by Darian Hartman
During last July’s ACB national convention in Des Moines, Iowa, the American Council of the Blind Government Employees affiliate sponsored a discussion about why there continues to be a 70 percent unemployment rate among people with visual impairments. This session was well-attended and many good ideas were generated.
As a result of this session, the new ACB board of directors, as one of its first official actions, created the ACB Employment Issues Task Force (see the September 2001 issue of “The Braille Forum” to learn more).
It’s not enough to talk about this issue; we must take action! The ACB Employment Issues Task Force intends to do just that. Our goals include developing educational/training activities during annual ACB conventions; disseminating relevant materials to employers and consumers; and promoting advocacy efforts on behalf of employees and job seekers who are blind or visually impaired.
We are planning to conduct a workshop during the 2002 ACB convention in Houston, Texas. Possible topics include discussing how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) can work for you in employment settings and enhancing self-advocacy skills that you can use during interviews, on the job, and in your personal lives.
ACB and the Employment Issues Task Force can spearhead these opportunities, but we must all work together to realize social change. We must act individually to improve our employment outlooks, and we must join together to make an impact. We hope that you will want to be a part of this action.
It is important to begin by looking at what our priorities are regarding improving the employment outlook for people who are visually impaired. What are the reasons why so many of us are unable to secure employment or receive promotions if we are working? Yes, much of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of prospective employers and social attitudes. Through my own experiences, however, I have discovered that we cannot change others; they have to want to change. What we can do, though, is influence others by working on changing our own attitudes and behaviors. To do this, we must take a long, hard, honest look at ourselves.
This is the first in a series of articles that will appear in “The Braille Forum” on the subject of employment of people who are blind. The next article in this series will address how our self-esteem affects our employability. I hope these articles will arm us to work singly and together to spark some serious soul-searching, initiative and enthusiasm for bringing one another, and a growing number of employers, into the 21st century.