Caroline’s Kitty Corner

Well, okay. Here I am again. I wanted to write about this thing while I had the chance, so here goes.

One way in which the blind, (and people with many other disabilities for that matter), can often run into problems is when looking for jobs. I ran into this problem many times before I got the job that I have now, and I know others who have had some really interesting stories to tell. About ten years ago I went to an organization to apply for a job. I have chosen not to disclose my blindness ahead of time, feeling that my resume and cover letter should speak for themselves, and I wanted the chance to at least get my foot in the door before being told no. So, I went to this place to fill out an application. I was with my job coach who was there for moral support, (which, as it turned out was pointless). We walked in and the lady who was supposed to conduct the interview took one look at me and my cane and said, “Oh, you can’t work here. We use computers.” Of course by law she was required to allow me to fill out the application. She also gave me a brief interview in which the topic of computers came up. I did my best to explain to her what I could do with computers, but I didn’t feel that I was getting anywhere. I ended the interview by saying that I truly believed that if I were given the chance to do the job that I could do it well. I never heard back from the lady, and a couple of weeks later I saw the job posting come up again. My job coach said that if I tried to file any kind of discrimination suit he wouldn’t speak on my behalf because she let me fill out the application and have the interview. That may have been true, but it was that blatant statement that I couldn’t work there because they used computers that really got me. She had turned me down without even giving me the chance. This was pretty discouraging to say the least. This on top of the fact that the Rehab counselor I had at the time told me that I’d never amount to anything so I shouldn’t even bother trying. This statement was made by a blind counselor by the way.

Anyway, to make a long story short, everything worked out well, and I’m still loving my job after eighteen months. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for everyone. Take this example.

Anyone who knows Jim knows that he is extremely into the United States military. He has said on several occasions that if he could see he would have gone into the service. He has asked about civilian posts and been told that he can’t do them. Recently, in his search for a job, he put in an application to AmeriCorps. He felt that he might finally have the chance to serve his country, even if it was just on the local level. I worked for a year with the AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program back in 1999-2000, and we had some friends who also worked with VISTA, so we both thought that Jim, with his masters degree would be perfect.

After some initial problems with the online application, he got some help filling out the paper one and was called in for an interview. He said that he was very happy with the way the interview had gone. They talked about two opportunities that were available and where they thought Jim would do well. Both of these placements were in inner-city schools where he would do tutoring and mentoring of students. He was told that there would be a second interview. He said that the interview itself and the people were very positive, and he felt very good about the whole situation.

About a week later as part of my job, I actually spoke to the person that works with all the people with disabilities who work for AmeriCorps in the state. I mentioned that Jim had applied, and she told me that she had heard about him at a weekly meeting. This seemed even more positive. He was mentioned at a state-wide meeting after all, so they must really be interested in him.

A couple weeks later, after getting all his reference letters turned in and everything, he was informed that the second interview was going to be scheduled. This interview was with different people and at a different location. On the day of the interview, Jim left early to go drop off some things for me at the post office and then took the city bus up to the interview site. Upon arriving, and after some confusion, he was told that the person he was supposed to interview with wasn’t even in the office. He came home and checked his email, and there was a message from the person he was supposed to meet with stating that the interview would need to be rescheduled. There was no phone call, just this email.

Well, needless to say, Jim looked into getting the interview rescheduled. About a week later, (I think it was just last week now but it may have been two weeks ago all ready), he finally heard back from this lady. she told him that there were no longer any positions available so there wouldn’t be any second interview. I told Jim that he should contact the person that he had interviewed with first and see what she had to say about the whole thing. He did, and the response he got back was rather interesting. In the message he said that he felt that he wasn’t given a fair chance with that second interview, and that he felt that he was being discriminated against. It just seemed really odd that they’d give him the date for the interview, but not give him the chance to reschedule when there was no interview due to no fault of his own. Surprisingly enough, the lady emailed him back and said that she’d be lying if she didn’t agree with Jim’s assessment of the situation. He doesn’t blame this first lady. She offered him the chance to work in a different area writing curriculum, however he has absolutely no experience with that, and feels that he would be doing a disservice by taking that kind of position.

So, what comes next? I have the contact information for the person I met with a couple weeks back. Personally I feel that he should contact her and let her know what happened. He’s hesitant to do so, and says that even if a job becomes available there he probably wouldn’t take it now.

Despite this problem, Jim is continuing his job search, and his goal is to be employed by Christmas. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!

How could situations like this be avoided in the future? To me, I think it’s very important that everyone who is working go through sensitivity training whether it be on the local, state, or national levels. I think many people are scared of people with disabilities, and they often tend to underestimate what we can do. As an example, another situation I ran into during a conference a couple of weeks back. I was talking with someone from the Salvation Army. I was sitting in front of my laptop doing some things on the Internet using speech and braille. Despite what I was doing, and what this man was seeing, he kept insisting that blind people weren’t able to do many jobs. My boss was getting really frustrated with him. When he made a comment about a visually impaired person helping with the laundry at the Salvation Army shelter I think my boss was going to lose it. It was like this guy just couldn’t get it! Finally I came right out and said that we were truly capable of so much more than laundry. I guess it was just one of those “you just had to be there” kinds of things. this guy was just so outright condescending despite what he was seeing in front of him, and we were getting really frustrated. It was like hitting our heads against a brick wall. I think sensitivity training would go a long way in letting this man, and others like him, know how to be a bit more tactful about his comments and how he said things.

