Category: Jobs and Employment
I wrote a blog post about people with disabilities and employment and would like feedback. All viewpoints are very welcome. I understand my views may well be quite unpopular, but I hope I conveyed them in a way people can appreciate, even if they disagree.
http://catchthesewords.com/2014/11/14/is-it-sometimes-our-attitude-some-thoughts-on-disabilities-and-employment/
Well-written, and I do agree with you, Holly. It sucks doing jobs you don't want to. I've done it. Most of the jobs I've held are ones that didn't actually hold my interest, but I did them in order to bring in money, to attempt to get off government benefits, and to get my foot in the door hoping for something better. The one job I did have that would be closest to my dream job I had to give up because of accessibility issues. It would be easy to just give up, but I refuse to. I am appreciative of the benefits that allow me to survive, but I don't always want to depend on them. I imagine before I get close to that dream job again, I'll have to do more work that I do just to get by, but I'm willing to. You're right, for as many disabled people who are willing to work hard, you also have the bunch that are entitled whiners. I guess that's true in any community, we just have the most experience in this one, as you said. Thanks for sharing that.
I'm glad to know that unconditional empathy regardless of circumstances and motivation is on display here.
Hi, have been going over Hollys blog post a few times to make sure i got it
right.
First some personal information. I have actually been blind before i got my
sight back, and i should add that i might actually loose it again, else i would
not use time replying too the post.
Have i got a good education? i don't know quite frankly, but i believe so, i
remember when i was a kid, if i wanted too read something i would put it in
the scanner, and read it like anyone else, more or less, of course there was
the added scanning time, .
It was sometimes hard to read, yada yada yada, but it was workable.
I know today in Denmark at least you have a law stating you can go down too
your public library, pick up a book scan it, and of course after that read it.
I don't ever recall having any problems with my school books. I do however
remember my teacher not being too pleased with me cause if i was not buried
in a pile of computers i was playing music, not because it was what i wanted,
but because it was interesting.
At the end it may have worked out okay, at least in anything but math.
My point is not to say i had it any better or worse than someone else, at least
i don't think so.
But like Holly i believe i got a lot of support. If i wanted to take our horse for
a ride, i had too lay the bit on it , saddle, and so on I can't count the times we
was too the ER, and i am not sure how my parents explained it.
Here i am trying too recall if my parents had told me about how hard it would
be for a blind girl to find a job, and i am not sure they had, actually. They no
doubt might have thought about it though.
After moving out from mom and dads into the city, talk about a change for a
country girl… i gave computers my absolutely fullest attention.
I am not sure when i heard about linux the first time, but the operating
system was interesting, because it could talk.
So now i got my scanner the setup too scan all of the books, and the linux
system that could read it back too me faster than i could have ever dreamed
of doing my self. Windows and jaws was out at this time but i was not
interested in windows too put it gently, mainly for the reason, if it crashed i
could not install it again my self.
There was a school in sexology not far from where i was living and me and a
sighted girl signed up, the only problem the teacher could see was if she was
writing something on the blackboard, but it was not a huge problem , she
would just say it out loud as she wrote it.
I am not going too talk so much about the classes. It would end up being a
novel in sex instead, and that is not my goal here.
We both graduated.
And now had too find a job.
I ended up taking the client in my home, it was the easiest so why not?
I think we more or less have 2 groups of persons, i have actually met some
of them my self. Them who have the ability too work towards a goal, stick too
it and fulfill all of the different things that needs too be done to reach it.
number 2 who more or less believes that just because they are blind they
should be given this and that with out getting off their asses. I know it sounds
cruel when put that way but i feel it is something that needs to be said.
In DK, you can get what amounts too the same as social security in other
countries, if you are willing too try too get a realistic job, or an education, and
frankly i believe that is fair. I am not talking about them for what ever reason
can not work, but these who will not do it just for the sake of being a bunch of
lazy persons.
As Holly says it is a 2 sided thing, persons who have too employ a blind
person have too open their mind and think for a second, and well lets be
honest, the most sighted persons can't imagine how blind persons do a lot of
things.
Let me give a short example of that.
Back when i was using linux, i use a mac now, i was at an demonstration, in
a break i start going over one of my sexology books , i knew i had to read it
later on but was just skimming through it when a man asked me , i can see
you read it, but how do you do it?
