Reid My Mind

TR:
Welcome back!

My name is Thomas Reid. If this is your first time here, I’m the host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio, a podcast bringing you stories of compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability.

The objective is to reach those who are adjusting to vision loss or disability. I’m hopeful that the experiences of those who have travelled similar journeys will provide real information and encouragement to those new to vision loss.

For so many, acquiring vision loss or another disability can occur in the middle of a career. For others it could take place in that early phase.

There are definitely challenges and considerations that are unique to those with vision loss, but much of the process of finding employment is applicable to us all.

Today on the podcast, I’m bringing you an expert to talk a bit about the process of finding employment. So if you’ve been out of the job hunting game and suddenly find yourself back on the field, you’re going to want to hear from the coach!

Let’s play ball!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Intro

NK:

I teach people to be the CEO of their own life and career. No matter what life throws at us.

TR:

This is Nancy Karas. She’s an HR Leader and Executive Coach experienced
in building healthy companies.

I kind of like the sports metaphor I used in the intro so let’s call her Coach Nancy!

NK:

In addition, I focus on helping people to find their own version of happiness and success.

TR:

Coach Nancy understands this personally. Spending over 25 years in HR leadership roles throughout corporate America until the relationship became adversarial.

NK:

I had to fight management to get people what they deserve.

After 9/11 I felt really discouraged. I was in the middle of New York City, had been living there for 20 years and I just decided that I really wanted to help people unencumbered. So I stepped out of corporate and I started coaching.

TR:

That included working with corporate clients, private clients and group coaching to help people find their happiness. And if you think that’s something people inherently know, think again.

NK:

There’s a very big difference between what we do well and what we love to do. Sometimes we’re confused and we think that because we do it well, because we get good pay for it, because people recognize us for it that we love it. But sometimes our currencies change as a human being and maybe money and praise and title aren’t the most important thing anymore. I help people to really figure out what is the right thing for them next. What is their next step in life. I base it around what fits you.

TR:

Next step, in life, after for example a life change. That could be the loss of a career, loved one, maybe even acquiring a disability, the specifics don’t necessarily matter. Often we’re trying to answer the same question.

NK:

What’s the best thing for me right now? What will make me happy? What will make me feel successful in whatever way I’m searching for success; money, fulfillment, to make a difference in this world, or whatever it might be. That’s what I help people to figure out.

TR:

A life change can make this question feel more urgent. Even more difficult to answer.

NK:

We feel like the power is taken away from us by other people and we give away our power.

I help people to realize they’re already wearing the ruby slippers and that you have the power within you to do whatever you want.

So I teach people how to take back their power, raise the bar for themselves and really do what’s best for them.

TR:

Whatever the decision is, Coach Nancy is all about helping people achieve their goals.

With an understanding that whatever the personal challenge is, we all have our unique strengths and weaknesses.

NK:

I help people to showcase their strengths and find a way to harbor their weaknesses so they’re seen as a positive.

I give people that confidence and that boost they need to go out there and get what they deserve.

TR:

Before we head out onto the field, we need to know how best to play the game.

NK:

traditionally the way we were taught is a very me centric approach. I’m looking for a job where I can grow. Where I can have this and that.

In today’s market you have to approach your search in a I’m here to assist you. Whomever your target is that you’re looking to work for.

TR:

the means of doing this?

NK:

Through the resume, conversations, meetings, interpersonal skills, self-esteem, emotional intelligence. All the different pieces.

## Resume Style

TR:

Let’s take a look at some of the tools we have to help craft our play book.

First mentioned was the resume. That first representation not only of a person’s work experience but the individual them self.

NK:
[
Some people’s resumes I see are four and five pages long. Nobody’s going to read that anymore. Think about technology, everything is moving so rapidly. People don’t concentrate for very long on anything that’s on their computer screen. they listen to it for a second and then they’re distracted, it’s like hey squirrel! They’re gone.
]
We have to abbreviate what we give to people now. If it’s not relevant and applicable to the particular job you’re searching for and it’s going to cloud their ability to see how you’re a fit. We really have to look at resumes now and be more functional than chronological.

TR:

For many, vision loss or an acquired disability results in the loss of a job, or reduced responsibilities.

Rather than highlighting jobs you may choose to highlight skills and experience.

NK:

In a more functional modern resume you bring whatever is relevant. it’s like a tapestry if we’re pulling the gold threads out of our tapestry because we only want the very best of the best. If we’re looking for the gold company that we want to work for we’re only going to pull our gold threads. Maybe the silver threads show that we started silver and moved up to gold. That’s great, but if we have blue, yellow pink, whatever color threads, they have nothing to do with the gold company. So we’re not going to throw them all our threads and they’re like what the heck!

It’s a new way of presenting ourselves.

TR:

But how would you account for jobs that you may have had to take that don’t necessarily highlight your real skill set or are applicable to your desired career path?

NK:

I was freelancing. I was consulting and here are the companies I worked for and you just bullet or include a couple of those companies.

TR:

Coach Nancy strongly recommends your resume doesn’t exceed two pages.

Go ahead and Google sample functional resumes.

there’s even a hybrid version that combines aspects of the traditional chronological resume with the functional.

No matter what format you choose, consider how you approach the next step.

NK:

The traditional way of job search was to look at the job postings or ads and then we would send a letter and a resume and you’d sit and wait and hope that you’d hear back. But technology has advanced our abilities to connect. We have an opportunity now to shortcut our job search.

These days you can really bridge yourself to that other party by doing a lot of homework. try to understand a little about them and the direction they’re headed.

You’ve leveled the playing field because you walk in that room and now you can talk about how you can help them. how your skills are a fit for them.

## Researching Companies

TR:

technology has made researching companies a lot easier and way more convenient. you’re already familiar with some of the tools, but are you using them effectively?

NK:

I love Google. If I want to know what does someone at Bloomberg make if they work in the Finance department at a VP level, that’s exactly what I’m going to type in.

We look at the first or second thing that pops up when we google and then go “eh didn’t find anything!” I click on everything on that page. Sometimes I go to the second google page because I’m looking for information about the company that’s going to give me a hint about their culture, about their work, about their progress.

TR:

Surprisingly, to me at least, ascertaining information about a corporate culture online is possible.