I also think that there should be programs instituted that would allow people with disabilities to do internships with different companies; sort of a trial run kind of thing. It would give well-qualified individuals a chance to prove themselves to potential employers. I also think that employer networks should be set up. These networks would allow people working in similar fields to observe PWDs in other organizations where they have been successfully employed.

These are just a few suggestions for increasing employer awareness. Do I think it would be 100 percent effective? No. But I honestly think it’s got to be better than it is now. It’s sad when people have worked so hard for there college degrees, only to end up working in sheltered workshops for very little money when they’re worth so much more. I can only hope that over time things will start to look up and that employers will start to tap in to the wealth of experience that they could get if they’d look past the disability and see the person behind it.

I received this email this morning and wanted to spread the word as quickly as I could. It has been modified slightly for this post, but no wording has been changed accept where links were made.

From: Earlene Hughes
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2006 8:57 PM

Please help us get Web Braille restored today. Show your support for Web Braille by signing the Restore Web Braille Petition

I will forward the Petition and its signatures to Frank Kurt Cylke, NLS Director.

– Earlene Hughes

As many of you are probably all ready aware, the National Library Services, (NLS) announced yesterday that they would be shutting down the Web Braille service for an indeterminable length of time due to technical and security problems. I’ve heard many stories and different things concerning this.

Earlier today through a list, I received an email from Chris Gray, President of ACB. I asked his permission to post the letter and article below for everyone to see and he gave me permission to do so. Please read this and distribute it to as many people as you can think of. We can’t let Web Braille go away or we’re going to lose a major source of reading material. The information is below.

Message from Chris Gray:

Hello ACB Leaders, Members and Friends:
As promised yesterday, I phoned and spoke at length this morning with Kurt Cylke. He provided no meaningful assurance that WebBraille will return any time soon. Also, I believe he was surprised at my insistence that the service be restored immediately. Sadly, he offered no specific and comprehensible reasons why the service has been removed. Below is a letter sent to him after our telephone discussion.

Thank you.

Chris

———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 10:53:28 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
From: Chris Gray christopher_gray@symantec.com
To: Frank Kurt Cylke fcyl@loc.gov
Subject: Web-Braille

Dear Kurt:

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me this morning regarding the closure of the Web-Braille website managed by NLS. I note here for the record that you provided no specific reasons or recent occurrences that might justify the closure of the site except the vague assertion of technical and security issues. Let me assure you that the blind community will not stand by and accept such pablum as reasonable explanation for the taking of such a drastic and precipitous action by NLS.

Of the many alternative actions available to you as the chief administrator of this program, you have chosen the most irresponsible, unreasonable and harmful alternative for those patrons who rely every day on NLS for their reading needs. The lack of judgment that such an action demonstrates is shocking and wholly unacceptable from the individual most responsible for the reading needs of all blind Americans.

Further, you indicated to me on repeated occasions during our conversation that Web-Braille would be available again within approximately two weeks. However, on one occasion you suggested that Web-Braille might not be available for as long as one year. To repeat what I indicated to you in our conversation, the blind community might tolerate such cessation for one to two weeks, assuming that such cessation occurs for very important reasons and with appropriate notice, but no longer.

Finally, you threatened the blind community by saying that should the community protest your decision, that would only lead to delays in the reinstatement of Web-Braille. This is an extremely odd statement given that you have characterized the alleged problems in Web-Braille as “technical” and “security” in nature. As the Director of NLS, I would expect that your involvement in such solutions would be that of an administrator, not an implementer. Given the entirely unsatisfactory nature of your explanation, only a vague assurance of the return of Web-Braille to NLS-authorized patrons, and your threat to slow down such a return should the blind community advocate for it with you and elsewhere, you have left me no choice but to submit the attached article for publication in the June issue of the Braille Forum, ACB’s monthly magazine. Please note the title: “That All May Read Except Those Who Read Braille”. I know no better way to sum up your actions as Director of NLS.

As indicated to you on the phone, ACB will use the full force of its organizational and advocacy strength to bring about the immediate return of Web-Braille. Very rarely do we choose to pursue activities that can be construed by some as adversarial. Very rarely though are we confronted with such an outrageous display of disregard toward braille readers and certified library patrons. Also, we foresee the distinct possibility that should this action be allowed to stand unchallenged, it can lead to other erosion of services in the future. We in ACB cannot and will not allow even the first step down this pathway to be taken unchallenged.

Sincerely,

Chris
–
—————————————
Christopher Gray, President American Council of the Blind

The article reads:

President’s Message:
That All May Read Except Those Who Read Braille
NLS Strikes Blow to Braille
by Christopher Gray

In 1998, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) made its collection of braille books in electronic format available to eligible borrowers over the internet through a program called Web-Braille. Blind and visually impaired people could brows among thousands of titles and download books to their Braille-aware devices such as BrailleNotes, PAC Mates and Braille Senses or emboss them and read them in hardcopy. Beginning in 2004, Web-Braille was used to make large numbers of braille music titles similarly available. This was a great service to library patrons and we in the ACB, individually and collectively, applauded NLS for their accomplishment.

