[acb-hsp] FW: [acb-l] Employment Project

[Baracco, Andrew W]

FYI!

 

From: acb-l-bounces at acb.org [mailto:acb-l-bounces at acb.org] On Behalf Of
Mitch Pomerantz
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 1:53 PM
To: leadership at acb.org; announce at acb.org; 'ACB List'
Subject: [acb-l] Employment Project

 

Colleagues:

 

The information below may be of interest to those of you who are
currently employed.

 

 

Mitch Pomerantz, President

American Council of the Blind

**********

"Blind People at Work in the world:

Some often incredible but true success stories".

 

CALL FOR SUCCESS STORIES.

 

 

Thirteen years ago, the book "Blind People at Work" got published in
France under my direction to give blind people, organizations trusted
with their professional guidance, public and private employers and the
general public a better knowledge of the jobs we could access to. Thanks
to 106 success stories, more than 75 activities were then presented,
covering very different aspects, such as:

*	Reception-Communication,
*	Administration,
*	Agriculture,
*	Arts and Shows,
*	Craft industry,
*	Commerce-Trade,
*	Teaching-Education,
*	Industrial issues,
*	Law,
*	Medical-Paramedical,
*	Politics,
*	Press-Audiovisual,
*	Sciences-Research-Computer science,
*	Social work.

 

The publication was successful since under various formats, more than
1,500 copies of the book were sold, several radio programs and TV
interviews took place, many press articles were published, and I
received a great number of success stories.

 

Since May 1999, the blind employment situation has changed: some new
careers have appeared, jobs considered < traditional > are disappearing,
whereas some others are still very common and buoyant in the employment
market. Even if the global economy crisis and the growth of unemployment
in the developed countries are increasingly challenging for the disabled
employment, in spite of the measures undertaken in many countries to
encourage it, I maintain that any blind person who wants it must, like
any other citizen, have the right to work so as to obtain decent
resources and occupy his/her place in the society.

 

That's the reason why the book publisher in 1999 has just accepted to
issue with me a second edition, planned for the second half of 2013.

 

We wish to do better than the first time:

-          Thanks to the support of WBU members associations, which help
will be required during the General Assembly of next November, and
thanks to the facilities of communication offered today by the web, I
wish to gather success stories from all over the world, whereas in the
first issue hardly more than 10% of the articles were coming from out of
France. The experience taught me that in Asia, Africa, America or
elsewhere, even if cultures and economic conditions are very different
from those of Europe, we can collect innovating experiences and good
practices to emulate so as to extend the range of occupations accessible
to blind or seriously visually impaired people.

-          An issue in English, and maybe in other languages, will
greatly help widen the dissemination of this book.

-          Its distribution will be offered to every WBU members
associations, and they might create in situ some adapted format
releases.

-          An electronic version could be made available on line so that
the visually impaired can download it.

-          Any other suggestion is more than welcomed.

 

Each success story, of between 5 to 7,000 spaced characters, will
clearly present the job practiced, the challenges faced and how they
were overcome, the technical support received, the positive aspects to
underline and recommendations to make to any other person wishing to
take the same professional path. The story will be chosen according to
its originality, the clearness of the information contained and the
possibility to replicate it in other countries. 

 

If you are totally blind, that is if you cannot use any vision remain at
work, if the revenue you obtain from your job is enough for you to make
a living, if you are satisfied with the activity you are developing, and
if you wish to share your experience with other blind people, I would
greatly appreciate your contacting me either by e-mail: 
blindatwork at phchazal.fr <mailto:blindatwork at phchazal.fr>  ; or by post:
3 rue des Chantiers 75005 Paris (France), preferably in French, English,
Italian or Spanish. Together, we will shape you success story. I will
also give an answer to any additional question you may have.

  

Around thirty of the contacted people to contribute with their story
have answered favorably, but this is only the beginning and I'm still
very much in need of you all to carry out my project. So please talk
about it to all your friends. I also thank in advance all the
associations that will receive this letter and disseminate it through
their newspapers and information bulletins, on their sites. Because the
more success stories I'll receive from you, the more different this
second "Blind People at Work" release will be from the first and the
more interest it'll raise and, as it occurred in 1999, the closer it'll
be from reaching its goal.

 

It was my pleasure to prepare the first issue, since it was for me the
opportunity to meet many people and discover their extremely exciting
success stories. If you so wish, you can help me and repeat this
wonderful experience.

 

Many thanks to you all and warm regards,

 

 

Philippe CHAZAL.

 

Contact information:

e-mail: blindatwork at phchazal.fr <mailto:blindatwork at phchazal.fr>  ;

or by post: 3 rue des Chantiers 75005 Paris (France

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