NK:

I first Google what is the culture at Bloomberg. See what comes up. I would also go to Glass Door.com.

Glass Door.com is a website . You have to be willing to anonymously take one of your former jobs and list that you were a programmer or that you were an HR Executive and you give feedback on that former company. It was good it was fair and then you could give specific comments and feedback. Once you do that you have access to Glass Door. And when you’re in Glass Door you can look up any company. There’s tons of information about salary ranges. What people are making in New York for that job, Philly, Georgia. It will also give you some feedback. people are saying it’s a great company but the leadership is never in the office and we can never get answers. If I see one person say it I think well!

TR:

You’re really looking for trends. But you can take all information into consideration during interviews.

NK:

Let’s say people are saying that the company promises bonuses and never gives them. I would make sure when I interview to ask, I’m curious about your bonus structure. Do you give bonuses? Oh, yes we do! Has there ever been a year where you weren’t able to give the bonus you promised? And then you watch them go uh, uh, or they say no we never had that. So you get to talk it out and see for yourself.

TR:

The idea here is to equip yourself with as much information as possible to make sure the company is a fit for you.

Another important part of the playbook; networking.

NK:

Networking is taking place virtually and in person. In person you should look for events where they’re specifically having an event or where it’s industry specific or job specific to you. For example, if I’m HR I want to go to HR conferences. If I can’t afford those big conferences independently of the company paying for it then you go to a one day event or you go to an evening lecture for an hour in HR where you know it’s going to draw the HR community.

##TR:

Whatever the venue, Coach Nancy says it’s not about making sure everyone has your business card.

NK:

What I teach my clients to do is rather than focus on handing out your info, collect info. Now You’re in charge of your next step. Now it’s up to you to figure out where it’s going to go. I wait two or three days after that meeting and then I send them a note on Linked In.

TR:

That’s Linked In.com, the virtual way to network.

NK:

You want to put a professional profile up on Linked In. Let’s say you have a little profile with nothing there and no photo people know that you’re not current.

[TR in conversation with NK:]

I know you’re talking to me Nancy … (laughs) Go ahead!

NK:

I’m talking to you Thomas.

TR:

I know she’s right. And even though I’m not looking for a job, Linked In still makes a lot of sense for someone like me.

NK:

Especially for your marketing and stuff for your show.

I’ve heard CEO’s say that Linked In is their Rolodex. To me it’s a treasure chest. I can find all kinds of people. I help in so many different industries. Linked In has so many capabilities also as a tool. To search, connect with people, post jobs, to apply to jobs.

TR:

That’s the beauty of online networking. The ability to find the connections while you’re in your pajamas!

NK:

It’s called direct contact.

TR:

. In theory this approach can make the job search process more accessible. It definitely puts you in control.

Here’s how it works.

NK:

Go onto Linked In. find the person who would be the hiring manager or if you’re senior enough in your career and your job function would be very senior in the company , I would write directly to the CEO.

TR:

It’s possible that the majority of those listening are on the CEO level, but No matter what level you occupy in the corporate structure, the process is the same. Sending a note directly to the person through Linked In.

NK:

you want to show them that you see why they’re special and you’ve got the goods to support the direction they’re going. So I say I recognize you and what makes you special. It’s so exciting to me or thrilling or I’m so passionate about the work you do. I believe I could be an immediate and significant contributor to your project, to your team, to your company or to your mission. Here’s specifically what I bring to the table. Bullet, bullet, bullet, bullet. Then would love to set up a meeting or take you out for a cup of coffee or set up a call. Whatever you feel comfortable with.

TR:

Coach Nancy shared an example of someone who wanted to leave their job. The right question dictated the next steps.

NK:

Why not get you your dream job? Tell me what it is. She wanted to work for Google. So we looked to see do we know anybody at Google. How did we do that? We went on Linked In, we looked in the search bar, typed in Google and then we filtered on people. All the people that work for google come up in that search and it’ll tell you if you’re a first, second or third connection.

TR:

What if you don’t have a dream job? Maybe the idea of a traditional job is more of a nightmare. For whatever reason!

NK:

We’re not happy at work. We’re not enjoying our work. We don’t want to commute anymore. We’re physically, emotionally or mentally challenged and cannot make that trip or do that grind everyday whatever it might be. And if that’s the case this is the perfect decade for that right now because more and more companies are allowing people to work from home or to work from a We Work or some other center where people can just go locally if they want to be in a shared setting. there are so many nontraditional jobs.

TR:

here’s a method for thinking and mapping out opportunities.

NK:

What I like to suggest is that people think of a food chain.

TR:

The idea here is to identify the industry connections based on the things that are of interest to you. Therefore, the beginning point is based on a certain set of questions.

NK:

Where am I right now? Where is my interest? Where is my challenge? What is my life about right now?

I’ll give you an example. You lost your sight and you found your way to developing your podcast, your show and all the stuff you do to support people who are going through the same challenges.

TR:

So in this example, this identifies the starting point of the chain. Now I need to figure out all of the opportunities or players in the industry.

NK:

You look at corporate opportunities, nontraditional associations or foundations. And you look all around and say who is in this field that I might work for that’s not the straight and direct line of what I thought I might do. It’s thinking outside of the box. And when you do sometimes you find jobs that you never even knew existed.

TR:

Maybe the jobs are based on the traditional employer employee relationship. perhaps they’re more like opportunities for freelancing or consulting that work for your lifestyle. Either way, attitude makes a difference!

NK:

I suggest first of all that people think and act all the time as if they were a consultant. Because consultants never have all the answers. That’s not our job. Our job is you tell me your problem, I’ll figure it out. I will get you the answers.

TR:

I think it’s fair to say that work is different now. The days of working for a company for 30 years are gone.

NK:

So people are forced to become more resilient, more flexible, more autonomous in their careers. You’re really your own boss, your own CEO and you’re going from company to company and you’re consulting whether you go in as a full time in house person or you actually consult for them.
But this way And the concept of finding a job one time

TR:

It may all sound tiring and hard to manage. But Coach Nancy has a method for managing it all. Just think of the ducks. You know the ones at a carnival or fair.