On May 11th of this year, NLS announced on the Web-Braille web site that “Because of technical and security difficulties, Web-Braille will be unavailable in the near future. NLS regrets the inconvenience and will provide further information as soon as possible.”

While the nature of the ” technical and security difficulties ” have yet to be officially explained, it is clear that the leadership at NLS are concerned about possible violations of “fair use” in the Chaffee Amendments of the U. S. Copyright laws.

Web Braille files are prepared in a special braille format called “BRF” files, fully translated into contracted Braille and formatted in the same way they appear in NLS hardcopy braille titles or as embossed on braille paper. These files can only be downloaded by registered eligible users who have been issued the proper user name and password by a cooperating NLS network library.

Each day that Web-Braille is down, blind children are being denied access to Braille books that are in limited supply; those who are deaf-blind are restricted from accessing a primary source of reading material; and libraries are being forced to engage in additional shipping of hardcopy braille books adding to their operational expenses.

While we understand that NLS must be responsible when it comes to complying with copyright law, we believe that they have taken precipitous and unwarranted action in restricting access to Web-Braille, and have taken an extremely narrow interpretation of “fair use”, thus negatively impacting the patrons they are pledged to serve in accessing reading materials.

As a longtime devotee of audio recordings (in both an analog and digital environment) and having worked in both the mainstream and adaptive technology fields, I know that any individual, whether sighted or blind, can easily acquire and use the technology necessary to convert files from one format to another, including from BRF e-text files to mp3 audio files. The world relies on the good will of end users, not to abuse this ability. Certainly, users of Web-Braille have honored that commitment for the past eight years. We will not stand by and see our access to information denied on the basis of “it might be done someday”.

ACB calls on NLS to reinstate Web-Braille immediately while continuing to work on acceptable procedures that are not burdensome to borrowers, while assuring compliance with copyright law. To our knowledge, Web-Braille has not been abused by those who it is intended to serve, and registered borrowers and the blindness community as a whole should not be punished as if they have violated the law.

I ask each ACB member to contact their elected representative in Congress today in Washington D.C. and ask them to use their influence with NLS and its director Frank Kurt Cylke to urge the immediate restoration of Web-Braille access to registered users. Congress should also take this opportunity to clarify and assure that “fair use” for blind and visually impaired citizens includes Web Braille and similar projects.

In addition, feel free to express your concerns to NLS Director Frank Kurt Cylke at fcyl@loc.gov or at 1-800-424-8567. Let me assure you that this narrow interpretation of the law can endanger other services being provided by both public and private organizations wishing only to bring the joy of reading to all of us. The pressure you can bring on NLS and Congress is all that stands between you and restored equal access to the written word.

Okay, I said that I was going to write about the crock pot lasagna, so here I am. First off, I have to say that I’m really picky about my Italian food. I don’t like a lot of sauce, but I like enough that it provides flavor. I also do not like chunks. This means no large hunks of tomatoes, and definitely no large pieces of onion. Mushrooms are definitely all right though, and the bigger the better. I love pasta in general though, so anything with pasta is pretty much acceptable except if there’s seafood involved, or any of the other things mentioned above. That’s not permitted in my rule book of food.

So anyway, I got really brave yesterday. Not only did I try the recipe for the first time, but I invited people to come for dinner to try it with us. This was a chance that I’m glad I took. This was one of the best lasagna dishes I’ve ever had, and it’s definitely something I plan to make again. There was only one lost noodle, and that was because the sauce didn’t get onto it. By the end of the layering process I was kind of running out. So next time I just have to not be so generous with my layers. We had left-overs today, and it was just as good as before. If you like a lot of sauce, and like it sloppy, this probably isn’t the recipe for you. The recipe, for anyone who’s interested is:

Crock Pot Lasagna

Serves: 6-8

Easy, quick and good!

   1 pound Italian sausage
   2 cans 15-ounce Italian style tomato sauce
   2 teaspoons basil
   1/2 teaspoon oregano
   1/2 teaspoon salt
   3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 12-ounce bag
   1/2 cup Chopped onions
   16 ounces Container ricotta cheese
   1 cup grated parmesan cheese
   1 box 12-ounces lasagna noodles

Cook sausage in skillet with onion until done. Drain well
Add tomato sauce and spices stir well.
In large bowl combine cheeses holding back one cup of the Mozzarella.
In 3 to 4 quart crockpot spoon 1/4 of the sauce into bottom then place 4 of the noodles broken to fit on top of that.
Place half the cheese mixture atop noodles.
Spoon another forth of the sauce mixture atop this then four noodles broken to fit.
Another forth of the sauce atop them and the other half of the cheese goes next.
The rest of the noodles and finally the last of the sauce.
So the layers will be, sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, sauce.
Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours until noodles are tender. Spread last cup of Mozzarella cheese on top and let stand until it melts about ten minutes then serve.

Recipe formatted with the Cook’n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.