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March 28, 2006

Where Can I Find a Good Reader?

Thanks to all of you who offered your suggestions last week about how to successfully use a reader while at work. Here are my favorite tips you’ve offered so far during your discussion:

Ardis, for instance, writes:

“...Whenever, I hired a reader, I had them read for me so I could find out how well they read and understood what they read.

”Graphs and tables were the most complicated for them. I tried to know what I needed most from what they read so I knew what questions to ask when I did not hear what I needed to know.

”At first, with all readers, I would have them read everything on each page. As I learned how good or bad a reader was, I knew what I could reliably have them skip and what times they needed to read everything. I learned not to assume they had read all the relevant stuff and to ask if they had skipped anything.

”Now, in my present business, it is even more important to know even the information a reader might find unimportant. I have learned not to throw away stuff read unless I'm really sure I have gotten all the relevant information from each piece of mail or form…”

C. Fred Stout points out:

“...A reader can be an employee, a volunteer, a family member etc. However, the user must maintain control and make good use of that necessary tool...”

LuRetta tells how she screens reader applicants:

“My use of readers ranges from college studies in mathematics through support of my employment in programming and analysis. In most cases, the material to which I needed access was technical in nature -- with attention to minute details and communication of visual diagrams being vital. I found that by far the most important key to reader success was reader selection.

“Therefore, I designed very challenging skill tests as part of my hiring interviews. I asked candidates to convey verbally: punctuation, structure and placement of elements on the page, usage of color and font, information implied by juxtaposition, subordination and numbering of items. In other words, I did everything possible to screen applicants for the essential balance of skills, incorporating the most useful degrees of focus on the detail, big picture, and meaning of information.

“Once I found someone with the right skill set, training them to match my specific daily needs was easy.”

Suzanne gets even more specific:

“...Can you estimate how much time you'd need to use a reader each week? Compare that with the hours you work without the use of a reader and see what it comes out to be. If it's a minor part of your job, it's reasonable to request a reader.

“Next, you need to determine how skilled the reader must be… I use one person for an hour one day and another person for an hour another day. (Because) one person is more confident in her abilities (and) the other is less confident, I try to save the more complex reading for the confident person and the easier material for the less confident. Both readers are intelligent. However, one is more comfortable with complex data, while the other is not. Knowing this, I plan accordingly and choose material that they are comfortable conveying to me…

“...Asking questions (about the material) becomes a skill I must develop in order to gain the information I need...

Jo seeks to establish a mutually beneficial experience:

“...I have used readers when I needed to and found great satisfaction in having someone who would read and explain as necessary. I first put out the word that a reader was needed and then I was careful to explain what kinds of material needed to be read.

“I interviewed several people and then chose from among those the one or two I thought would benefit me most in terms of efficiency and clarity. I looked at having a reader as being a wonderful experience for myself as well as for the reader.

”...You have opportunity to help someone else to stick to the schedule you set and then that person gains confidence because you have put the whole thing in a positive and success-oriented light for all concerned...”

All of your tips about how to select and manage a reader raises another question in my mind, and I’d like to pose it as this week’s discussion topic on the eSight Networking Forum:

How does a person with a visual impairment who is working in the mainstream job market find effective readers?

Organizations serving those of us with visual impairments, I know, help find readers for doing mail etc., and schools and colleges recruit textbook readers, but it seems to me that on-the-job people in the mainstream workplace are largely on their own.

Please correct me if I’m wrong about the on-the-job gap by giving us some sources you’ve used.

For instance, I might recruit readers from high school or college campuses, particularly among students who are interested in a job sector where I’m currently working. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, how about retired people in my particular field?

Or, is there a national clearinghouse which can help me find a reader within my local area?

Please submit your reader recruitment suggestions.

Posted by Jim Hasse at 03:15 PM | Comments (4)

March 21, 2006

Successfully Using a Reader While at Work

Those of you who have not yet tapped into the eSight Networking Forum are missing some interesting stories about the various career paths individuals with visual impairments and other disabilities have followed over the years -- sometimes purposefully and sometimes by chance (but most through effective networking).

