ANIL LEWIS: Hi, my name is Anil Lewis. I’m the Executive Director of Blindness Initiatives for the National Federation of the Blind, the most transformative membership organization of blind Americans.
The unemployment rate of blind Americans has hovered around 7% for decades. The root remains the fears and misconceptions that people have around the capacity of blind people. And the lack of knowledge around the tools that blind people use to be competitive every day.
Through this series, we will be educating blind job seekers and employers about the variety of different careers that blind people are actively pursuing today. And the tools and strategies they use to be competitive on the job. We are hoping that this will help put a dent in the unemployment rate and create greater opportunities for blind people.
So let’s take a look at Where the Blind work.
NIKKI JACKSON: Another than that, again, we have a great webinar in store for you all. But before we get started, I am going to introduce you all to our guest moderator for the evening. They have seven years of experience working in the blindness rehabilitation field. They currently work at the Colorado Center for the Blind, serving as the employment specialist and alumni and working in alumni relations and they also have national orientation in mobility certification.
So everyone please give a virtual welcome to our guest moderator, Charles Bennett.
CHARLES BENNETT: Hey, everyone. I'm happy to be here. And like Nikki said, we have a great panel for you. And the word that stuck out for me as Nikki was talking was expectations. Our panelists, they do have high expectations for themselves. And in return, have really high expectations for the people that they work with.
And so that being said, my name is Charles Bennett. I do work at the Colorado center for blind. I am a father of two beautifully-adult girls. And yeah, I'm just really happy to be here.
So thank you. So that being said, I'm going to go ahead and start the questions. We're going to turn it over to the panel a little bit. We have our panelists are really, really great. We have Colin Wong -- I'll let them introduce themselves.
So our first panel -- we're going -- the first question, I'm sorry, we're going to have the panelists talk about themselves. Their positions where they work. And just a little bit about their job a little bit there.
So Colin, I'll turn it over to you first for a few minutes.
COLIN WONG: Definitely. Thank you so much, Charles. And looking forward to being here and participating in this panel. Charles said, my name is Colin Wong. I am a self-employed. I'm a blindness Education Consultant.
And I teach in my free time. And primarily, I'm working on my PhD in educational leadership through University of North Dakota.
And I am also -- I spend a lot of time working and serving as the Vice President of the national blindness professional certification board.
So that is my experience. And looking forward to being here. Thanks, Charles. Oh, sorry, I live in Seattle, Washington. And part of the Washington affiliate.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. Our next panelist is Yadiel Sotomayor. Yadiel, would you talk about yourself, please?
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: Absolutely. Thank you, Charles. So like Charles said, my name is Yadiel Sotomayor. I'm originally from Puerto Rico.
And I've had the pleasure of living and working from almost every corner of the United States at this point. I was a cane travel instructor in South lake city, Utah. Taught home management and technology at one of our training centers, blind incorporated, and now working as an assistive technology instructor at the Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the blind. I'm excited to be here. Very much looking forward to spending time with y'all.
And I'll pass it over to my next panelist. Thank you.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. Thank you. Our next -- I know this guy pretty well, Charles Acheson. Would you talk about yourself?
CHARLES ACHESON: Absolutely. Hello, everybody. Charles Acheson here. I am a registered certified assistive tech instruction specialist. Recently working with Charles Bennett at the Colorado Center for the Blind. I have lived and worked in several states including Florida where I grew up.
And I taught technology in Tallahassee. I love having Yadiel here because I attended blind incorporated and now I find myself in Colorado.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. Thank you, guys. All right, Charlie, don't get comfortable. We're going back to you. Can you talk about your professional journey and how your blindness has played a Natter that?
CHARLES ACHESON: It has been interesting. I've got a fair variety, really, of job experience. So when I was a young adult, my blindness played quite a part because I had difficulty, there were other factors, of course but I had a lot of difficulty trying to find any sort of work when I was a young adult in college, work or internships. It just didn't happen. And unfortunately, there is prejudice and misconceptions out there, so I experienced those in a few interviews that I've had over the years.
But where it's really been interesting is that I was not fully -- I was low vision until I was a teenager. And until that point, I was kind of average with technology.
And then I lost my vision. And of course, as some of you know, you lose your vision, and you have to relearn to do computers. That didn't go so well with me. I was terrible with technology. Ironically enough. So one day I went to blind incorporated and got proper training on technology.
And now I find myself teaching it.
So in a way, going blind really hurt my professional development early on, but now, it's the direct cause of my entering the field in which I'm quite happy. My first tech job, I actually got because I went into a lighthouse in Florida. I was there to get some braille playing cards. And while I was there, I was unemployed at the time, long story, and was talking to them. Because I said, I'm unemployed. I'm trying to find work, and it's been difficult. Do you guys have any resources for this area?