I told him that the computer talked the words too me that was on the monitor,
as a matter of fact i was being really pedagogic about it . It didn't matter, he
could not wrap his mind about it , and btw, the most linux guys are not on the
low site of the iq scale, I ended giving up.
Some folks just can't imagine it, and if they can't imagine it , never mind how
you explain it , no matter how you guide them through each step, well they
just , cant.
There is a center in DK, i was fulfilling all the right checkboxes, result, the
exact same.
Okay, as i see it i could have done 2 things, i was still blind at this time, i
could lay down on the floor, crying about how hard it was too be a poor
miserable lil blind girl from the sticks, or try too find a way to i could at least
keep food on my table with no help from the government. Or as little help as
possible.
Easy, are you kidding? hell no, but fun to do stuff for your self, knowing you
had done it alone , absolutely.
As i said i ended taking clients home too me.
Do i understand the persons giving up though?yes, i do, but i feel so sorry for
them.
I do believe the main thing if you want something is to find out , what are you
good at, what are you not good at.
When i got some sight back, it did not all come at one point i was lucky
enough too know a nurse at a hospital who got enough Power where it
counted for them too take me in.
But i dare you, try too call your local car dealer telling him that you are
almost blind and you need a car … talking him in to selling you one and that it
needs too stand in your own name, not your partners.
To Holly, it sounds more or less like the uk and Dk is the same.
Right now i have too be honest about one thing though, if a person don't
wanna work, just cause the person don't , want, too. i have zero tolerance for
them. Wants and needs are 2 very different things , at least in my opinion.
I hate too scan all of my books, but guess what, if i don't do it , i don't go
where i wanna go.
Another situation intirely is, if the person for what ever reason as have been
stated before Can not work, that is totally acceptable, at least too me.
And that boys and girls concluded my writings at least for today.
Exactly what jobs are available for people with degrees in sexology?
Lol Voyager look up Dr. Pepper Schwartz. There's sex therapists and other people who help with marital sexual problems. And of course they write books.
But not like you can go down and get a job with that degree. It's part of the social sciences / humanities / religion / feminism studies grouping of degrees. Worth $60K plus exhorbitant interest payments on student loans? Doubtful, in my opinion. But what does a simple kinda man like me know? Hahahahaha
Leo, first of all not all who is into sexology writes books, i mean what should i
have been writing a book about ?
2th. You can at least in Europe hold a job with that degree, the reason i
changed was because i had the chance, granted so i took it.
I will however say that $100 an hour is not bad.
Lets have a little math.
500*5*20. Result. 50000 that is unless i have missed something for one
month. Then of course you have tax and all the other scandinavian money
grapping things, oh well such is the life of the happiest nation on earth.
smiles.
So back on track, was it my dream job? no far from actually.
However we all gotta do what puts food on our tables, if we like it or not, or
have too get a little help.
What i am against is the guys who expect the government too pay for
everything.
Another thing, Leo have said it before, and it is a good line so i am gunna
reuse it. You eat an alligator in small bites, the thing is not too make stuff
overwhelm you, take one day at a time.
Sandi
Hi Holly,
I really love that blog post, hits the nail on the head for me on so many levels.
I'm the same in a lot of ways, in that I'm incredibly lucky - I'm just across the water in Dublin, and in general the support I got in school and college was pretty good... there were bumps, there were people who frankly just were NOT interested in understanding my situation, but overall I had it good, and still do.
I can't stand the 'poor me I'm blind' attitude; yeah, some sighted people think we're stupid, and that's crap... and yes, sometimes you have to explain things 5 different ways to make them understand... and I sometimes want to just shake them. but if we don't want to be tarred with the one brush, then we can't do that to every sighted person, particularly in a job interview.
And I'm not saying for one second that that's an easy thing to do; I've just lost my first job out of college, mainly due to accessibility and the wrong people having the wrong attitude - and I include myself in that, because I was too much of a shy little mouse to push for what I really needed, and to be firm when they were fobbing me off. But I've learned from it, and I will never let myself have a chip on my shoulder.
Again, I know I'm really lucky, I know not everyone has support, but a lot of people don't do themselves many favours in the eyes of a lot of sighted people, sorry to be blunt.
Thanks for reading if you stuck with it! :)
This is a really well written blog post and it touches I think on some of the most important issues that come up when going out on the labor market.
On one hand you believe that you are capable and you have a lot of abilities. On the other it's a fact that disabled people are at a disadvantage when it comes to applying for and getting jobs.
