The Arsenal Files 7/The Arsenal Files Collection #7 (Arsenal Computer)(1996).ISO/health/job-eb96.txt

Text File | 1996-06-01 | 12KB | 246 lines

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
1800 Johnson Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Marc Maurer, President
[phone].

Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB)
Lorraine Rovig, Director
[phone] [IN-WATS]

                 JOB Employer's Bulletin / 1996
                       A BLIND CO-WORKER!
                       WHAT DO I DO NOW?


     What happens after you've hired that qualified person who is
legally blind?  Very often co-workers and supervisors have
questions that center around wondering, "How do I work with him?
How can I talk with her?  What do I need to do differently?"

     Blindness means that an individual has 10% or less of normal
vision (80% of those who are legally blind have some degree of
vision while 20% have none.)  Yes, for some workers who are
legally blind, some tasks will be done using sight.  This can get
confusing if co-workers or supervisors believe only "total
blindness" fits the definition of "blind" and it can lead to
misunderstandings.

     For example, a saleswoman in a department store in New
Jersey is doing all necessary tasks well using her sight along
with some adaptive equipment (magnifiers), with one exception.
She physically cannot read numbers on products for inventory
purposes.  Her immediate supervisor thought she was malingering
and "gave her a hard time" until he understood the parameters on
her vision loss.  He appreciated her understanding that he just
needed the facts.  Now during inventory, when the work is divided
among the associates, she is given a necessary task that fits her
strengths.

     Among those blind persons who have some sight, a few will
read print, but will not have the ability to see people coming
toward them on the other side of a hallway ("tunnel vision" or
loss of field); some have "night blindness" but function with
sighted techniques when there is enough light without glare; some
will see general shapes and colors, or that lights are on.  Some
are totally blind and use blind techniques all of the time.
There are other variations.

     What matters is not how much sight is left but the amount of
skill the blind person has in using blind techniques when sighted
techniques won't produce work on time, to the competitive level.
A practical definition of blindness could be stated like this:
You are blind if you find it more efficient, some or all of the
time, to use blind techniques rather than sighted techniques to
perform tasks to a competitive level.

     There are two suggestions that are likely to fit every case.
First, it often helps blind colleagues if you verbalize.  (For
instance, don't just point, say, "It's on the left.")  Second,
start with the assumption that the other adult is as competent as
you are.  Blind Americans who have had a chance to get decent
training in blind techniques will be.  Consider these true
stories of treating blind adults "differently," as told by the
blind persons involved:

"WHAT DOES HE WANT IN HIS COFFEE?"
     Blind Americans across the country know this phrase because
sooner or later, if you are blind, it will happen to you.  Here's
one variation as told by the President Emeritus of the NFB:

     Not long ago when I went to a doctor's office for an
examination, I had two or three things happen to me that showed
me how far we still have to come in changing public attitudes
about blindness.  In the examining room I was taking off my shirt
and getting ready to hang it on a hook on the back of the door.
I had my hand on the hook, so there was no question that I knew
where it was.
     The nurse said, "If I close the door, will you be able to
find it?"
     I don't know whether she was talking about the door or the
hook, but it really doesn't matter.  I had my hand on both of
them, and the door was only going to move for a short distance.
There is no way that I could have lost it.

     I later learned that the nurse had gone out to the waiting
room and asked my secretary, who had come with me so that we
could work while I was waiting, whether she wanted to come back
and help me take my clothes off.  That is not all.
     When I was leaving, the receptionist said to my secretary:
"Does he need another appointment?"
     The nurse and the receptionist were doing the best they
could to be of help to me.  What should I have done?

"HOLD ON, SWEETIE"
     In the Midwest, a blind mother who works part-time answering
a hotel chain's 800 number, writes:

     The other day my daughter and I were approaching a cab on
our way to preschool.  As the driver opened the door and my
little girl climbed in with her usual energetic manner, the
driver spoke to her: "Hold on, sweetie, help your mother.  I bet
you take real good care of your mommy all of the time, don't you
sweetie?"

     I wondered how shocked the driver was as I stepped up rather
than down into the cab, sat my bottom onto the seat rather than
the floor of the cab, and even proceeded to shut the door rather
than open it."

CAPTION:
     After observing a situation, if you still wonder
     whether help is needed, business and social etiquette
     permits us to ask certain questions of any adult:

     *  "Do you need help?"
     *  "Shall I show you where it is?"
     *  "What's the best way to work on this with you?"
     *  "I'm really curious about how you handle all your
          correspondence.  Would you mind telling me what your
          method is, perhaps during lunch?"
     *  "Excuse me, sir.  What would you like in your coffee?"

