This page is an excerpt of our book, Sailing Farther Than the Eye Can See.
1. What kind of work would you love to do?
Erin: The kind of work that I would like to do is be a graphic designer. Specifically, what I would like to do is package design for people who have other disabilities. In my eyes I believe packaging is not very accessible at all, I know that I have a hard time opening most new packaging without scissors unless I get someone to help me open it. I think should be able to have ease opening a bag of chips when they want it and be able to open it with no assistance needed or very little assistance.
Emily: I would like to work remote from home. My career path is still unknown.
Ashley: I’d really love to end up in media law, I specifically am interested in contract or defamation law. I also want to continue creative writing in some capacity whether that be just a blog or a book based in my own experiences with chronic illness and disability.
2. What are your greatest fears about working and what obstacles do you anticipate? What obstacles have you already encountered?
Erin: Some of my greatest fears is that I won’t be able to find a job right away because of my disabilities. I also fear that I won’t get the accommodations I need, or they treat me like I can’t do anything by myself. The other fear I have is coworkers or higher up managers won’t be friendly towards me. I have only had one job and it was pretty easy, so I didn’t really need much, and I wasn’t working full time, it was only a summer job. The major obstacle that I could see coming up is taking and setting up transportation to get to places. I haven’t had a lot of success with it when trying to do the dart bus on the Cape. Living in the city somewhere is probably going to the best for me.
Emily: My greatest fear about working is the amount of time given to work on projects. An obstacle that I anticipate is that I may have to change all documents to have a bigger font for me that I can read. An obstacle that I have encountered is adapting how I use the computer.
Ashley: What has always given me the biggest fear is disclosing my disabilities, since they are all not obvious to people it can sometimes be difficult to judge when/how is the best way to disclose. I think where that fear has stemmed from is the abled responses I’ve encountered in professional settings when I did decide to disclose. With age and experience I’ve realized it’s their ignorance speaking, and I have the ability to leave them with education.
3. What strengths or resources do you think will help you in your working life?
Erin: Technology will always be my best friend. Once I my coworkers they will be a good resource for me.
Emily: I am aware of when the assignments are due and get them done before the due date. Resources that will help me are my online library and Linkedin.
Ashley: I’m overly organized which is the only way I’ve been able to do multiple projects at once and not feel overwhelmed with things. Having a strong support system of all different kinds of people that I can rely on for advice or to vent to has always been helpful for me too.
4. What do you think Blind or Visually Impaired people bring to work that is different, valuable, or surprising?
Erin: I think visually impaired and blind people can bring a different view to certain things. We often see small details that really matter that sometimes sighted people may not catch them. Sometimes visually impaired and blind people find ways to do things easier and show sighted people how to do it.
Emily: Something that is surprising is that we can still do the work even though we are visually impaired.
Ashley: The disabled community in general has been made to think they/we need to prove ourselves more than our abled co-workers, as a result most will be the most driven, focused, hardest working individuals you’ll meet. I think what probably surprises people the most is many blind or visually impaired people don’t need as drastic of accommodations as most would assume. I also think most things that surprise people are because they don’t fully understand that blindness is in different degrees of severity, they just associate it with total loss of vision from birth.
5.How have your views about work changed over the course of this project?
Erin: Since we didn’t know each other at first, it was a little awkward but then we started to figure it out and now we keep in touch with each other and ask each other for help when we need it. If I find a group just like this when I enter the workforce, it will be a lot of fun.
Emily: Some people take into consideration of physical disabilities and my visual impairment. Through doing this project, I have figured out new other opportunities that I can pursue if I want to.
Ashley: I think my view that I should just be on one career path has changed, I still am very set in my next goal of working in law, but I definitely have had a spark reignited to pursue making my creative writing another source of income. Thanks for that, Kate and Keith Rosson :)