NK:

That booth where there’s a bunch of yellow ducks and everybody’s squirting the gun to squirt your duck and push it up to the top of the hill. The person who gets their duck up to the top first is the winner. In this game, in my head what we do is we line up the ducks.

TR:

Where each duck is a stand in for one of our tasks or responsibilities on that good old’ to do list.

That could look something like;

Edit the next podcast episode, [Audio: Quack!]
Research future guests and show ideas, [Audio: Quack!]
Finish that spreadsheet, [Audio: Quack!]
Clean the garage, [Audio: Quack!]

Now, back to the carnival and all the ducks.

NK:

Now the goal is not to race one duck to the top, we tend to do that in life sometimes. We pick one thing and we only focus on that. But then what happens is we’re at the top with one accomplishment and nothing else is moved forward.

TR:

Even worse, what about the days when you just don’t feel like pushing that stupid duck. [Audio: Quack!]
Sorry, it’s just sometimes you’re not feeling in the mood for spreadsheets, so You decide to read an article and next thing you know it’s the end of the day and you have nothing accomplished.

NK:
[
Pick another duck!

Maybe it’s the garage you’ve been meaning to clean out and it’s a beautiful afternoon. So instead of sitting inside and feeling depressed by pushing a different duck forward an easier duck that day, we still end the day feeling accomplished. Now the garage is half cleaned out! We start to create our own momentum. Momentum creates more momentum.

TR:

Who doesn’t like feeling accomplished at the end of the day?

I’m a fan of the duck approach, but you can use whatever works for you.

NK:

You have to keep in those parameters that it’s always something productive.

[TR in conversation with NK:]

Laughs… Sitting back and getting a six pack or something like that doesn’t count right?
Laughs to fade out

NK:

Uh no! No!

I think if you’re lost or stuck you really want to reach out to someone who’s walked your path before. Whether it’s professionally, personally. Just like people in AA have a mentor it’s really good for human beings to have somebody they could go talk to or get advice from. So whether it’s a therapist or coach or a support group, I think in order to move forward in life you do have to ask for help because that’s how we learn and grow.

[TR in conversation with MA:]
I might add one other thing to that is a podcast. And I’m not just promoting mine here (laughs) but in terms of you know having someone who’s walked that path, when you’re fearful about asking for help the thing that makes a podcast so cool is that you can get that information and nobody has to know that you’re getting it.

NK:

I love it! Very good advice.

And there’s so much good stuff out there. Not as good as yours…

[TR in conversation with MA:]
Thank you Nancy! Laughs…

NK:

your welcome !

There are so many resources on the internet. We really have to be our own advocate and we have to do our homework and really search.

TR:

We should be very used to that message. Being our own advocate.

I really do hope that this podcast is serving as a resource for those adjusting to vision loss.

So often it seems that the world has lowered the bar for those with disabilities. Whether it’s being falsely praised just for showing up or if it’s assuming you wouldn’t be able to do… [fill in the blank according to your own experience]

Shout out to Coach Nancy, her message is about empowering individuals not only when it comes to finding a job, but really, living your life.

[TR in conversation with NK:]

That makes you officially part of the Reid My Mind Radio Family!

NK:

Oh I love it! Thank you! Ohh!You just made my day. I love it!

[TR in conversation with NK:]

Laughs…

TR:

Can you guess how to contact Nancy?

NK:

Linked In. Nancy Karas (Then spelled out)
Instagram @Transition.Coach
I’m on Facebook, Transition Coaching and Career Management with Nancy Karas or you can just connect with me Nancy Karas. My website is www.Transition.Coach. No .com just .coach. My phone number is (661) 309-7055 and the email is HabitatForHR@gmail.com.

# Close

Big shout out to Coach Nancy! And check this out here, I am very happy to report that as of this episode, one of my [Quack, Quack!]ing ducks has finally reached the top. At least for now. I cleaned up my Linked In profile a bit. I added a pic, updated some other info and made it look current. In fact, I’d invite you all to connect with me on Linked In if you’re there. How’s that Coach!

You can also find me, well Reid My Mind Radio on Apple, Spotify, Google or where ever you get podcasts.

You can always send me feedback or recommend a guest or topic all you have to do is hollaback!

We have the comments section on the blog, ReidMyMind.com.
The email; ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com
The Reid My Mind Radio Feedback Line where you can leave a voice mail: 1 570-798-7343

I would really love voice messages that I can share on the podcast. If you don’t want to call, you can grab your smart phone and record a voice memo and email the finished recording to ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear and share the voices of those who are listening. If you want to send a message but don’t want it shared just say so and it’s all good.

I appreciate you listening and if you liked what you heard please rate and even review the show via Apple Podcast. And please, tell a friend to listen. Spread the love, man!

You can always visit www.ReidMyMind.com, that’s R to the E I D like my last name!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Outro

[Audio, Quack, Quack!]

Peace!

Audio: Quack!

Hide the transcript

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Intro
TR:

What’s up Reid My Mind Radio Family.

Starting the show with my intro music off the jump, wow, I haven’t done that for a while.

Well, this isn’t a regular episode. I’ll explain that in a second.

First, I want to say hello to anyone new here.
Hello there! My name is T. Reid

I’m the host of this podcast where I bring you compelling people impacted by blindness, low vision and in general disability.
]

Every now and then I include stories from my own experience as someone adjusting to becoming Blind as an adult.

In most cases I pair words with music and sound design to hopefully help with the goal of making the listener challenge their own view of what being blind looks and sounds like.

Have you ever experienced times in life where you felt super aware? Like you know you’re currently in the midst of experiencing a life change.

I’ve been feeling like that for a while now and not sure exactly why. The only thing that I can identify is my baby girl Riana graduated from college yawl! Now of course that’s a big deal. She’s getting ready to go out in the world and do her thing. It’s really hard to believe that. It was just the other day when she was traveling on my shoulders. She loved it there. She would even fall asleep sitting there with her head resting on top of mine. I’d realize she was asleep when her drool would slide down my bald head into my ear. Sounds gross but I thought it was so cute. That’s love yawl.

Now she’s getting ready to do her thing and that could literally take her anywhere in the world. I’m so proud of my baby. And yes, she’s always Daddy’s baby and there’s still a place for her on my shoulders. Metaphorically of course. I don’t want another backiotomy!