And so, I found out that they were hiring for technology at the time, and we were just chatting about my trying training at blind incorporated and other job experiences like institute teacher, tuning pianos, working for FedEx, contact specialist at a call center, but I noticed as the conversation went on that she kept circling back to my training at BLIND Inc.
And she goes, well, we're looking for a new tech instructor, would you like to do the interview? All because I went to get some braille playing cards, I found myself in this field.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. Thanks, Charlie. Yadiel.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: I was born what my parents lovingly said was low vision. Because of that, in the Puerto Rico system, I had way, quote, unquote, way too much vision to be taught essentials like cane travel, access technology, braille, all key things that you need for employment.
It wasn't until I was in my first year of college that I realized how much that impaired me. And it was a struggle. College was very much a drug because I didn't have the skills to deal with any of that. Pass forward a few year, and I graduated from college with an absolutely horrible 2.9 GPA. It was sad.
And I had the opportunity to, after college, attend the center for the blind. Now in my college day, I graduated with a bachelor’s in teaching English as a second language. And I walked into the classroom my first day of my apprenticeship, and I walked out. I realized real quick that I did not want to teach young kids, especially in a classroom setting.
So I found myself kind of drifting, but I was going to the Louisiana center for the blind, so at least I had the next nine months planned out for me.
And it was during the Louisiana center for the blind and my training there that I got the opportunity to work this their summer program. And that's when I realized how much I (frozen video). As soon as I graduated the Louisiana center for the blind, I enrolled in Louisiana tech university to get my master's degree in rehabilitation teaching and counseling and guidance.
Now, for those that know me, they know that I'm pretty indecisive. So I didn't know what I wanted to do. I didn't know if I wanted to be a rehab teacher, cane travel instructor, so I did all of them. I did -- I got all three certifications at the time offered. It was definitely a journey. I did not recommend doing it as fast as I did. I graduated in about a year and a quarter with all three certifications. Don't recommend that.
But I graduated with a 3.9 GPA.
So that right there showed you the value of the training. I was a much better student. And because of that, I was able to land a job in Salt Lake City, Utah. Worked as a cane travel instructor for almost three years there. Absolutely loved the cane travel aspect, but unfortunately, I started noticing that my hearing was going South. And at this point, I wore a hearing aid on one ear. I mean, hearing loss in the other ear was starting to affect me quite a bit.
But I didn't want to leave the rehab field. So a coworker back then, she moved to Minnesota to be the Director of Blind incorporated. And she heard that I was looking for a transition. So she gave me a call.
And I'm like, she's like, hey, why don't you come work for me?
And I told her, Jen, there's no way I'm teaching cane travel in Minnesota. It's way too cold out there. And she was like, no, I was thinking more management. I went and interviewed. And started teaching home management shortly thereafter. Did that for about three years and then a position opened up as the communications instructor. And lead instructor of blind incorporated.
So my job was not only to teach technology in braille but to work with the recent staff to make sure they got training and got support. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of anybody's control, blind incorporated was forced to shut down in December of 2023.
So I found myself without a job. And that's when I saw a job in Virginia. I got some excellent recommendations from people that have worked there previously. And here I am, working with technology. And only technology.
And it's definitely an adjustment to working with -- having all of these, like, things to do at work to just laser focusing on one thing which is access technology, but it has been a breath of fresh air, honestly, the ability to just focus on one thing and just that one thing has given me a new appreciation for technology and the role that it plays in the rehab process.
So very much enjoying my time here so far.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. Thank you. And Colin?
COLIN WONG: Yeah, definitely. So when I first lost my vision, I was a junior in high school. And you know, I was blessed to have had some guidance and mentorship from my cousin who said, you really need to become involved and get to know the National Federation of the Blind.
So that summer after I lost my vision, I went to the CCB. And went through their summer program. And that was my first exposure to structured discovery, what the NFB was. And that was a life-changing experience for me. When I was graduating from high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
And I just knew that I had to go to college, get a degree, and then maybe I could figure from there. So when I stepped into undergrad, I went with an undecided major. I switched my major about 15 times before settling on what I wanted to do. And I remember that CCB, there were blind instructors teaching. And I figured that's something I could do.
So I decided to go on that path. At that point, I didn't know anything about Louisiana tech. So I just looked for a university that had a program. When I applied, they told me that they would not teach blind people or didn't know how to teach blind people on how to be an instructor so I should go to Louisiana Tech instead.
So at first, that rejection was hurtful. I always say to people, you know, how ironic is that people who teach blind people can't teach a blind person how to teach blind people. That ended up being the best experience of my life was being able to go to Louisiana Tech because up to that point, that was the first time I heard about Louisiana Tech. And that was when, you know, I pursued my masters in guidance and counseling and orientation mobility.
