be on my own. I honestly don't know for sure what my folks will say to this decision, but I am standing my ground. I guess the saying "Rehab is for quitters," actually does apply to more people than drug addicts.

If folks keep speaking about how employers think of disability and about how to talk to employers about disability they focus on, guess what? disability. These issues of how to handle disability are important but not the driving reason for this site, I hope. The purpose of this site is to give folks who wish to work for themselves or others more resources to do that. Perhaps we might want to think more about being resourceful than about how to position disability.

For instance, we might want to ask employers how they get candidates for interviews and what they suggest for us. We might want to talk honestly about what each of us does each day to further our careers. I am talking here about how much actual time I spend getting a volunteer position or doing volunteer work which may lead to employment, how I research employment or business information and so on. There are a lot of sites where disability is discussed. Esight needs to be a site where techniques and strategies for making a living and having a career are discussed. We are saying to employers, "Don't think of me as disabled." and then we just talk to them about how they perceive disability. We are doing the very thing we are asking them not to do.

I would rather hear people's stories about volunteering, about internships, about getting interviews even if you do not necessarily get the job, about classes you take to further career development and so forth.

If you quote this email, please quote the whole thing. It is written as a entire piece to put forth a point.

My experience with employers whom are intimidated by the visually impaired hit home with me after an interview. The shop owner was pleased with me, she claimed I sounded knowledge on the job being offered, I had enthusiasm, people skills, and a good business sense (that was on the phone). When I showed up with the white cane, her demeanor changed instantly. The cane was all she saw from that point on. Although, she had being friendly, warm, and witty, now she had become withdrawn, nervous, and rushed. I left the shop with great disappointment, at first I was blaming myself for the failure,then my vision, and after serious consideration, the inability the interviewer had to see past the disability.
I'm a forty five year old woman with Usher's Syndrome, I submit at least five resumes a week for jobs I KNOW I can DO, the problem is having someone give me a chance to prove myself.

I echo Jake's sentiments, in that I think it's to our benefit to always be prepared to give information that's pertinent to the job in question, with respect to its doability, as well as to be able to ask your own questions. If a person is prepared to give information regarding their abilities to compensate for their disability, as well as be able to ask questions of the employer questions about the company, even if the employer still feels uneasy, you have at least done the best you could to educate them and yourself about the job.

Here is a link to a story I think you all will enjoy.

The Country of the Blind - H G Wells

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/2157/
(Scroll down on the page a bit to find the story)

Maybe we are all disabled to some degree?

I do think that employers' prejudgments and perceptions have a lot to do with whether we appear "dis"-abled", as opposed to the being "differently" abled, to the outside world, and if we highlight how we've dealt with similar positions in educating the employer, even if we don't get the job we can at least come out knowing that we put our best feet, and in some cases, best paws, forward. Be knowledgeable of the resources you have, and the knowledge that if Voc Rehab pays your initial salary and other technical assistance, and maybe have it documented to present to an employer, that's a step in the right direction.

Disability is a dependent variable, therefore is a constant, and in the eyes, of the beholder, remains permanent and constant.

The functionality variable, however, is independent, therefore is situational, to the Individual.

Blindness, for example, is a definite and finite disabling condition, however, the level, of independence, is a n independent variable, and the confidence and competency will vary greatly amongst, blind Individuals.

In short, disability is permanent, however, handicap is the functional, or independent variable, and each Individual will deal with this independent variable, emotionally, psychologically and functionally, in a myriad, of ways.

The general public, today, pays little notice, of the disability, however, will notice the level, or degree, of functionality.

Disability is a non negotiable fact, of life, for the affected Individual, however, the residual negatives, resulting from the disabling condition can, be altered,with each Individual.

C. Fred Stout

San Antonio, Texas

So Mr. Stout, to paraphrase are you saying that each one's attitude accounts for how he or she reacts to what happens with an interview or a job?That as individuals we are only responsible for ourselves and our reactions to a situation and no-one else?

Some wonderful comments and ideas. I realized that the comment about focusing on disability is exactly what my thoughts were doing. Yet, as Mr. Stout so aptly puts it, it is a non negotiable fact of life.
Attitude in the face of a world that often ignores what is obvious, is one of the most important attributes each of us has. I know that not everyone will agree with me or see things as I do but I am looking for allies and people who will help me on my journey.
My disability is visible to the eye of anyone who looks and thus, I need to address how I can perform the essential duties of the position and help employers to become comfortable with me as an employee and as a person.
Thanks to everyone who has share thoughts on this subject.

I FIND IT INTERESTING THAT WHEN YOU MEET FRIENDS,NEIGHBORS, POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS, ETC. THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE VISUALLY CHALLENGED THEY ALSO FEEL THAT YOU ARE HEARING IMPAIRED. WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE THIS MISCONCEPTION? I DON'T UNDERSTAND. ALSO, A WISE VR COUSELOR ONCE TOLD ME TO REMEMBER THESE THIS STATEMENT WHEN I GET DOWN,"I MAY BE LOSING MY VISION BUT NOT MY FOCUS". THOSE WORDS ARE TRUE, WE ALL MUST FOCUS ON WHAT WE AS INDIVIDUALS WANT TO ACHIEVE.

After obtaining my 60-credit masters degree in counseling, and passing the national counselor exam, I have had one year and several months of rejections. These were precisely because the emphasis was on what I could not do. Now that I have finally gotten a job, I am sort of in a state of shock. The director of this LatinAmerican Institute behaves in a way that treats my disability as a non-issue. She is someone with many years of experience and treats me almost as her equal. I have not yet officially started and will be helping at a community health fare. This tells me that not only is it important to have a positive self-concept, but for potential employers to have an accepting and open-minded attitude towards persons with disabilities.

Yes disability is in the eye of the beholder but sometimes when you have a Mental Illness such as Manic-Depression, Depression, and other internal
disabilities the outside world can not see them.

If you are in a wheelchair then that makes it alright.

My family wants me to work more hours at my job but they do not realize that I am not the same person that I was 10 or 20 years ago when I was able to work 40 hours a week and take 2 College
Classes at night.

My medications tire me out right after I take them.

My attention span is good only in the mornings for 2 1/2 hours and after that I am mentally drained.

Thank goodness I will be getting disability income now which was a long hard fight to get but I finally won.

I am going to continue to work part-time in the mornings because I am very good at what I do.

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