Audio: Riana Reid being called during her graduation ceremony.

TR:

I guess the other feelings of change in the air are not as easy to pinpoint. I’m sure some have to do with career change and figuring out where I’m going. I’m working on several things right now but nothing really ready for publication.

I’ll be back with a real episode as scheduled but in the meantime please go on over to the Disability Visibility Podcast which features an episode about podcasting and yes, yours truly is one of the guests. In fact, if you listen to that you’ll get a sneak peek into the next Reid My Mind Radio episode.

If this is your first time here please go back and check out a past episode that is more representative of the podcasts mission. You can start with some recent favorites including my profile of Disability Visibility Podcast host Alice Wong, my conversation with Cheryl Green about the art of accessible and my interview with Day Al Mohamed where you’ll hear all about the Invalid Corps …

There’s close to 100 episodes and one thing that has been quite consistent I think at least is they continue to change and that’s a reflection of my own change and I hope growth.

I’m confident telling you right now, you’re going to like what you hear so you might as well hit that button right now… the one that says…Subscribe!
Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, Tune In Radio or wherever you get podcasts.

You can always send me feedback or recommend a guest or topic all you have to do is hollaback!

We have the comments section on the blog, ReidMyMind.com.
The email; ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com
The Reid My Mind Radio Feedback Line where you can leave a voice mail: 1 570-798-7343

I would really love voice messages that I can share on the podcast. If you don’t want to call, you can grab your smart phone and record a voice memo and email the finished recording to ReidMyMindRadio@gmail.com.

I’d love to hear and share the voices of those who are listening. If you want to send a message but don’t want it shared just say so and it’s all good.

I appreciate you listening and if you liked what you heard please rate and even review the show via Apple Podcast. And please, tell a friend to listen. Spread the love, man!

You can always visit www.ReidMyMind.com, that’s R to the E I D like my last name!

Audio: Reid My Mind Radio Outro

Peace!

