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October 30, 2007
Disability-honed Skills in Problem Solving
As a job seeker, how can you align yourself with the
second-most-important recruitment guideline (out of a
total of 18) eSight members have said hiring managers
need to follow?
You'll find that answer and more in eSight's eBook. The eBook shows that inclusive recruitment involves
effective employee selection, placement and
development. That has implications for both hiring
managers and job candidates with disabilities.
The eBook is finished, and we’re now creating the
marketing and distribution arrangements for it.
As I mentioned last week, working on the top-ranked
strategies has led me to some not-so-easy-to-answer
questions about how job seekers with disabilities can
be most effective in reinforcing the relevance of
these guidelines in their own interactions with hiring
managers.
As an example, consider Strategy Number 2 for hiring
managers: Look for individuals who have developed
their skills in problem-solving by learning how to
live effectively with disabilities; they may provide
just the right skills needed to balance one of your
teams and enhance its creativity.
People with disabilities are valuable to society in
general and to business enterprises in particular
because they're in a position to help us learn how to
deal effectively with personal (and cultural)
vulnerability and ambiguity.
People with disabilities remind us that we humans are
really quite vulnerable compared to other living
things but that we have one thing going for us that no
other species possesses: a wide ranging adaptability.
We can do things we haven’t done before.
The ability to adapt can help us survive as
organizations as well as a society in the 21st
Century, which will likely be marked by huge
ambiguities. We just need to recognize the value of
those differences among us which spawn that
adaptability.
Read about ambiguity, adaptability and disability
in “Target Job Candidates With Disabilities Who Are Risk Takers.”
Then, please give me feedback about this question:
As a job candidate, how can you best highlight your
disability-honed skills in problem-solving to a
hiring manager during a job interview?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 04:33 PM | Comments (3)
October 27, 2007
Handling Inaccessible Blogs in the Workplace
Anna Dresner, telecommuter for National Braille Press, Boston, MA, writes and compiles volumes for blind and visually impaired users of adaptive technology as well as pamphlets of shortcut commands for various computer programs or operating systems. One book I have read and enjoyed is entitled, “Blog On!”
This book can be obtained at http://www.nbp.org
This book defines a blog, saying that, “The word 'blog' is short for 'web log,' meaning an online journal." The author discusses various sites where you can search for blogs and then walks you step-by-step through the process of finding, creating and maintaining your own blog.
Her book gives clear and beneficial keyboard commands for users of JAWS and Window-Eyes and shows you how to search for topics within a blog by tags, lists, links and headings. For example, if you go to a favorite search engine such as Google, you can search for a blog by entering a keyword and putting the word “blog” after it to find a host of information about blogging and blogs you can explore.
Also visit http://www.wordpress.com, a blog-hosting site which Anna uses and discusses at length in this book.
She mentions another site for creating a blog: http://www.blogger.com.
She writes that registration is more complicated on blogger.com and that a blogger must use visual verification (CAPTCHA) in order to create or even post to a blog using that site. Screen readers cannot read these characters so the user needs a workaround to be able to access the site.
Sometimes, there’s a link you can click on to hear letters or numbers which can be placed in the editbox. There may also be a checkbox to check, allowing you to enter your e-mail address so that an e-mail notification can be sent stating that it’s understood that you are a real person and not a spam program. You can’t use the blog site until you receive the e-mail notification, which could take a few days.
As a discussion question for this week, please post your thoughts about this scenario:
You’ve gotten a job, and you’re in the orientation session offered by the company. You’re told that “blogging” is an important part of your position, since it allows you to network with your co-workers and offer suggestions for improvements in the company’s overall growth and efficiency. You find that the blog site is not accessible to you as a user of a screen reader or other adaptive technology device.
How would you, as a newly hired employee who needs to blog, handle this situation?
Posted by Jo Taliaferro at 06:00 PM | Comments (7)
October 24, 2007
Putting Disability Into Perspective
I believe eSight’s new soon-to-be-released eBook, “18 Strategies for Recruiting New Employees: Make Easier, More Effective Hiring Decisions,” can be a “door opener” for both hiring managers and job seekers with disabilities.
As I was reviewing the latest draft of the eBook this week, I noticed something new. The top-ranked strategies led me to some not-so-easy-to-answer questions about how job seekers with disabilities can be most effective in reinforcing the relevance of these guidelines in their own interactions with hiring managers.
For example, consider strategy number 1: Focus on abilities (how job candidates can be assets to your organization) instead of disabilities.
If I were a hiring manager, I would look for job candidates who have a mature grasp of what it means to live well with a disability.
That means living, first of all, with a personal sense of dignity and self-worth (namely, an approach to life that maintains a person has a right to equal dignity, that dignity stems from mature perceptions about self and others and that dignity cannot be dished out by others). Such a person is ready to thrive in the workplace.
