Category: Let's talk
What kind of discriminations have you been faced with when dealing with your blindness?
A friend of mine is facing some with job seaking and is going to get her issues fixed but I am curious as to the things you all have been discriminated against. .
Mostly job seeking. Because contrary to what the ob coaches seem to want to imply, the "sell yourself" mentality, while definitely not without merit, can only go so far. Yes, you should try to show yourself in the best possible light while still being honest. But if the employer really doesn't want to buy the product, so to speak, you can only go so far in trying to change their mind. The biggest problem with how job coaches and voc rehab people advocate selling yourself is that, say if a blind person gets a job interview but then it doesn't pan out, the blame, even if nothing is ever actually said along those lines, is placed squarely on the shoulders of the blind person. You can usually tell by the tone of the counsellor's voice that they are jumping to the conclusion that it was entirely your fault, even if they try not to imply as much and even if it was not, in fact, your fault.
Jobs will always be difficult for the blind. Some times its not honest discrimination, but a companies bottom line.
A sighted employee is able to do several different jobs, but we are nitch workers.
Being disabled is tough, because discrimination follows us in all aspects of life. Love, jobs, renting a place to live, spending your money in a coffee shop, yes I said your money, at your doctors office, the place you go for medical help, and that list goes on.
I wanted to work for a computer tech support company several years ago, and when I submitted my resume, and they called me for an interview, I had to take a test. I aced it, 100 percent, and the woman called me back in a week and told me point blank I would not be hired because I couldn't see the computer screens, and the IT people didn't want to see if Jaws would work on their system. That was a big one, but everything from public pools trying to keep me from swimming in the deep water, or using the diving board, to college profs telling me there was no way for me to take their classes because the materials would be impossible to get...the usual. Know what? I accepted it, it made me better, I picked my battles, and came out on top! Remember, not every case of discrimination is worth fighting. It's gonna happen. We're blind people living in a sighted world, and if you use the right strategy, you come out on top.
Jesse. You hit the nail on the head. I came out on top too, with raises and all on jobs. I also think part of it is attitude. I know some whiners who have constant negativity. Sighted folks got sick of that, and both people were let go from good jobs.
I can say many many as reel said. but here is only one example just for an evidence.
I'm having a bank account for nearly 25 years. I asked for internet banking in that branch office where I'm having my account. and there are circulars and guidelines are already there to provide internet banking for the visually impaired. I've produced those circulars and also the guidelines givven by reserve bank of India. Still, they are refusing to activate my internet banking feature. by telling that since you have no sight, there are bright chances for others to misuse your account.
I've also politely explained about the screen readers and also how we people are working with computers. But that bugger is telling me the same like a bloody automated computerised announcement over and over. And now, I've filed a psue against the bank and it's under process with disability commissioner.
Raaj.
There will always be challenges. I say, pick your battles. I haven't been descriminated against as much as I used to and I wonder how much of it is perception. I mostly got shit from the education system.
Maybe it is you've gotten a tougher skin so you automaticly ignore it. It doesn't make you any lesser of a person, so step around it and continue with what you were doing.
There are certain types of discrimination that are worth arguing against, but keep in mind not everyone always means to discriminate. Some people have stereotypes about the blind and other groups of people that they don't always realize are even stereotypes and/or discriminations. Just a thought to keep in mind.
True.
exactly. some people just don't know. it isn't that they're trying to piss on anyone's parade. they've perhaps never dealt with a blind person before, have never thought certain things through, or maybe, in some cases, they've let prior experience dictate how they view blindness. however, I don't believe the last example I gave is true the majority of the time. or, maybe I just have a thicker skin than some.
Interesting. my bank just about does anything if i want a different banking product. They offered to set things up on line for me. I make out my own checks by typing them and some companies automatically take from my account. I would really fight this one; banking personnel need to realize folks all over the world have on line access.
I think it is all how you deal with the situation. You can get all worked up over every little thing or you can blow it off.
I agree with you margorp. Sometimes the people just don't realize they are being discriminating but sometimes pushing is what needs to be done too. It all depends on the situations.
It bugs me so much when I go shopping and the working who is helping me talks to me like I am stupid the whole way. Depending on what they say I might comment on it. The most often thing to happen is they try to walk slow. Not sure if it is because they want to make the trip last longer or if they think I just can't walk fast.
I also live up stairs and a lot of people will comment on how horrible the land lord is for placing me up stairs. Then I tell them I chose to be up stairs and they go on saying how dandrious it is to clime up and down the stairs and how they would be afraid of it. LOL!
I'm sure it's happened to me a time or two in my life but honestly, I really can't think of anything.
me neither. Maybe I've been descriminated against but didn't think or realize it was descrimination lol.
About the only examples I can think of involve cab drivers and my guide dog. That's pretty standard though.
It's difficult to pinpoint any spicifics but as I said, most descrimination came from the education system.
I was rejected by a voluntary sector organisation once because of my blindness. I have witnessed somebody being socially excluded because of their blindness.
Discrimination is wrong.
Well on the dog thing its not you being blind in this case its the dog, or animal in their car.
Mostly mine is from conductors who think since I can't see them I can't perform with the ensemble.
Sorry computer froze up double post.
Pure discrimination is easy to set apart from lack of knowlidge, resulting in an assumption. Look at it this way. Let's say someone sees you with some friends at an ice skating rink. A worker might come up to you and say, are you sure you want to skate? It might be dangerous. You could get hurt. Would you blow up at them for something simple as that? Or, would you calmly explain to them that anyone can get hurt, but you still want to have fun and skate with your friends. Hopefully the second.
Here's an example of discrimination. You go in to a place of work or business, such as a restaurant. You have a degree under your belt in cullinary arts, you have your application submitted, and you have a very well organized resumme. However, the manager tells you that you can not work here simply because you are blind, it is dangerous, and he/she refuses to allow room for compromise. Hopefully that makes some sense, and gives you the realization that it varies case to case.
Wow. I thought employers were banned by the ADA from stating directly that a person's handicap had anything to do with being denied employment. That particular agency's lucky Jesse probably didn't think to record that conversation. Had he done so they probably could have been in some pretty hot water. WhenI got denied for obs it was usually the more subtle "we'll call you back" spiel. Then they just don't.
Employers are more careful about it. They won't say it directly because they will get in trouble and they know it. But like you said, they will not call you back, or they will try to come up with another excuse. We can control what they say, but we don't know what they think.
@DistanceRunner229: Given that, there is no guarantee that the reason you didn't get the position has a thing to do with your blindness then, is there? I mean—I may be coming at this from a different viewpoint, but once I managed to actually break into the software engineering industry and deal with entities that had actual HR departments, I stopped running into problems. Though—I must say I did have to turn down an interview for a position in the Xbox Division, because I wasn't entirely sure if I could use the console effectively enough to do the 20% manual testing or whatever it was that they required.
@ForeReel: Waitasec. How are we niche workers? I could be misunderstanding you again, but in my industry I've worked in the Windows Mobile division, the Windows division, and on a product shipped out-of-band with Windows XP. I've also done development work on the Windows OS itself, and worked on embedded projects using QNX (A Unixlike operating system for embedded devices). Do you mean niche as in there are only certain fields we can work in (which could, I venture, be said to be true of anyone)?
True, they may have other reasons, so you shouldn't automatically assume it was because of your blindness. You really can't tell for sure unless they tell you their reasoning.