"NO ONE TALKS TO ME!"
     In Colorado, a policeman (blinded by gunshot) attended an
NFB training center to learn how to handle blindness.  After
about six months of lessons and practice, he could handle himself
well, using practical blind techniques in place of his sighted
techniques.  At that point, the center's job developer assisted
him to rejoin the force in an office position.  She says:

     Chris started the job.  As I often do, about a week later I
dropped in to check on how things were going with him and heard
Chris answer the phone and give out information.  He told the
caller that Billie Bob was in jail and visiting hours were such
and such.  When he got off the phone, I told him how well he was
doing with the computer.  But it was clear that something was
wrong.  I said, "Chris, you don't sound good; what's going on?"
     For a minute he didn't say anything.  Then all of a sudden
he said, "No one talks to me!  I don't even go down to the
cafeteria anymore.  I just stay here because no one talks to me,
and it's really uncomfortable."
     We talked it over, and I told him he should talk to Captain
Henn about what was going on, and maybe we could do some staff
education.  I said, "These guys are probably feeling a little
uncomfortable.  They knew you prior to the accident, and now they
don't know what to say.
     Chris admitted that he was afraid to talk to his boss for
fear it would jeopardize his job, but he asked me to do it, and
of course I agreed to.
     Over the next two months or so I spent many hours educating
the deputy sheriffs.  It was actually a lot of fun.  Some of the
guys started saying, "I didn't know he knew I was standing
there."  Chris kept telling me that people would come in the door
and stand there, before walking away.  I assured him that they
just didn't understand.  I suggested that he say hi and start
talking to them.  I took a lot of information with me--JOB
pamphlets, Braille alphabet cards, and so on.*  Not only have
they started talking to Chris, but a couple of the guys have
purchased slates and styluses ($3.00/set) and are writing notes
to him in Grade I Braille.

CAPTION:
                        It's okay to say
                      "Good morning" first.

CAPTION:  * JOB offers employers free educational programs.

"THEY'LL LOVE WHATEVER YOU DO."
     A blind woman who is very active in her community writes:

     It is often hard to know where to draw the line between
acceptance of what is and the necessity to take a stand for
change.  One such instance involved my singing a solo in church.
     During practice, when it came time to work on that anthem
the choir director announced that I would be singing the first
verse.  She had all of the women sing it through one time, and I
entered the words into my Braille 'n Speak (a computer) as they
sang.  There was one part I didn't understand, so I asked for
clarification of it before singing it myself as she had
requested.  Her response both surprised and humiliated me.
     "Oh, just sing the words you know, or sing la la la.
They'll love whatever you do, and no one will know if you're
singing what's written or not.
     There it was again--the old "anything you do will be
wonderful, honey" routine.  Suddenly the most surprising thing to
me was why I still, after all these years, find it catching me
off guard.  I sat for a moment in the silence of belittlement,
thinking thoughts of the obvious:  "She would know.  The choir
would know.  God would know."

     And as the silence seemed to be melting into the rustling of
papers and shifting of weight on chairs, I heard my voice from
somewhere saying, "I would know."

CAPTION:
     Expect that competent blind adults will meet your
     standards by using their alternative techniques.

"WHENEVER WE GET UP TO MOVE AROUND"

     Concerning the difficulties that come up after 3 years on
his job, Mr. B_____ said that many of the newly hired people and
some of the experienced people that work there still do not
understand that blind persons are competent in a factory
environment.  As he put it, "They have knee-jerk problems
whenever we get up to move around."
     His company has published standards for the different jobs.
He and the other two blind persons working there feel they have a
decent chance to move up in the system, in spite of some
resistance to the idea that blind workers could possibly do jobs
other than the job for which they were hired.

CAPTION:
     It's okay for a blind adult to travel independently--
     around the plant or up the career ladder.

PHOTO, back page, column 2:
Shows one seated adult woman, working on a Braille n' Speak with
earpiece attached.

CAPTION:
     This editor of a national magazine (above 30,000
circulation) is shown taking notes during a meeting.  She is
using a laptop computer with Braille keys for input and voice for
output (which she hears in the earpiece).  She can write the
article on her laptop, correct it, dump the file into her office
computer, and then print out either a Braille copy for herself or
a print copy for her colleagues, or both.  As needed, she can e-
mail copy to her employer's home office, four states away.
     Her friends know that among her many interests, she is an
Anglophile with lots of funny stories about the years she lived
in England, and when they are lucky, a baker who makes great
desserts from scratch.  She is known for much more than her
skills in editing and writing.
     A blind co-worker!  What do you do know?  Well, if she makes
brownies, we'd advise you to get to coffee break early, before
they're all gone.

                 JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE BLIND
                      is sponsored by the
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND and the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
                        [END OF BULLETIN]
[A NOTE TO READERS of "JOB EMPLOYER'S BULLETIN 1996": This
educational publication is available free from JOB upon request.
Four pages, print only.]