In recruiting job candidates with disabilities, I’d want to go beyond the obvious questions such as “Can you do the job?” and “How do you do this?’ (both important questions). I’d want to meet the standout applicant who says, “My dignity is not defined by my disability. My disability does not define who I am. I am as a person first. I can talk about my challenges – but only when needed.”
Check the connection between dignity and self-esteem in “Overview: The Traits of Self-esteem.”
Then, please give me feedback about this question:
How do you quickly get your view of disability across to a hiring manager so you can move to why you’re the best candidate for the job?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 02:10 PM | Comments (5)
October 17, 2007
DMD's Best Outcomes
Today is National Disability Mentoring Day (DMD) under the leadership of The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).
As a national and international effort, it's the one day out of the year when individuals with disabilities (students as well as job seekers) are invited to public and private workplaces so they can explore their career options and meet business men and women who volunteer for this one-on-one job shadowing initiative.
Visiting an unfamiliar place where you know you'll be the focus of attention can be rather daunting for a high school or college student with a disability. But it's probably just as taxing for the business people involved because some of their assumptions about people with disabilities may prove to be shortsighted. As a result, they may learn just as much as their mentorees.
Students may not yet be tuned into what is expected at staff meetings or performance appraisals, but hiring managers can be just as unfamiliar with the realities of living and working with a disability -- and how those realities mold individuals into attractive job candidates.
Today's mentoring process could involve more than 13,000 students and job-seekers with disabilities, over 300 local coordinators, and thousands of large and small employers in communities around the U.S., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and 24 countries, including Brazil, Costa Rica, and Germany.
I hope the public and private business volunteers, as the result of today's interactions with these future job holders, have one or more of the following thoughts:
- "Disability does not define the person I met. It doesn’t define her dignity. She talked about her challenges –- but only when needed."
- "He was quite independent – a strong person who knew what he wanted to accomplish in life."
- "She showed her disability is not the central core of her life; she has the time, inclination and skill to effectively reach out to others."
- "He apparently has learned how to plug away on one or more special needs he has and still not become all wrapped up in himself."
- "She has the motivation to volunteer to work on projects which are important to her."
- "He knew how to calmly deal with unexpected situations."
- "She adapted well to the day’s agenda."
- "He was eager to be included."
The best result of DMD, of course, is that we'll see many of these newly formed relationships go beyond October 17, 2007, and result in eventual employment.
But first impressions can pave the way.
What other first impressions do you hope employers have about the new acquaintances they mentor during DMD?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
October 09, 2007
Adoptive Technology: What’s New in Your Life?
October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, is a good time to document the accessibility barriers that are coming down due to new advances in adaptive technology for those of us with disabilities.
In particular, the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) have provided some of the toughest accessibility barriers to students and professionals with disabilities.
But today's advances in information technology are providing tools and strategies to reduce these barriers and open new career paths for people with disabilities.
EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) is currently sharing three opportunities for everyone to learn more about these important transformations. All three opportunities are open to the public at no cost.
First, there is a 20-minute MP3 interview with two noted scientist/researchers, Dave Schleppenbach and John Gardner, who are making a difference in adaptive technology. This is a recording of one of EASI's podcasts and will take about a minute to actually start to play when you use Windows Media Player.
Second, EASI has a pamphlet, “Science, Engineering and Mathematics Access for People with Disabilities,” which you can download and which you can copy and share with others.
Third, EASI is offering a Webinar scheduled for Tuesday, October 16, at 2:00 p.m. EDT, which will describe the work of the Midwest Alliance for STEM, which is a National Science Foundation grant based at the University of Wisconsin but also includes other regional institutions.
The Webinar will let you listen to the presenters and watch as they share with you Web pages supporting the presentation. There will also be time for you to ask questions or make comments, either using voice chat or text chat.
You need to register in advance for this event.
EASI’s offerings provide helpful background for this week’s discussion question on eSight’s Networking Forum about recent developments in adaptive technololgy which have made a difference in your life.
I encourage you to share your story with other eSight members because such sharing often shows how much we are all alike despite our differences.
Writing about your personal experiences helps you define, in your own mind, who you are as an individual. Recalling your successes and writing about them also reinforces your self-confidence because, through that exercise, you prove to yourself that you can do well.
You can then build upon what you have already accomplished.
Sharing your success story with others also creates a mosaic that reveals common opportunities as well as struggles –- helpful guideposts as we mark another National Disability Employment Awareness Month with an assessment of where we’re been and how far we need to go in gaining equal opportunity in employment.
As Liz Seger puts it:
“I encourage everyone to write out their issues, either in a journal or a diary or a blog or here on a forum at eSight. You never know who will read you and be moved to action.”
Please share your thoughts on eSight’s Networking Forum about this question:
How have you used recent developments in adaptive technology to make your life at home or work easier?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 11:40 AM | Comments (5)