And I got to go through LCB as a student, do my internship there, meet Yadiel, and when I first chose a career path, you know, I chose to teach in blindness out of convenience because that's what I knew that blind people could do. But I always thank Louisiana Tech and LCB because that's where I developed a passion. They taught me the importance and the impact that teaching blind people truly had. I experienced it myself when I was at CCB.
But from a professional perspective, you know, it's where I developed that love for doing what I do. So after I graduated with my masters, I ended up moving to Phoenix, Arizona, teaching. Started off as a cane travel instructor and worked there for about five years. Eventually, I became the training and training coordinator and the Program Manager.
And then after that, my wife got a job in Seattle. And it was a good time for us to transition. At that point, once we moved to Seattle, I started figuring out what I wanted to do and so many people said, you know, maybe you should get a PhD. And for years and years, I was reluctant, and I told people I didn't want to do it.
But it was a good time. And getting a PhD is what I'm doing now. And I've really developed a passion. And realized there's not enough research with the proper philosophy and high expectations of blind thanks is really out there. A lot of blindness research is focused on low expectations.
So now, that's my primary pursuit is working on getting this PhD and trying to see how I can impact blindness education from the research perspective.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. Thank you. For the next question, we're going to put on the eye of the tiger theme music or rocky theme music, what truly inspired you to choose this profession? Where did you find the inspiration and motivation? And for this question, we'll start with Yadiel.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: My first inspirations, honestly, came in 2010 when I flew to Dallas, Texas to go to this convention of an organization that was foolish enough to give me a scholarship. I walked into the hotel, and I saw hundreds and hundreds of blind individuals moving and being independent and doing things I never imagined to be able to do.
And that's kind of how it kind of sparked not only my inspiration for the blindness field but just my inspiration in general. How I want that for everybody. I want people to -- blind individuals to be able to achieve whatever their dream is, whatever their goals are. And to think further than the expectations that have been set for them. To think further than that.
I would say my second inspiration has been after being in the field for a while, you kind of grow jaded a little bit. And that's normal when you work in a specific field for a while.
But the thing that keeps me going is actually the students that reach out to me years later. And tell me all of the cool things that they're doing. A special shout out to one of my old students who never -- he didn't want to go to college. He didn't want to deal with any of that when I first started working with him.
And now, he is starting his social worker's master’s degree in Utah. And that is incredible. I'm super proud of that student.
So that's the stuff that keeps me going, the amazing progress, my students take is my inspiration at this point.
CHARLES BENNETT: Thank you. Colin?
COLIN WONG: Yeah, definitely. The reason I'm passionate about working in this field, I remember when I lost my vision working in high school, the expectations of blind people are incredibly low. I remember that after I lost my vision, I didn't know how to do trigonometry anymore but that was the class I was involved in.
And I didn't pass a single test, but I passed through the class. And you know, this is great. That's all I could think about was, I got a good enough grade to go to college.
But then, now, looking back, I realize that you have to find and surround those people who have the high expectations out you. There's no reason I should have passed that math class not having done an assignment or passed a single test. And when I first to CCB, that was the first time I was challenged as a blind person.
And I went to college, and I wasn't challenged or pushed that much because, again, the professors' expectations for me, not a lot of them, but there was enough where I felt like there wasn't enough of push that I needed.
And then I got pushed again when I was at LCB and Louisiana Tech where the expectations were set incredibly high again. And I realized that high expectations, you know, it's very hard to meet those expectations, but when you do, it's so fulfilling. And it made me realize that I want to be able to set those high expectations and be that support system for blind people as well in my career. Because I didn't want to just do things haphazardly or go through the same system I did where low expectations were enough to pass through. When I was given the high expectations and I was able to succeed and instructors I had were able to explain to me the importance of high expectations and when I saw the importance of it personally and through the students that I was teaching, you know, fueled my passion to continue on in this career.
CHARLES BENNETT: Thank you. Charlie.
CHARLES ACHESON: Yeah. Like I said earlier, I found myself in this field very unexpectedly. And I've wonder from time to time what was she thinking when she offered me this interview? like, okay, this guy is a good fill-in until we can find a real instruct store in I don't know. I've never had the chance to ask her.
But as it's turned out, it's become my career. I it wouldn't grad school and got certified in everything. What I find truly gratifying is the students who were like me. As I said earlier, I was terrible with technology until I got proper training at blind incorporated. And it can be fun working with the students who are pretty good with tech already. We can do some interesting stuff.