During those discussions on the eSight Networking Forum, Ameenah Lippold’s comment about using a reader at work caught my eye. Here it is:

“...I am very comfortable in being blind. I have been blind since I was six, and I am now 28. I have worked in the technology arena from doing assistive technology to just your generic system administration and programming.

”For personal reasons, I decided that I would try working in the government, and so I landed a position doing Enterprise Architecture. This field is very complex and relies heavily on graphics to convey very complex and detailed information.

“...I am finding that Enterprise Architecture taps into my natural strengths, and, if I can master the field, it would be most advantageous for me in the long run. I considered doing the reader route, but I am concerned that might be viewed in a negative light, and there is no guarantee I would get someone who is (able to accurately) explain some of these graphics.

“The final option is that I transfer into a different group within the agency, but I am determined to not do that. It goes against everything that I believe in about myself and about one's choice in pursuing a career. I would like to hear anyone's input on the matter.”

Consider Ameenah’s situation. Then please submit your replies to this question:

What tips do you have for successfully using a reader while at work?

Posted by Jim Hasse at 12:24 PM | Comments (8)

March 15, 2006

Advancing Your Career – What Works?

I think that we are so concerned about assisting people to get jobs (or getting jobs for ourselves) that we forget about the importance of getting promoted in the jobs that we land.

I think this lack of promotion difficulty is particularly evident in non-governmental jobs. Speaking for myself, I have never been promoted in any of the jobs I have held, meaning my promotions were accomplished by changing jobs.

So, I would welcome hearing from those of you who have been promoted.

How did your promotion happen?

What did you do to make it happen?

What did others do to support you?

Have you been promoted to a management position where part of your responsibilities involved supervising others? What is that like?

You can take a stab at just one of these questions, a couple of them or all of them and be as brief or as long as you like.

Thanks.
Peter

Posted by Peter Altschul at 10:07 AM | Comments (5)

March 01, 2006

Breaking Into “Non-traditional" Workplace Settings

Peter Altschul, guest blogger on the eSight Networking Forum during March, writes:

For the last 14 years, Peter has consulted with corporations, non-profit organizations, and coalitions about such areas as enhancing employer effectiveness at recruiting and retaining talent from under-represented populations, preventing teen pregnancy, and assisting school districts to use technology more productively.

He is an experienced change facilitator and educator with expertise in staff development, strategic planning, conflict/diversity management, and process redesign.

For more detail about how Peter approaches career management, go to the article, “Close Trust Gap, Advance Employment With Joint Training.”

Also check Peter's resume.

Peter’s query about non–traditional work settings reminded me of the “Quote of the Week” we ran in eSight’s NetWork News last week. It was from Nick Corcodilos of asktheheadhunter.com.

Nick maintains:

Those of us with disabilities sometimes find ourselves climbing out of two pitfalls.

Because much of our time is often devoted to correcting and overcoming our vulnerabilities or compensating for them, we often neglect cultivating our strengths and promoting them effectively to prospective employers.

Because those professionals who seek to help us often steer us into “safe,” easier-to-get jobs traditionally staffed by individuals with a visual impairment, our real interests and skills are sometimes shuffled aside.

And those of us with disabilities often walk a tightrope.

If we drift too far toward aggressively seeking accommodations that we know can be helpful in compensating for our weaknesses, we can appear to be “troublemakers” or “whiners” to non-disabled others.

If we religiously cultivate our strengths and find our niche in the right interest area (as described by Nick in his quote), we can easily become an “overachiever” (a “super crip”) in the eyes of others.

My proposition is that we can avoid the pitfalls and get off the tightrope by building a network of authentic contacts, individuals who have grown beyond stereotypical thinking about disability and have something worthwhile to say about when, where and how to get jobs which are compatible with our interests and skills.

Those in the “Internet” generation with visual impairments may be among the first to declare freedom from both the twin pitfalls and the tightrope. I think Peter would agree with me on that.

By finding that freedom; avoiding those who lead us (however unintentionally) into “traditional,” safe jobs for individuals with visual impairments; and cultivating a network of mainstream contacts, we can build meaningful, fulfilling careers.

Given the importance of cultivating mainstream contacts in that career-building effort, here is our discussion question for this week:

Posted by Peter Altschul at 11:19 AM | Comments (9)