That however does not change in any way that if we want to get a job we have to prove ourselves just like anyone else and we are not the only ones facing problems when it comes to employment. There is a lot of people out there that are also disatvantaged but still manage to overcome their challenges and get employed.
I think you're quite correct in talking about the attitudes of some disabled people who are sometimes completely focused on the problems they face as disabled people and not on the end result. It is one thing to see a problem and work around it and yet another to make the problem a single deciding factor in something. I think in some ways this is simply a part of the society that disabled people live in. Society assumes very often that the problems disabled people face can only be solved by "not being disabled". For an example I'm very often asked how I manage to walk outside on my own, and what happens if I get lost. What is forgotten is that sighted people do get lost all the time and even seek it out in order to learn their way, so why shouldn't I do the same thing.
Being affected by society in this way is a pretty subtle trap that we need I think to be aware of. Society effects us just as much as any one else so I think the importance of confidence in ones own abilities and individual empowerment can not be overstated.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my post.
I really appreciate all your feedback.
I'm glad to see most people understand where I'm coming from, in that I'm not saying all blind people are limited because of their attitudes, but I do believe it is a barrier to employment for some.
I hope that by recognising this we can encourage people to shift their attitudes and have a more positive outlook. It makes me sad to see some of the blind people I know not doing anything, because they either don't feel like they can or it's been so long they've just lost interest. Of course, this happens to sighted people too...I just feel like I have more experience in this particular area as I am a blind person myself!
I'd also like to see schools doing more to encourage blind people to see themselves as equals, and hold themselves to the same standards they do non disabled people. So, if it's not ok for someone without a disability to do, then you probably shouldn't either.
Of course we face extra challenges and I don't want to trivialise these. Sometimes, a job opportunity does become impossible in the end because of access issues and we need to talk about that too, to educate people. I just want to see people who are blind respecting themselves and recognising that they do have value in the job market, even if it is more difficult for them.
We need to get more disabled people out into the labor market and so they are visible. That will I think go a long way towards changing attitudes We just have to many stereo typed disabled people as ither super heroes or complete **** when most of us are just pretty regular people.
I think that Binary solo got a really good point in saying that seeing around a
problem too reach an end result, really is a good thing. On the other hand i
will admit that it can be overwhelming at times.
I know that this is going to sound wimpy, but i don't really care… at least not
right now… Some times when i come home, after hospital duties, i lay down
and really wonder if it is all worth it?
I don't know about the rest of you, but being tired after a long day definitely
seems like a normal thing. At least for me.
My point is. I know that there is a good chance i will end up getting a job
cause all needs nurses after all. But I can easily imagine a situation where a
person would be blind, coming home tired, after a long day, drop dead from
lack of energy, and end giving up because of that.
I know right now what keeps me going is this… if i give up i have failed, and
well… that may just not happen.
Right now i am not sure if i have touched on this before, if i have i am sorry.
Binary Solo says that society assumes, that is true. And personally it is one of
the things i really absolutely hate.
The reason i hate it because the time i use explaining things too them could
have been used more productively. Am I an impatient girl? yes, very much
so, unless if i have too care for a patient than i got the patience of an angel.
Binary solo wrote " so I think the importance of confidence in ones own
abilities and individual empowerment can not be overstated."
I am 100% with you on that account. It can't be said enough, believe in your
self and what you can do, and honestly with the technology we got today you
really can do a lot.
I don't say that a fully sighted person can understand how a blind person do
things, because i really do believe one have had to be blind too fully grasp
that, but if more was simply accepting without disbelieving maybe it would be
easier for others. You don't have too understand too accept something.
I am not sure how it is in other countries, and can therefore only talk about
Denmark where I am.
As it is now, as far as i understand it. They don't see blindness as a physical
handicap, and therefore it means that you shall in some form of job,
education, or job training if you want to get anything from the government.
Of course one thing is what is on paper, something else is reality.
It was the reason i after ending the sexology education ended up taking
clients home too me. Not because i wanted too, cause i wanted another job.
But simply because it was the only way i could make money out of it. I could
no doubt have done what Leo have said above , starting writing a book, but it
would have been a poor project. It would no doubt have been paperless
cause i would have needed too eat my paper.
Last but not least
Irishgirl, your post made me smile, thank you for that , i really needed it :)
Sandi