But the students who were like me and had no idea what they're doing on their phone, the computer, or anything, those are the ones I find it gratifying to work with. And I tell them, I don't think many of them believe me, but I tell them all, look, I learned this stuff. I was worse than you are. So that's what I find the most gratifying.
And I have, as they said, had the pleasure of speaking to a few students, a few former students, after the fact. You know, I tell them my whole story, but I just walked in to get some braille playing cards. And I have spoken to certain students about whether they have serious doubts going into an application or interview or going in to meet someone. And for example, one wanted to go into a particular field of study.
And he said, well, they're not going to hire me. I said so what. Put in an application. Go talk to the lady. You don't know what will happen.
And he, in fact, did get that particular -- he was accepted to that particular field in another state. Not where he wanted, but he's in. And I find those relationships very gratifying. I'm still in contact with that student. I just love to pass it on and give people access to all the tools that I'm now able to use. Looking back, what truly started turning me around technology-wise was when the barred website came into being along with the Victor reader stream. I was a reader when I was young. And when I lost my vision, I couldn't do that anymore. We had talking books, of course, cassette tapes.
But the barred website got me personally motivated to go into technology and try to start figuring out exactly what I was doing. And that's what I try to find with all of my students. Okay, doesn't always turn into a passion along those lines but let's find something really interesting that gets you motivated. I had one student; she just could not get into voice over on her phone. She said it's boring. I'm trying to do my swipes, but I'm falling asleep doing my swipes.
So I took some time and just started chatting with her. And I found out she loved a TV show, but she never heard it described so she didn't know what was going on most of the time. So I went on audio vault, if you are familiar with that. And I downloaded some to her phone. She learned that phone in a week.
And I think that was the most excited I've ever been at work, just I started laughing and couldn't stop watching her swiping through her phone. She's, look, I can play the next episode. So that is the best part of my job and keeps me going.
CHARLES BENNETT: Thank you, Charlie. Thanks, guys. The next round of questions, we'll start with Colin. Can you describe a unique challenge you have faced in the workplace as a professional? And provide some examples of how you have adapted and overcome those challenges? I almost combined those words. Adapted and overcame those challenges.
COLIN WONG: Yeah. I'll say, I'll speak from a researcher perspective. One challenging thing is in a field where there's the software, not a lot of the statistical software is accessible. There are a lot of work-arounds. But in a lot of it is very graphical based.
So that's where I have the most accessibility challenges is trying to navigate the inaccessible statistical software. Fortunately, there's one out that is somewhat or the most accessible which is -- but if anyone is going to research, you know, understanding that there are some softwares that maybe isn't -- your university or wherever you may be doing research that may be inaccessible.
But that's my biggest barrier.
CHARLES BENNETT: Okay. Thank you. Let's go, Charlie.
CHARLES ACHESON: Yeah, I'm sure we've always experienced some technology setbacks in the workplace. Partly because technology changes all the time. I'm sure those of you who have taught any kind of tech lesson have had the fun of starting a lesson with someone and going, oh, crud, they changed the menu in the last update. And sometimes there's things like graphs and stuff.
But one of the more interesting -- not accessibility exactly.
But situations I've ever experienced is when I worked at FedEx just throwing box around. Pick up the box and it is it on the conveyer. And what was really interesting was my cane. Some people didn't know what it was for at first, of course. So I would explain now and then.
But what was really interesting is they would try to help me out.
So I would set my cane in a particular spot, so I knew exactly where it was. And I had people move it for the most interesting of reasons. Usually some variation of they would say you kept stepping on, I was afraid you were going to trip. I put it there so I will step on it. It helps me keep track of where I am.
But one of the most just dumbfounded conversation came about because sometimes all the packages would get jammed on the conveyer. Be something get stuck. And then there's a pile-up. And we had these I want to sate eight-foot-long metal poles. But they weren't always available.
So one guy said, can I use your cane? I said no. And his response was, but you're not using it. I had go into this whole bit about this, not with the cane for and it's going to break if we do that. So no, I don't think so. But I've had a few different experiences so far as blindness causing issues in the workplace, but that's the one that stands out to me.
CHARLES BENNETT: Thanks Charlie. Yadiel?
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: I would say that one of the biggest barrier I have found in employment, and it's probably the most boring one on this panel yet it's the most important. And that this is being able to manage time sheets, PTO, leave, all of that. A lot of the software that is available is either completely inaccessible or it's so confusing and difficult to use, it might as well be inaccessible. And in Utah, all of the blind employees, well, the software kept telling us that it was accessible.
None of us -- and we had a big group of very technically-savvy individuals, we could not figure it out. One thing I did and it's something I recommend people do in a lot of workplaces is find a buddy. If you find yourself into that situation, you need to submit your time sheet. You need to do a lot of that stuff to get paid. Find a buddy. Find somebody you trust. And exchange favors. I had this person be like, hey, I'll gladly write your reports for you if you help me with my time sheet.
