Don't Shoot the Piano Tuner: Should We Avoid the Blind Trades?

Don't Shoot the Piano Tuner: Should We Avoid the Blind Trades?

The Braille Monitor

January,

2004

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Don't

Shoot the Piano Tuner:

Should

We Avoid the Blind Trades?

by

John Bailey

John

Bailey

From the Editor: John

Bailey edits the Vigilant, the publication of the NFB of Virginia. The following

article appeared in the summer 2003 issue. Here it is:

In some of the blindness-related

journals I have been reading recently, I have noticed comments that bothered

me. The authors argued that the traditional blind trades were inferior to regular

jobs and should be avoided as career choices. This wasn't said in so many words;

however, the message was obvious.

In

the past agencies serving the blind offered only a few training choices to their

clients wanting to work. If the client wanted to be trained for a career outside

of a narrow list of approved careers, the agency refused to help and told clients

they were on their own. So many blind people over the years were trained for

careers that were not their first choice in order to receive the financial assistance

they needed. As a result many people spent their lives in jobs they didn't want

and were unsuited for. They were forced by bad luck and bad advice into one

of the so-called blind trades.

Some

of those occupations were piano tuning, massage therapy, vending stand operator,

and chair caning. Approved trades boiled down to those that used the allegedly

enhanced hearing and tactile senses of the blind, according to the agency experts.

Today

blind men and women have far more choices. Largely because of the work of the

National Federation of the Blind and its efforts to reform the agencies, blind

people no longer have to settle for the very limited career choices their predecessors

had. It is understandable that people still feel some disinclination to choose

a career in a blind trade. But in an effort to exert our new ability to choose,

some people are unfairly denigrating the blind trades and those who work in

them.

A

little over a year ago I adopted a piano from a Federation friend who no longer

wanted it. It was in pretty good condition considering that it was built when

my parents were in high school. One thing it did need, however, was a tuning.

As soon as the piano arrived, I got a call from another Federation friend who

is a piano tuner. He wanted to set up an appointment for tuning my instrument.

When

the time for the appointment came, so did the tuner. He was right on time. Being

a curious person, I asked if I could watch while he fixed my piano. He agreed

and began to work. We talked about pianos and about his career as a tuner. He

had freely chosen and now loved his career. He described traveling from one

appointment to another and explained that he had to look for new clients constantly

while taking care of his current ones. A bit over an hour later he was done

tuning the piano and giving me an education. He had a new client, and I had

a new respect for a self-employed entrepreneur who happened to be blind.

My

day job is as a computer programmer. I write software and carry out other duties

as assigned. One of those duties is interviewing perspective employees. After

interviewing for several years, I have learned which employee traits are valuable

to my organization. Some of the traits sought by organizations include working

independently with a minimum of direction, managing time and meeting deadlines,

solving expected and unexpected problems as they occur, communicating effectively,

cultivating new business opportunities.

My

self-employed piano-tuner friend had all these traits and more. He was the only

one working to expand his business, keeping track of his expenses, and collecting

fees. He was solely responsible for arranging his transportation and making

sure that he acquired the latest training. If he got sick and couldn't work,

he did not get paid. If he wanted to take a vacation, he again lost income for

that time. The success or failure of the business was completely his responsibility.

Few people have the drive to pursue this kind of career.

So remember, there is no

shame in working at an honest job that gives personal satisfaction and pays

well enough to cover one's material needs. The only shame is in excluding a

potentially satisfying career choice because of an unfounded prejudice.

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