Hide the transcript

TR:
Hello RMM Radio family.
I hope you all are doing well.
And I mean that with real sincerity.
I honestly miss you!
Before we get into this week’s episode I feel as though I should apologize. I’m truly committed to producing this show so when things get
reprioritized in my life I still want to make it happen.
Missing the last installment really bothered me but we’re back today with a new episode and a special one at that.
This one itself is long over do
Last year I received a request from a listener of RMM Radio asking me to interview a musician she followed on Instagram.
I know, it sounds like I am a private investigator for hire minus the fees. Actually, I think it’s pretty cool. She wanted to know more about this person and thought he would be a good fit for the podcast. She was correct and for that I send a sincere thanks.
It took some time for he and I to find some common ground in our schedules, but because it was a request, I couldn’t drop the ball on this one.
So here we go.
Audio: RMMRadio Intro
TR:
You’re listening to Graham Norwood, a New York City based musician.
He currently also serves as the Director of Foundations and
Corporate Relations for the Partnership for the Homeless a
New York City based nonprofit.
GN: I grew up a town called San Mateo which is about twenty miles south of San Francisco. I have a condition called L.C.A. Labor’s congenital amaurosis which is similar to R.P. Actually I thought I had R.P. my whole life until I had genetic testing a couple years ago and they said it was actually L.C.A.
TR:
LCA or Leber’s congenital amaurosis
has similarities to RP or retinitis pigmentosa and many
eye doctors consider it to be an early-onset form of RP.
Just like RP or retinitis pigmentosa,
LCA is a slowly progressive condition that
also has several forms, each with
different genetic causes.
As Graham experienced this all of his life it was his normal.
GN:
I honestly didn’t give it that much thought. All the schools I went to really kind of were willing to provide whatever accommodations were necessary but I don’t know I didn’t really need a ton of accommodations. Growing up my sight was a little bit better. I was able to kind of follow along okay, so wasn’t it wasn’t that big of a deal.
TR:
Music came pretty natural to Graham.
Starting with the piano around 7 or 8 years old, moving on to the guitar at 10.
He later realized he could sing and since then music was a central part of his life.
GN:
Music is kind of like a level playing field where whether you can see or not is pretty irrelevant. If you sound good then it’s not that big of a deal. I don’t think I was ever consciously aware of that but you know looking back that’s very true. I think I was able to meet and play with a lot of you know really pro level musicians and they were very accepting of me there was never any sort of like “well you’re blind you can’t do this.” That’s not always the case, I mean, there are certain professions in careers where even if you maybe do have a work around and people are still kind of suspicious and the joblessness rate in the blind and low vision community is seventy percent. It’s very hard for people with low vision to build careers for themselves and they deal with a lot of prejudice even just sort of unconscious bias they really don’t have a sense of what the technological adaptations are how people go about their lives they try to empathize and try to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. But if you don’t have the experience of being blind and figuring out the work arounds and having a good problem solving skills then you have you know your first thought is like “oh my God if I couldn’t see I couldn’t do anything.” So they don’t realize how adaptable people are and how they come up with ways to get around all that stuff and be successful in spite of the little vision
TR in conversation with GN:
Do you find that that was in all aspects of music? So do you get involved in the recording side of it as well?
GN:
You know, I honestly don’t really I’ve never really been that good with kind of recording myself. Certain programs like Reaper, an audio software program that’s pretty good and pretty accessible for low vision people, but I’ve honestly never gotten too far down that road I’ve always worked with other engineers. I really like the kind of studio atmosphere being able to focus in on the performance and having somebody else kind of worry about the engineering side of it.
TR in conversation with GN:
I am recording you through Reaper right now. (laughs)
GN:
(Laughs) Right on! Yeah it’s cool I just spent six months at Colorado Center for the blind and they showed me a little bit of how to use Reaper. And yeah it was cool. I did a little bit of recording on that it’s a pretty cool program.
TR:
The Colorado Center for the Blind is located south of Denver.
Taken from their website;
the center provides innovative teaching techniques and philosophy
that continues to have Far-reaching effects on
the lives of blind people, taking them to new heights of independence.
I was a little surprised to hear that he just returned from the center since he has experienced vision loss his entire life.
His explanation made total sense and gives a bit of insight into his character.
What sounds like the type of guy who will fix a perceived flaw.
GN:
There were certain things that I didn’t really learn when I was growing up. My domestic skills were pretty limited. I didn’t really know how to cook I didn’t really learn that much about like how to clean you know keep an apartment clean and things like that. I got to a point where I really wanted to learn those things. Colorado school teaches that stuff they also teach Braille, they teach mobility assistive technology. Some stuff I found more immediately useful than other things. I mean, I’ve had a cane training, I’m pretty mobile so the mobility stuff I felt like I had a pretty good handle on. Certainly, the home management stuff was really helpful to me and you know has made a pretty big difference.
TR in conversation with GN:
Did you have a lot of contact with other people who are visually growing up?
GN:
No I didn’t at all. That’s a good question because that was actually the thing I think that was most beneficial to me or made of the biggest impression when I did finally get the Colorado school. It was the first time really that I had been around a lot of other blind and vision people. It’s really only been in the last maybe five years maybe not even maybe four years, that I’ve kind of become much more involved and aware of that blind and low vision community and also the larger kind of people with disabilities community. When I was going up I was the only blind person I knew. I think in a lot of ways it was it was great for me in the sense of I never really thought of myself in those terms and I kind of when I would come to a situation where it would be harder for me to do something than a sighted person I would just sort of figure it out. I didn’t put any barriers or restrictions on myself in terms of what I could do. But I think what I didn’t get was it was the vision thing was something that I always kind of marginalised and I never really embraced it as a part of who I was. At the end of the day it’s a pretty big thing. It’s certainly not what defines me but it’s definitely a significant piece of that identity. And so I met some people maybe starting four or five years ago I started working as a grant writer at The National Organization on Disability and getting more and more interested in the sort of employment issues for people with disabilities. I met a few pretty cool blind people and the best advice I got actually was that you know you got to meet other cool blind people and you know see these other blind people that are doing really interesting stuff. So I found that very inspiring to start meeting other people in the community.
TR:
And that’s exactly what he did.
By volunteering with Team Sea to See.
GN:
S E A to S E E. It’s for kind of very successful business people who are also blind who are athletes and they’re taking part in this crazy bike race. Basically the world’s toughest bike race for blind people and then for sighted people riding tandems coast to coast in nine days. I’ve been helping them with fundraising we got funding from Google and the American Foundation for the Blind. Gatorades helping us out and some other pretty cool sponsors. And it’s basically to raise awareness of this godlessness issue. That’s kind of indicative of my transition over the past few years to really feeling more a part of the blind and low vision and people with disabilities community and wanting to be more involved in that. I think the biggest issue that people have, people with disabilities have, in a lot of ways is visibility and just getting out there. I don’t think people without disability see enough of that. One in six Americans has a disability I think something like one to two percent of the population this is low vision. It’s not like one in fifty people that you know are blind that’s not true for most of the population. People just don’t have a sense of how blind and low vision people or people with other disabilities can really thrive and succeed in and do amazing stuff. I’m much more aware of this idea now and I’m wanting to get the word out and just wanting to live my life in public as a low vision person so that other people can kind of be aware of you know the fact that they we’re out there and we’re doing awesome stuff and people can just sort of revise what they think is possible for people with disabilities.
TR in conversation with GN:
Was there any one thing that made you go that way? Was there something that occurred in your own experience?
GN:
I don’t think strictly so. I had a long term relationship and I think on a very practical level I went from living with this person for eight years to suddenly living on my own again for the first time in a long time. And I think you know on a very practical level that was a wake up call in terms of like the things that I took for granted that this woman helped me out with suddenly I had to do myself. Honestly, it was just maturing a little bit and realizing that I had been marginalizing this big component of my identity because I was so I was so paranoid of the idea that someone would just label me as like “oh the blind guy” you know and I never wanted to be that I wanted people to think of me more broadly and see the whole person as opposed to just the disability. That was something that I intuitively felt even from a very young age and so I just never wanted to make a big deal out of it and never want to be engaged with it and as I got a little bit older I think I realised that, I understood why I did it and I see you know the motivation behind feeling that way but ultimately I thought “this is kind of silly.” I need to own this more and be proud of who I am and you know not ignore this one thing but really embrace it and turn it into a positive. In addition to starting to work for the National Organization of Disability I went to National Federation of the blind, a national convention in Florida one year. I don’t know if you’ve ever been it was like completely overwhelming to me it was like twenty five hundred blind people in a convention center just like absolute chaos you know people like crashing into each other and just like (laughs). It was it was so overwhelming when I first got there. But then it really struck me because it was basically just a bunch of people who were like “you know what screw it like I this is who I am and this is this is how I get around and this is the way I live my life.” I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way but one of the takeaways for me was you know blindness isn’t always elegant, right? Like you use a cane to feel what’s in front of you and you know sometimes you whack a trash can and it’s like super loud. But that’s what the cane supposed to do and that’s how you get around and it may not be the most aesthetically beautiful way but it’s how we operate. I think I also felt like maybe I had been I had been trying to minimize those kinds of situations but I was going to such great lengths to not have those situations that I wasn’t authentically being myself and you know being just a person with a visual impairment who is out in the world and being independent and so that was my other, I think, turning point was seeing so many other blind people just living their lives and doing their thing and and being proud of it and not ashamed of it. So that was another thing that happened around the time that I started working for a National Organization of Disability that just made me realize you know this is how it is and there’s nothing to be ashamed of there’s nothing to avoid. I came away thinking this is a really beautiful thing that I haven’t been authentic and I haven’t been embracing and I want to start being more more real about being a person with a visual impairment. I don’t think there was any real like turning point that brought me to that it was it was a slow process and I really kind of started by like dipping my toe in the water and starting to reach out individually do a couple in the vision people and then it built from there. Then you know I had these these moments where I was like oh I get this now and I want to be more apart of this.
TR in conversation with GN:
I know I met so many people with low vision who straddle that line. And I’m not saying that they need to make a decision and go one way but it sounds like what you chose was the best for you to continue on and be your authentic self and sometimes I don’t think that people necessarily make that their choice I don’t think they’re being really authentic. And you know I’m trying not to judge necessarily but I’m also just saying like I see them that they’re not doing everything that they can and they’re hoping they holding on are grasping on to something. Do you understand what I’m saying?
GN: Oh absolutely and it’s hard because especially you know like I said I was born and grew up with this. And I think it’s probably really hard if somebody has you know normal or relatively normal vision and then they have to navigate that transition. Because you know let’s face it there’s a lot of stigmatization out there and you don’t necessarily want to suddenly identify as being a, well I avoid the term disabled person I was always say person with a disability because like smoke alarms get disabled and people are still people whether they have a disability or not. But yeah I mean you know I think I’ll always probably straddle that line. But the important thing for me was was the realization that I could exist on both sides of it and I didn’t have to make a choice and when I want to I’m fully qualified to be part of the blind and low vision community and there’s nothing wrong with that and people except me there and I didn’t know if they would it and then I realize that they totally do. And if I want to just hang out with all of my sighted friends and I don’t want to talk about or think about blindness I can do that too. For the longest time I felt like I didn’t belong in either world and then eventually I realized that I belonged in both.
TR:
It’s pretty obvious that raising awareness of blindness and disability issues is a high priority for Graham. I can respect that.
Learning to self-identify as a person with a disability is a process.
It begins with real self-examination and truthfulness.
Based on those I have spoken to who have gone through the process, it appears it leads to a greater level of comfort in one’s own skin.
In a way, Graham’s relationship with music is mirroring his life.
He traditionally played a more supportive role as a musician.
Playing in bands and producing records for others.
He’s currently working on his own album and he hopes will
get picked up by a label and released later this year.
You can learn more about his upcoming album, show dates and more.
GN:
My website is just my name Graham Norwood Music dot com (spells out grahamnorwood.com ). Custom tracks up on there I put my upcoming gigs on there know we will be putting up some announcements about the album when it comes out later this year people can email me through that and that’s that’s probably the best way.
TR:
Producing this episode probably began sometime last summer. It took some time to actually reach Graham, then scheduling problems, then my back issues and more recently my other commitments.
With certain people I interview, I can’t help but think how effective it would be to have the opportunity to really hang out with the person and observe them in their environment.
I suspect I would have seen relationships between his day job,
his self-discovery and acceptance of his identity as a person with vision loss and his music of course.
I couldn’t help but hear some of my own story in Graham’s.
I always mention the impact attending the state conference of the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind had on my life.
While it wasn’t as large as the national conferences and conventions it was impactful.
Meeting the cool blind people who were living productive lives.
Observing their level of comfort in their own skin made me know it was possible that I too could attain that.
I’m reminded of hearing about these cool blind people from
prior guests on Reid My Mind Radio including Josh Miele, Chancey Fleet and more.
I know Using my white cane to navigate effectively may not look very smooth at times.
Occasionally, I might mess up but that’s ok. I get better. Most importantly I’m better at accepting when I get a bit thrown off.
Like I did with this podcast.
Just to let you know I have some episodes coming up in the next few weeks so please stay tuned.
Remember, 2BlindMics; the number 2 capital B, lind capital M, ics.
This is the show I co-host with my podcast partner Doctor Dre. It’s right down the block on your local podcast app. Give it a listen and feel free to let me know what you think good or bad. I’m interested in hearing from the RMMRadio listeners. We have a lot of interviews with some of the rap artists and others involved in the Yo MTV Raps experience.
I really do appreciate feedback. it’s the only real way to improve…
Even if it’s something I disagree with, I can decide to not do anything about it but at least I was informed.
Sort of like Graham making the decision to go to the Colorado center to improve his own skills. You have to respect that. We’re supposed to fix our flaws and become the best person we can be.
You can do the same by subscribing to this podcast – Reid My Mind Radio – remember that’s R E I D.
It’s available just about wherever you get podcasts plus Sound Cloud, Stitcher and Tune In Radio.
And I plan to talk to you soon!
Peace!
Audio: Graham:
Whether you can see or not is pretty irrelevant, if you sound good it’s not that big of a deal.