So we kind of did that exchange. And so, don't be afraid to make buddies. But also, don't be afraid kind of rock the boat a little bit because that's how change happens. I'm very fortunate right now to work in a place of employment where a lot of that software is accessible.
And it was because people before I came along rocked the boat. They kept filing complaints.
And they kept bringing it up at different state meetings. And now, at least in the department for the blind, the software being used for time keeping, for absence requests, for all of that, is for the most part accessible and. It's because of people rocking the boat.
CHARLES BENNETT: Yeah. I know I'm one for sure that needs to know how much vacation hours I have for sure.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: It's important.
CHARLES BENNETT: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. This one we'll start with Charlie. Can you talk about what supports or accommodations have been most beneficial for you in the workplace?
CHARLES ACHESON: Yeah, support accommodations. Some I have like -- like what was just being spoken about with the time sheets. Had to get a little being with some time apps for my previous jobs when I worked at FedEx, I would ask someone, can you help me find my time card. They're probably the -- that particular facility is probably the only place in America that uses paper time cards that you punch.
But so far as accessibility support and whatnot in the workplace, when I do an interview or when I have done interviews in the past, I would generally say to the interviewer, if it came up, for those who aren't aware, it's illegal to for them to ask you about your disability even in terms of accessibility questions, I would say, obviously, you can tell I'm blind.
If you have any questions for me, go ahead. They would ask what accommodations might look like. Well, I can put a screen reader on the computer. That's no problem. What I need when I'm getting started is patience while I figure out the system. I need to figure out how things go because I can't just point and click. It takes a little more than that.
And I will be very good at it once I figure it out. But in the beginning, I need a little patience to figure about the system and how to around the building. I got to learn the ins and outs. Telling people that in interviews did work out for me in those jobs where I was hired. A few different places I've and done partnerships, I'm not sure this counts as accessibility support, but I worked in the AmeriCorps program teaching at an elementary school. And when I had to do particular things, I would ask a coworker, can you work with me, this has a visual presentation.
And I can't -- I don't know which of these cards is which. I can't braille them on my own. Can you tell me what this is? I'm going braille it so I can identify it. Other times we didn't have time. So I would say, hand me the card, okay, cool. So those are the types of support that I found the most beneficial over the years.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome, thanks, Charlie. All right. Colin, did you answer this question? I'm sorry.
COLIN WONG: No, not yet.
CHARLES BENNETT: Okay, Colin, answer the question. Thank you.
COLIN WONG: No worries. I'm trying to think because when I graduated, I worked at Savvy Services for the Blind. And you know, I was debating this when Charles was speaking. I worked at a place that was very accessible and I think a lot of times the best accommodations are the ones already built into the workplace. And one thing I think about pointing out because it's not everywhere, but it is for important, but one accommodation they provided for everybody was if you did no need to go to a location but need to see a student who was not at the center, they provided a driver or Uber/Lyft.
And it hit mess right now on how important that really was because there are places where that is not the case. Where you have to figure out your own transportation to get from site to site. And a lot of times, it is accommodation that you can ask for in the workplace.
But from my experience, that's one of the more challenging accommodations to request.
And so, that's something that was provided for me from the beginning.
CHARLES BENNETT: Thank you. This next question I really love. Can you talk about, and we'll start with Charlie, some alternative techniques you use to perform your job duties successfully?
CHARLES ACHESON: Hmm. That's an interesting question. Alternative techniques. You know, I'm honestly not sure. With accessibility, I have been in situations where websites were not accessible.
And I basically had to memorize how many times I have to hit this key in order to find this particular link. Because in the one I'm thinking of, every time you did something on the page, whatever quirk of coding was in it caused JAWS to start reading the whole website from the top. Every time you pressed any key on the keyboard. I have no idea what's up with that. I basically memorized. Let me type in this term. Hit
F3. I know that's where I am.
Okay.
Now I need to find the form field. So I used that as my tool in that situation. In other situations, I mentioned earlier, I've done what to us as blind individuals is common, using things like braille and whatnot. But that pretty much covers most of my experience with alternative techniques.
Otherwise, you know, when I worked on tuning piano, it wasn't an alternative technique in my mind, but it struck the people I worked the way I would count the tuning pins and just follow where I was and what I was doing in the process. By just counting and/or feeling my way along.
CHARLES BENNETT: Okay. Colin?
COLIN WONG: Yeah. So I use a lot of various accessibility or access technology in what I do. I use JAWS. Every once and a while, I use NVDA. Voice over on my phone. And then, just a quick side note is I do have my (?) and everything that I do teaching is non-visual.
