Networking Forum

I am not afraid to explain about my visual impairment, whether teaching or tutoring or working as a peer support co-ordinator or as a freelance journalist before the interview or duing it . Depending upon the reaction ,it usually helps me decide whether I WANT to work with them and not the other way around. It usually comes up since I don't drive and have to make arrangement for transportation and depending on where the interview is , it takes planning and sometimes expense. If I'm to work there , there must be accomodation for transporation to get to work. It's one of my pre-requisites for working with an employer, are they flexible with work times to accomodate my transportation problems?

However I also assure them , that even though my disability is part of the person I've become , I'm still a person first and my disability doesn't define me. It's another trait to me , like being short, chubby and having greying hair. My disability has contributed to the person I've become over a lifetime and since my disability is congenital I haven't known life any other way.

Generally you get two reactions - people either back off fast ( I probably didn't want to work for them anyway) or they're curious and ask more questions .

Maybe it's just my style but I am not afraid to be up front about having a disability or how it has contributed to who I am. What you sees is what you gets. I am good at what I do , I can get that part across and I don't mind telling you about the adaptive devices I may need and that in Ontario , at least I can tell you who will help pay for them too.

My visual impairment is not evident to employers when meeting and interviewing with me. I have been jaded from events in my life where I have a wonderful interview and then the tables totally turn when at the end i announce I have "a slight visual impairment." I used to use words like "but" a lot as though I needed to defend myself. As if my qualifications and experience were not enough to get me the job. After having the privlege to attend several of diversity events, I am more confident in revealing my disability. Now I tell the interviewer about my visual impairment without fear, and present it in a different light. If I do not portray negativity, the employer will not. I immediately proceeded to tell her about the positives and how I can make accomodations for my disability. It is a great feeling to know that the interviewer will judge me on my qualifications, not my disability.

I am totally blind and companion with a Seeing Eye dog. So my disability is right up front. I explain how I travel, how I use public transportation to commute. My thirty years working for large corporations appears on my resume. So anyone interviewing me knows I have figured out how to get to a place of employment when and where I am needed. Once the transportation is explained, the employer knows I can be on time. Then I explain how I use a computer, the speech software I use and my notetaker. I demonstrate being able to take notes more rapidly on a braillenote than a person can take writing with a pencil. I now move on to areas where I am competent and skills I have. The employer already knows I can get to work on time and use a computer. I am up front and honest answering questions. The more relaxed the interview, the more I can quell fears an employer has about my disability and concentrate on my skill as a writer and market researcher.

Dressing well is crucial. My dress and grooming is the firt thing anyone notices after oticing my disability. A well dressed disabed person demonstrates that we can do things just like the rest of the population. Dressing well says I care about the impression I make. It says I know these things are important even if I cannot observe them. Dressing poorly sends the message that something is wrong. In the end, if I work for a company, how I dress represents that company. Unless I work from home telecommuting, how I dress is critical. It sends all kinds of unconscious signals to everyone I meet. A little grooming up front pays off. It makes me the professional on the outside, demonstrating what I know on the inside to be true.

My disability is very apparent to a hiring manager since I choose to use a guide dog. Also apparent, is my ability to live well with that disability. I am well-groomed, I direct my comments toard my interviewer without looking away and I talk the small talk on the way to the office. Beyond that, I will ask permission to make some notes during the interview, reaching for my notetaker and my cards with questions on them. I don't need to look around to read the braille or pop out the notetaker. I stay focused, make observations about the company because I've done my homework and because my other senses are kicking in to catch and retain information about the workplace. I'm prepared to answer questions when needed but the answer is always one that leads the interview back to the job description and how my accomplishments impact my strengths and desire to do the job. It's not just the skills, it's the wish to do THIS job at THIS juncture in my career. I'm real and disability is an asset for the company so my attitude and demonstrated abilities illustrate how I will offer my strengths and skills better than other candidates. I've been in interviews where, when the session was over the comment was, "My gosh, I forgot the dog was even there."

Like Liz, I have no problem with telling people about my visual impairment and how I do things. As a matter of fact I've done this before and have been very well received. I can remember a few times I did this, but one such time was with a longtime friend who has cerebral palsy. The two of us had been asked to go speak to a class of sixth-graders who were doing a service project on people with disabilities. My friend's mom drove us to the school, and she stayed and helped out. My friend has a speech impairment as part of the CP, and people often have trouble understanding him. I find experiences like this to be most rewarding. I wonder if people who have acquired their disability later in life have a more difficult time discussing their disability with people, than do those of us whose disabilities were acquired at birth. That is a very interesting question, and one on which I have done little research. I was in a support group several years ago where even mentioning one's disability was frowned upon. All of us were visually-impaired though and either used canes or guide dogs, so I think that kind of gave things away. I have a real problem with our nation's VR system, or at least the majority of it, simply because it discriminates against people who just happen to have more than one disability. There is a "one-size-fits-all" approach which seems to be common among so-called professionals in the realm of vocational rehabilitation. I think there might be some form of reverse discrimination in a few cases as well. I won't recount my whole VR experience because I'll be here at my computer all night with no sleep, but I gave up on them simply because they didn't try hard enough. I had been bounced around from this counselor to that counselor, and each of them asked the same general questions of me: Where did I want to work? How did I want to get there? At no point was there any type of real job coaching, no interviewing skills assessment, none of that. I did hold two internships as part of a summer program several years ago, but that program didn't stay in existence for long. I did some work as a sound intern backstage at several local appearances of the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Techni-Color Dream Coat," and I worked alongside a friend at a film-recycling plant. These jobs didn't last long at all though, because like I mentioned the summer program was shut down, never to resurface. It seemed as though none of my VR counselors communicated with each other. I may have really screwed myself over by closing my case, but I just feel I have a lot more potential than I was given the option of showing. I strongly believe in exploring each and every option for each and every individual person, no matter what their abilities/disabilities. Regarding self-esteem, I think that what Liz's article says is very true. I for one have a wonderful, supportive family. I still have both parents, and they each have very good jobs. I learned long ago to accept myself and not to wallow in pity because I am blind. I have learned that I am a person who just happens to be blind, and not the other way around. Too often I think people have trouble accepting their disabilities. This seems to have really interfered with advocacy efforts, particularly within the blindness community. Thus, I think the question becomes: Why is the whole system called vocational rehabilitation? Just how do you go about rehabilitating someone who has always been disabled? Shouldn't there be some sort of distinction there? I think the answer is an emphatic yes. I always thought of rehabilitation as helping someone who has had some sort of injury reenter the workforce, just to use one example. What if VR for those of us whose disabilities were acquired from birth was actually renamed vocational habilitation, or something along those lines.