Hide the transcript

TR:

Today, I’m further exploring the topic of employment of people with disabilities through the experience of one young ladies career. We find out how she made her way into her current position and how she continues to expand it and grow benefiting not only herself and her employer, but the community which she serves.

As usual, I believe there are lessons that go beyond disability, but that’s really up to you the listener to decide.

Before we get into it, you know what I need to do…

[Scratch]
Drop it!
[Reid My mind Radio Theme Music]

TR:
[City Sounds]

If you walk across 20th street In New York City, between 5th and 6th Ave tucked in among the various commercial buildings is a library

TR in conversation with CF:
Andrew Haskell? Heiskel?

CF:
Andrew Haskell.
So here’s the thing . The technically correct pronunciation is Andrew Heiskel, but when you say it correctly you suddenly have a ton of people looking for the high school.

TR in conversation with CF:
[Laughs…]

CF:
So there’s just this wave of convenient wrongness where we all kind of say Andrew Haskell now, but you can avoid all of that by just remembering our web address which is talkingbooks.nypl.org, nice and easy.

We’re kind of two libraries in one. We are a full brand of the NYPL which means this is a place where all types of members of the community come to pick up their holds pick up their books and DVD’s. Use the Wi-Fi get some studying done take advantage of our computer labs and gather together.

We got story time for kids, we got programs for teens and adults. Opera concerts creative writing you name it.

The one things that you won’t find in this building that you find in most public libraries is a whole lot of print because as well as being part of the NYPL, we are a sub-regional location for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. And what that means is that we’re also an operations that sends out tons of Braille and audio books by mail and folks could come in and pick those up as well.

TR:
Meet Chancey Fleet. She’s the Assistive Technology Coordinator at that library.

Chancey says to her knowledge she is the first Assistive Technology Coordinator for the library.

While working as an Assistive Technology Trainer in a Vocational Rehabilitation Agency she became frustrated when she was unable to assist those who weren’t eligible for services.
CF:
sometimes the consumer would have a question about Twitter or Facebook or taking pictures outside and I would be dying to answer it but I would know that that was just outside of my scope of work. and it would need to just stay that way. And at the same time folks would come up to me knowing me from activism from outside of the place where I worked and they’d need help with computers and technology and if they were undocumented or they were homemakers or retired or happily employed or had vision issues or print issues that didn’t add up to legal blindness they wouldn’t be eligible to come see me. And all of that started to feel a little limiting and a little frustrating and I guess I started to think about why we have the structures that we have. And I think the structures that we have are great a lot of the time and I would never want to see them replaced but sometimes we need more than one way to do things.