And so it's hard to select certain things.
But I guess my whole career is focused on doing things non-visually. So that would be my example.
CHARLES BENNETT: Yadiel?
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: I say for me, and this is going to surprise a few people because braille has not been my strongest suit.
But having access to a braille display. Specifically a braille display that can take notes. I cannot realize how much that was going to help me in my job. Until I had access to one in Utah. From doing things such as taking quick notes of the -- of an address I found while traveling to send another student to. To being able to read messages from the office. With students on travel. And proved incredibly valuable.
Every employer I worked with including the one that I have now, I always asked whenever the talk, what accommodations do you need in the workplace happened, I mention a braille display with some sort of note taking capability. I'm not a big fan of note takers themselves. I don't want the speech. I don't need the speech. I want the braille and the ability to scratch out notes. A lot of sighted people, they grab a pen and piece of paper and scribble on it. Sure, I can do that with stylus, and I have one on the desk at this moment and I use it all the time.
But because I learned braille so late in my life, I am not the fastest slater. But I am the very fast typier in braille. So that's what I use.
And I use it all the time. And it's one tool that I'll say that if I were to find myself without a job and without access to a braille display, I'm going to save up my pennies and get a new one because I'm going to miss it immediately.
CHARLES BENNETT: Awesome. This will be our last question for the evening, guys, and thank you, again, for answering all these.
And then we'll open up for the floor for questions. So Colin, what role do you think that -- what role can employers play to create a more inclusive workplace for people with disabilities?
COLIN WONG: Yeah, definitely. To me the important thing is understanding the individual and what their specific needs are. Every individual has different access needs. You might have two people with the same level of vision and same ability, but accommodations is a personal decision. One person might prefer large print and the other braille.
So it's important that an employer understands the specific individual needs of the individual rather than making assumptions based on what their preconceived notions about what their abilities are.
CHARLES BENNETT: Okay. Yadiel?
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: In addition to what Colin said, which is extremely important, I would say is having an employer that is willing to listen to their employees. Specifically to the disabled employees. Right now, my supervisor is a completely sighted person. But when there is an accessibility issue, when there is a problem from doing our work, she doesn't assume anything. She listens to us. Because at the end of the day, we are the experts on blindness.
So it is incredibly important to have that in the workplace. If not, it's going to be an uphill battle every single time. So if you can find yourselves in a workplace where they invite you to the table and listen to you and your life experiences, you're going to have a great time working for the employer.
CHARLES BENNETT: Thank you. And Charlie?
CHARLES ACHESON: Yeah, I'm going to have to take the easy route and say that having potential employers let go of their preconceptions or assumptions is the biggest deal. I do not think I'm exaggerating at all when I say that every job for which I've interviewed, let's give it the benefit of the doubt.
Let's say most jobs that I've ever interviewed for, I did not get because of something to do with my being blind. And those preconceptions are what really get in the way.
And I would love to have employers not embrace those and just give their -- these potential employees a chance. Not assume there's going to be a problem until there is one. That's the biggest thing I've seen in the workplace.
CHARLES BENNETT: Yep. Chance and opportunity, right. Opportunity is a big one. Well, thank you, guys so much. Appreciate your time. Thank you for answering all these questions.
NIKKI JACKSON: Well, we would like to take some questions from participants? Can you hear me?
CHARLES BENNETT: Yes.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: Yeah, we can. Yeah, we're happy to.
NIKKI JACKSON: Awesome. Okay. So if you would like to ask one of our panelists a question, please raise your hand. Alt y. I think if you're using a Mac. Command y. I did have a question myself, but I was going to pass it to the participants to see if they have one first.
Okay, so no questions at the moment, but I do have a question.
So one of the things that I've heard within the blind community is people not always wanting to go into the blind rehabilitation field because they feel like they would be pigeonholed or feel like there isn't an opportunity for advancement or the skills that they would utilize in these positions aren't transferable. Can you talk a little bit about your own experience and how you all have been able to navigate and maneuver within that field? And find advancement?
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: I can start.
NIKKI JACKSON: Sure.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: So the first thing I'm going to say is if your fear is that you're going to get pigeonholed into working in the blindness field, don't. We need as many qualified properly trained blind individuals in this field as we can possibly get. For the longest time, the blindness professionals field has been filled with well-intentioned but poorly-trained individuals who are sighted.
And it's tiring to see sighted people dictating the services blind people need. We need to be in charge. We need to be the ones taking the lead in this. If you are considering working in the blindness field, give it a shot. It's not for everyone. It absolutely is not for everyone.
And if you find it's not for you, that's okay too.
