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May 24, 2005

Combating Isolation Through Value-added Networks

In today's New York and Chicago (and other cities), you see disabled people on the streets, in the shops and within the theaters because, due to the ADA and technology, major cities have become accessible in terms of mobility and transportation.

But overcoming isolation is still a personal skill we each need to cultivate.

The payoff: By jumping out of isolation, we surprise ourselves - and others - with what we can do and make it easier for those who follow in our footsteps.

When I visited Moscow in 1970, there were no disabled people to be seen on its streets. They were in state institutions.

On the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus 40 years ago, students with a disability were few and far between. In general, kids with disabilities didn't go to college.

Time has changed that somewhat. We no longer need to tolerate isolation imposed by others - or by ourselves.

As Jake says in one of his SiM blog comments, "...Those of us with disabilities don't deserve to live in isolation and not have anybody to talk to." He considers participating in eSight's forums as one way he can personally take to break down the isolation barrier.

See "Overcoming Fear and Isolation" by Liz Seger for other helpful tips for cracking isolation barriers.

Jake admits, "I am afraid to go out of my apartment complex alone because I have not had any formal O&M instruction for several years. There has been lots of construction in my area, and nobody wants me to get hurt or worse..."

But, also note that Jake realizes the skills he is developing on eSight. Frequent posting, he says, "on this and other forums might come in quite handy someday, perhaps in changing attitudes."

Last week's guest speaker for the eSight Phone Conference was Olegario "Ollie" D. Cantos VII, Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He provided us with an excellent blueprint for avoiding isolation and changing attitudes.

Add value to your networking contacts through displays of genuine appreciation of another's strengths, Ollie advises. "That builds people up," he says. And then, he adds, "help develop partnerships by matching the strengths you discover in others with needs among the people you meet."

Not long ago, participants in eSight's Blindstorming also reaffirmed Ollie's premise. See "Networking: A Fair Exchange" by Nan Hawthorne.

But Ollie goes one step further. In an e-mail follow up to a question from Annette, one of the participants in the eSight Phone Conference, Ollie wrote:

"I ask that you please do whatever you can to help others in the way that I have taken the time to help you. 'Pay it forward' by being of assistance to at least three people and, in return for what you do for them, ask each of them to help still three others and to make your assistance conditional upon their promise to help at least that number.

"Trust me, Annette. You have it right within your ability to set off the kind of positive chain reaction to help change the world!"

Another way to add value to your networking!

Within that context, this week's SiM blog discussion question is this:

When have you felt good about networking in a job search or in a situation on the job because you received what you needed or met the needs of others?


Add your comments to this posting

Posted by Jim at May 24, 2005 06:00 PM

Comments

I think the word for networking is friends or social circle, your colleagues at school, at work, at church or synagogue or your community or wherever you are. Not everyone will want to be your friend nor will you want to be everyone's friend either, but I've found people are curious and open when you display the same kind of behaviour to them. That old golden rule, do unto others as you would have do unto you.

We can all spot the manipulator, the user who will use anyone to get what they want or where they want, that's not networking, that's using.

And that's why it's wise to have as wide a circle of 'friends' as you can, internet buds, local buds, penpals, e-pals whatever. All can help you or you help them find information about jobs or careers or courses you might be interested in.

Having been a special ed teacher and a guidance counselor, I've found I've got a special ability for discovering what people's skills are, and I also can see the big picture when most are still looking at one detail, and so, when my friends want someone to really analyze their skills and their abilities, it's, "Liz, tell me what you think my strengths or weakenesses are. How do I change that?"

And my friends will do the same for me, be almost painfully honest sometimes, but I know they're not doing it out nastiness -- but for my own good, even when I don't always want to hear it.

Networking got my me first jobs in journalism, networking got me together with eSight (writing on another site with Jim) and Nancy opened up the opportunity for me to write for eSight.

That's the thing friends and colleagues will give you -- information about the opportunity and it's your choice and responsibility to run with that and follow up on it.

Posted by: Liz S at May 27, 2005 08:06 PM

A person must learn work as a team together.

Posted by: twhite at May 30, 2005 06:22 PM