TR:
In 2010 Chancey found that other way at the library. She approached the leadership at the Andrew Heiskel library and asked if she and some friends could offer a free computer clinic on Saturdays. And by free she meant F R E E, free…

CF:
Free one on one instruction. Free of eligibility, requirements, free of paperwork and free of charge at the library.

And we started out with just three or four volunteers. I was one of them,
my friend Nihal my friend Walei and lots of other folks joined us over the years.

we got the information into the library newsletter and quietly , slowly it started to take off.

What we do is totally peer supported, informal learning. So we’ll never replace comprehensive training right. Just like you wouldn’t go to the library to take a Chemistry class, but you might come to the library to get help on some specific Chemistry problem or finding a study group or finding the right resources. We do kind of the same thing.

TR:
The assistance includes some real world challenges related to vision loss.

CF:

I think one of the scariest or daunting things about losing your vision or about being blind without access to information is people are telling you things that might be good for you or not all the time and if you have a way to write things down and if you don’t have a way to refer back to things and decide on your schedule when you can sit down and figure out what’s important for you, it can be really overwhelming.

We’re here at the library so we have the digital talking book machines that are totally free of charge and we have flash drives and if nothing else,

if someone is super new to technology and they don’t have a way to write in Braille or write in print we can just record what we do here on a flash drive and they can play it back on the free players at any time. And that’s how we can scaffold them until they can get to that point where they can use their personal technology to take notes.

TR:
What started out in 2010 as a volunteer position offering 3 hours a week grew to the library providing about 150 hours of training a month in 2014.

That volunteer position, became a full time paid position that Chancey was perfectly suited to fill.

CF:
A job posting showed up at the end of 2013 and I was happy to see it. My Saturday’s at the library had become the highlight of my week and I saw an increasing number of volunteers and patrons coming to learn gathering at the library and really getting important work done in kind of a low key informal setting.

And sometimes the conversation would stray outside the boundaries of technology. and I’d walk in and somebody would be talking about how it is they sort their mail or sort their laundry or what it was like to take the subway for the first time instead of taking Access-A-Ride. And that peer to peer informal learning that might be about technology but touches all sorts of threads of importance in our lives. I thought that was really special and I wanted to see that continue to grow

TR:

It grew into more programming for the city’s blind and visually impaired community. In addition to providing individual help with Braille the, library offers some cool progressive programming. Like a class in photography and videography.
taught by Judy Dixon, Consumer Relations Officer of the NLS.

CF:

So folks learn about composing photos and videos . We learned about perspective and glare and how lighting conditions and distance affects things. And Judy shared with us a bunch of her favorite apps and strategies. We’ve done all sorts of social networking workshops. We’ve done an introduction to coding and electronics with Arduino.

TR:
We covered the Blind Arduino Project and its founder Josh Miele on a past episode which you should really check out.

CF:

So Arduinos are really small portable affordable computers that run essentially one program at a time and you can design your own super accessible tool.

because the components are so affordable and portable and because it’s so widely popular in kind of the mainstream community of makers and enthusiasts there’s a lot of great advice and code samples , kind of like recipes if you will that are out there so that even if you’re a total novice you can find all kinds of online instructions and code to work from and you can find components to do whatever you
may need.

TR:
Chancey and the library teamed up with DIY Ability a midtown Manhattan company offering workshops geared to serving people with disabilities, like
toy hacking workshops that help families retrofit or hack toys to become more accessible for people that have fine motor impairments
workshops teaching people with all different types of disabilities how to code and use electronics.

CF:
So our introductory Arduino workshops we call them “eyes free” or non visual Arduino workshops are a place to learn about the very basics of working with Arduino and working with code in a place where non visual techniques are well respected and well understood.

So it’s a safe space for starting out. It’s a community space for gathering and exchanging ideas and we hope it gives folks a foundation they can build on.

We’ve done that with both youth and adults. And we’re launching now into a program that teaches folks how to come in and use the tactile graphics embosser and tactile graphics design software as well as a 3D printer to create non visual spatial representations of the graphics and objects they need to understand. Things in their work school and leisure lives.

TR:
Chancey’s interest in the accessibility of graphical or visual information began with a request from a library patron.

CF:
Somebody called me and asked me where they could possibly get a map
that related the 5 boroughs of New York City to one another and their water ways. He just moved to New York City and he wanted to get the lay of the land sort of speak.

TR:
For a sighted person, this is an easy task, just launch Google maps or find an old fashioned printed map.
It’s much more challenging to access this information non visually.

Receiving grant funds, the library was able to purchase the necessary equipment. With this the Dimensions Project was off and running.

CF:

our premise is that we will teach community members sighted and Blind alike about some of the fundamental best practices around creating tactile images that are meaningful useful and legible. And then we’ll provide the equipment the space and mentorship that people need to create the images and the 3D objects that they’d like to experience.

TR:

The Dimension Project includes three workshops. Two specifically focusing on working with the equipment and the other on best practices for effective tactile graphics.

CF:

Tactile Tactics, taught by Annie Lease from the Department of Cultural Affairs.

Annie is an artist with low vision who also has a ton of museum education experience and she is no stranger to crafting meaningful and well-rounded tactile experiences for people.

she goes over the basics. For one thing if you’re creating a tactile graphic the first thing that you think about is purpose. Why does the person want it? What information are they hoping to have? So what needs to be on that map?

Annie also talks about scale. She talks about using labeling effectively and kind of introducing people to the graphic once it’s been created – creating the context for it.

It’s been exciting . I kind of designed and got funding for this project and started rolling out the workshops wondering if the community would really respond because at first I would tell library patrons coming in for computer instruction about it and I’d ask them if they would like to be able to make their own images and pictures and maps and they would throw it back at me and say for what? I would throw it back at them and say well what do sighted people use images for? What do sighted people care about? And they would kind of wrap their brains and come up with things.