But please, if the reason why you are hesitant to work in the blindness field is because you are afraid that you're going to get pigeon holed or a stereotypical move, no, please come work in the blindness field. We need you. We need good blind individuals. And in terms of the skills, honestly, at this current moment, a lot of the State agencies that I've worked and private sector too, they are way more demanding than a lot of employers out in the -- in other areas. Because the standards have been set so high, thanks to others that have come before us, a lot of the places, they're working in very high-stress, high-impact areas.
So it's going to be something that is going to help you tremendously. In terms of advancement, you know, let's take technology here, for example. I know many AT trainers that have move on to work at places such as Apple, Google, Microsoft. And all because they got a lot of the problem-solving skills and a lot of the technology skills by working as an AT instructor.
And I could talk on and on, but I'm going to let the rest of the panelists kind of put in their two cents.
COLIN WONG: Yeah, I don't mind going next. I never felt pigeonholed in this career. In fact, you know, as far as I start working as a cane travel instructor, because of the background in blindness, I've been asked to do more and more. And share my expertise. So I felt like I've gotten a lot of promotions and a lot of opportunities because of my background. And speaking from the side, since we do certify structured discovery professionals, why Yadiel is 100% right, there's such a high demand for blindness professionals. You know, we're trying to certify as many people as we can.
And we get contacted so frequently from employers who are looking for people with certifications, blind professionals, getting three to four times more requests from employers than graduates or people who have our certifications.
So there is such a high demand that there is -- if you do want to enter this field, there's a ton of opportunity. And then the last thing I'll say is that working in the blindness field does take a lot of soft skills that other companies do value. You develop so much -- you develop a ton of people skills when you're working here, dealing with challenging dynamics. The soft skills that you do develop when you're working in this field is transferable. And a lot of companies do value that. And do prioritize that when they are looking at applicants.
CHARLES ACHESON: Yeah, Charlie here. I'll pile on to what they said a little bit here. In saying that definitely those skills are very transferable. And it's a good place to get started. In addition to that, when I started working at the lighthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, most of my clients while I was there were older blind. They came to blindness later in life. And for the first several months or so that I worked there, every single week, sometimes every single day, I would have a client I hadn't met before say, oh, thank God, they finally hired a blind person.
So we as blind individuals, you know, can be quite snobbish in our own special way. Well, yeah, this sighted person said that. So I found in clients found it relieving to have another blind person teaching them these skills. And they also found it interesting, I had one client in particular tell me it's -- I'm kind of surprised that your teaching is building on what so-and-so was working. It's a little different but you're building on what he worked on me with.
So we are really expanding the field in our own way. And providing that inspiration to our students. Yes, look, I'm doing this. And yes, I find it a little ironic that I am working at CCB. I feel like I ran home to momma. And now I'm teaching at another center but still get that with my students. They see me using this. I teach my students to explore whatever app they're working on and with malice and forethought not play with a particular app that a student is wanting to look at before I work on it with them. I want them to see, look, I'm exploring the same way I teach you to do it.
But another way you could also look at it is that the blindness field is a good place for us to break into professional work, professional employment. Very much in the same sense, it makes me think of a lot of my family came from Ireland in various generations over the years. And a lot of them had difficulty getting work in America because nobody wanted to hire the Irish men.
So they hired each other. And in a sense, that's kind of what we're doing. We're expanding the field ourselves. And as was mentioned earlier, we need more doctorates doing research in this field to expand it from our perspective.
So even though it is an existing field, we are breaking into it. We're branching it out. We are expanding on it. So we definitely need more blind people in the field of blindness.
NIKKI JACKSON: Thank you for your responses. Wow. You I agree with everything you all said. And as someone who has had over a decade of experience in the blindness field, those are the answers I wanted to hear. We need good people in the field, y'all. We have got some questions now.
So I'll take the first one that came through. Oh, wow. We have got some questions now. So remember y'all, because we're literally running on time now. If you don't get your question answered during the webinar, please, please email us at [email protected] and we'll make sure you get a response. Someone in the chat asked a question around braille and how important it is to learn braille with all of the advancements in technology. Char I would like to talk about that myself for a moment. This is Charlie. I started learning braille when I was in high school. And did not really pick it up at a great pace. Got a lot further into it at blind incorporated.
But my fingertips for whatever reason are not that sensitive. I love using braille. I wish I could read it'd because I don't care for audiobooks that much.
So I wish I could read it. But I use it for labeling. Now braille has really turned around my life professional speaking is braille screen input on my phone. So sometimes you don't have a keyboard handy or you're in a situation where you don't want to Cadillac on a keyboard, they are getting more silent.
