Hi, I agree with all that Scott has said. I have elements on my CV that might give it away like sitting on the Board Of Directors as a Trustee For The British Computer Association Of The Blind, but they aren't sure what my involvement is with Blindness at that stage. If there is no equal opportunities monitoring form as part of the application, I will tell them I'm Visually Impaired when offered the interview. More to show I'm comfortable with being Blind and put them hopefully at ease. Recently I completed an interview, and once the interview was over I had an open and frank conversation with the tech manager and HR person about how it all works. I know I did well in the interview and answered their questions that everyone else had to answer with ease, so I felt relaxed about the whole thing as they were very cool and professional. I've pretty much decided these days if they don't feed off my CV, and positive, and open and honest approach then I don't' want to work there. While it's possible to win hearts and minds and we need to put a bit of effort in, you can be building a rod for your own back by trying too hard to justify yourself. I'd say be honest in interviews, but be aware that an employer does not want to hear problems. It's a delicate balance between being fully up front about things and presenting the best case scenarios. What I'm saying is an employer doesn't' want to hear, you need to do this and that to accommodate me. They want to hear sure, I'm Blind and here are the skills I can bring to your business. I tend to play on the positives like the soft skills that people talk about like organisation, communication, flexibility, adaptability are hard wired into me. Good luck! Barry. -----Original Message----- From: Blind-sysadmins [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Scott Granados Sent: 21 May 2014 17:56 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] Questions about employment issues Hi there, I think this is ok and on topic. I know it's been discussed before and there have been specific discussions and even groups formed to cover accessibility and it's impact on the work place. To answer your questions, there are no clear cut answers but here's what my experience has been and what has worked for me. 1. I really don't disclose my vision status during the interview process until the in person happens and then obviously everyone figures it out really rapidly. By that point hopefully your resume stands for itself and that helps to ease the situation. In some cases recruiters who I have worked for before are familiar with my situation and may on their own prep the possible client of the situation ahead of time. This has worked out well for me and the issue can be dealt with in a way that the recruiter has experience with. (they know their customer) 2. As for the discussing how you work I like to give the client a chance to ask questions in this area. I volunteer this though since I'm not sure legally how much they can ask about your disability. I find by bringing it up during the interview process it eases concerns. Maybe bring your laptop with you and demonstrate a screen reader and how it helps you work etc. 3. Finding people open to working with a blind engineer is tricky. I don't know of a stock way of answering that. I'd say that geography place a part in this. Places like San Francisco or New England might be tending towards more integration than say Stillwater Oklahoma. This is of course a gross generalization though and you can find exceptions on either side. One thing I will say is the more work I successfully complete the easier this process gets. Now that I have over 20 years experience the clients tend to see this first and foremost and blindness is way down the list of things they worry about. I could be lucky though. I find though that searching for work in places where there are a concentrated amount of blind people can be easier. Not sure if that helps at all but that's been my experience. Thanks Scott On May 21, 2014, at 12:45 PM, Jad Wauthier <jtwauthier@gmail.com> wrote:
I sincerely apologize if this is an inappropriate topic for this list. Does anyone know of any resources like forums, other mailing lists, etc which deal with issues regarding blindness and employment in tech industries? I am a developer, and I have always found it difficult to find employment in spite of my ability to demonstrate my skill sets.
Some of the questions I am looking for answers to are:
1. When is the ideal time to disclose my visual limitations 2. How best to approach the topic of how I work 3. How to find tech companies that are comfortable working with people with a different approach to interfacing with their technologies
I realize that some questions don't have clear cut answers. I'm really looking for various view points and possibly something that might prove helpful in my current job search. I've had so many close calls. I would appreciate any insight anyone could offer. You can contact me directly if you feel comfortable doing so.
Thanks.
Jad
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