But a lot of the time, it's not convenient to have a laptop or a keyboard or something there. And I have found it is very useful on my phone to be able to type with braille screen input rather than a touch screen keyboard or a physical keyboard. It's very much a matter of convenience. It's saved me time. I don't have to switch keyboards constantly to put in my passwords. They all like requiring numbers and characters these days.
And I've also found that it's useful, especially on the fly, but in general when I'm on a phone call. I wish I could use it to control key pads when you're dealing with the phones. But even though that's not an option, when I'm on the phone call, I am able to open up notes and type using braille screen input. I'm sure many of you have had the joys of trying to type with a touch screen keyboard while someone is speaking to you through the phone. It doesn't work.
But with braille screen input, that's not a problem.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: Yeah, I want to just -- everything Charles said about braille screen input. It is absolutely everything. And in fact, a small advantage of having hearing aids that come into your phone can you type in real-screen input, and you can hear voice over on the hearing aids and nobody will know.
But the other reason why it's in braille specifically, extremely important in the workplace and especially if you decide to go into any technology area is you want to check your code and the easiest way to check any code, whether you're working with Excel or working at a Fortune 500 company and Google, Apple, you name it, being able to check your code with punctuation, making sure you have closed brackets, putting the commas in the right place. It's useful in that scenario.
But even if you're not going to be in the technology field, man, spelling, dictation is amazing. But there are so many words that sound alike. Like red and red.
And the only way you can tell if you're spending your boss that you read the book instead of the book is red, it's by checking it with braille.
So please, learn your braille.
COLIN WONG: Yeah, I agree with -- this is Colin. I agree with both Charles and Yadiel. You know, braille is the fundamental skill. Even though computers are taking over the world, including in the classroom, sighted kids are still learning how to write. And how to read print.
It's not all on the computer. So it's important that if we're blind or we do have blind kids, you know that they are learning the importance of braille as well. Sighted kids are not giving up reading and writing on the paper.
CHARLES BENNETT: Mm-hmm.
NIKKI JACKSON: Thank you, all for those responses. And thank you for that question in the chat. Really quickly, because we are running against time. We're a little over. I just wanted to mention that as this meeting ends, there will be a survey that pops up. I encourage you all to take the survey and give us your feedback. Let us know how -- if this webinar was informative. If it changed your perceptions around what you could do as a blind person in this particular field.
And we just love your feedback because then we get to continue to improve on the events that we offer you all. So before we close though, I wanted to say thanks, Charles, for moderating this evening. I wanted to thank our panelists, Colin, Yadiel, and Charlie.
But I also wanted to give you four gentlemen an opportunity to leave any final words with our audience before we close tonight.
CHARLES BENNETT: I would like to answer the question about the certification. One thing, if you look at it in this aspect and Yadiel holds a lot of certificates, just like in a company, just invest in yourself. Learn the skills, learn the techniques and think about as an investment in yourself to get that advancement in your careers.
So thank you, everyone, for having us. And that's all I have to say.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: Yes, I'll go next. I would say if you learn nothing from this presentation, learn this, you never stop learning. When you go into a workplace, it's not -- school might be over, but you're still going to be learning a lot.
So be open to learning. Be always -- be curious and always looking for new things. Trying new things. Experimenting. Are you going to fail sometimes? Absolutely. But failure is just yet another learning opportunity. So please, don't let that curiosity die. Learn and be open to new experiences. Absolutely.
COLIN WONG: This is Colin. Find a blind mentor or someone you can really trust who really pushes you more than you think that you can achieve on your own. I know that I've got on the where I'm at because of the blind mentors that have guided me along the way. And a blind mentor will, you know, if you're entering a new career, you know, maybe that blind mentor has already done it, and you can rely on their guidance.
And if no bun has done it before, then, you know, your mind mentors will support you as you figure it out along the way.
CHARLES ACHESON: Yeah, Charlie, here. More along those lines. I encourage everyone, always be ready to try something new. We've talked about interviews and such today.
And I've had students say this is not going to go well. I tell them, so what, do it anyway. You're thinking this might be a bad move, well, bad decisions make good stories. And you never know what might come of something.
Okay, you didn't get the position you wanted but you're in the field. You made a connection with someone. So always go and try. Always go just to see what will happen. Go and meet the people.
NIKKI JACKSON: Awesome. Wise words from all of you all. And I hope that our listeners, our viewers, our participants, I'm sure, I'm confident that they took all of the advice that you gave tonight.
So again, thank you, all, for participating in this webinar. We really appreciate it. If your questions didn't get answered, again, [email protected] and we'll make sure the questions get answered. And everyone have a beautiful night. We'll see you next time.
CHARLES BENNETT: Good night, everyone.
CHARLES ACHESON: Thank you.
YADIEL SOTOMAYOR: Thank you.