TR:
One of the most challenging parts of this project is convincing people who didn’t grow up in image rich environments that tactile graphics have something to offer.

Real world examples can prove helpful.

CF:
One of our volunteers has a small business and he had to design a logo for his business. He had certain kind of Values or parameters that he gave to a sighted designer to have his logo designed. And first thing that he wanted to do when he came in and used the tactile graphic software was to find out what his logo actually looked like.

He had hoped that the letters would relate to each other in a certain way and it would kind of imply motion. So that was something that he was already really ready to connect to. I think part of what made that successful is that it was a tactile graphic that was expected.

I think street maps and floor maps are another place where we can start with something that’s familiar. So I think using something that someone already knows both for context and motivation is a powerful thing.

TR:

Available maps include;
* Tactile street maps
* Floor maps of the Heiskel branch – enabling customers to locate computer labs, training and community rooms and more.

* a prototype map of the five boroughs as requested so many years ago.

CF:
I was so happy that we got our first real live request in the fall to reproduce a floor map for the NFB of New York state convention.

We enlisted a sighted volunteer who has graphic design but next to no tactile graphic experience. And we paired her up with a few blind volunteers who don’t have graphic design experience but who have lots of experience with Braille and tactile graphics.

TR:

The collaboration worked well. Chancey and the other volunteers provided valuable input and feedback making the end result a usable map that was distributed to about 30 people.

CF:

I think we are on the edge of a new golden age in tactile literacy. In the same way that two hundred years ago we were on the edge of something spectacular in terms of textual literacy.

Now although we still have trouble convincing folks that Braille’s important and sometimes affording the Brail technology that we need broadly we have better access to texts than ever before thanks to electronic conversion into Braille and even text to speech and we are in a better place with regard to textual literacy than we’ve ever been.

TR:

Chancey speaks of a benefit she has seen in her own life after beginning to think more spatially.

CF:

I’m a person that never took chemistry or physics or calculus and a person that never really engaged to actively with the arts or coding.

And it’s only now that I’m working in the community of support such awesome collaborators across the city and across the country that I feel free to explore

TR:

Creative exploration like origami. And Chancey is now bringing this paper art form to the Talking Book library patrons.

CF:

Origami is paper craft.

origami is using a single sheet of paper or maybe even building lots of different
modules together and using different folds and most to create.

Most of the Origami instructions say hey check out figure E or it’s a totally silent You Tube video that just shows somebody’s hands. And so our Origami club that we’re launching in collaboration with the Origami Therapy Association here in New York here is a chance for Blind folks and say to folks to get together and use really clear descriptive language to explain step by step what you need to do to get to a certain origami model. If you check out YouDescribe.org and search for origami you actually
see some students from San Francisco State Universities TVI Preparation program have put up quite a few Origami instructional videos that are accessible, they all have a descriptive track. So we’re lucky to have them as collaborators as well as a few blind folks around the country help us learn new models and get them into clear descriptive language.

TR:

In a sense, Chancey began preparing for her role at the library at an early age back in Mechanicsville Virginia.

CF:
I went to a mainstream school in the 80’s and my folks always made sure that I had basically equal access to information and one of the most important ways they did that is by pushing for the school system to incorporate technology into my life from an early age. I remember having a Toshiba laptop in the first grade.

I could play text adventure games and I could get my word processing done. And one of the most powerful things that I still remember is that people could write notes to me and I could read over them and I could write out my assignments and send them to a printer which meant that I could get feedback from my teacher without having to wait for the vision teacher to come around and transcribe things.

So I learned really early on that having technology at my fingertips, mainstream technology that everybody could use together was going to be a key that would let me interact directly and not wait on a third party to grant me the access that I need.

TR:
While attending William and Mary College Chancey had the opportunity to work as a peer Access Technology Trainer. Providing one on one training to other Blind and visually impaired individuals.

After graduating with degrees in Sociology and Psychology she felt more connected to Access Technology. A member of the National Federation of the Blind ever since receiving a student scholarship, Chancey began beta testing the first KNFB Reader – an early device to portably scan text to speech.

CF:
Little did I know that one of the times I was at a conference demonstrating , there was a recruiter in the audience from a place called Integration Technologies and the next thing I knew I was flying around the country training Federal employees with disabilities on how to use their tech and that’s kind of how I got my start.

It was fun to fly from office to office and see how lots of different types of people worked. I got to work with transcriptionists, IRS agents, judges, veterans and all kinds of people and it was a great first post college job.

TR:
technology isn’t just a 9 to 5 thing with Chancey.
She says it permeates her life.
Using apps to help her improve her ability to understand and speak Spanish, accessible ways of finding and cooking new recipes,
using GPS apps for travel
these are just examples of technology in her daily life.

She also thinks about the social implications of technology. Like Aira, the glasses and app that are connected to a live attendant who can serve as a blind users virtual eyes. Describing and assisting in navigation at any time. The service begins at about 90 dollars per month.

CF:

Aira is a premium product and it lets us get around a lot of accessibility problems and perhaps giving an accessibility workaround to the folks that are privileged enough to be able to pay for Aira, might not always be a good thing because if I have had my accessibility problem solved by Aira will I take the time to do the boring paper work and the advocacy follow up that’s required to make the bigger accessibility problem that I encounter go away or will I just hitch a ride with Aira and forget about it? I hope I won’t. I hope we can all have a conversation about how we can incorporate these tools into our
lives in a way that doesn’t keep us from being a good community advocates for accessibility that is for everyone.

##
Clearly, Chancey sees the bigger picture when it comes to the purpose of technology. It’s not what the tech does that makes it cool, it’s about how it can impact a person’s life.

CF:
One of my favorite stories is about a young lady that came from Syria and
when she first came to us she came because she wanted to learn to type. She didn’t really have much of a Goal beyond that. In addition to being blind and being newly new to technology she also has a speech impairment. She has a lot of trouble communicating especially with people with people that she doesn’t know or who don’t really slow down to listen to her.
So first she came in very quietly barely said anything and booked lots of time with talking typing teacher. When she finished with that she started to learn to use the Internet. She got a computer from Computers for the Blind, the refurbished computers out of Texas, and slowly she started to talk to us more because she had more specific questions about how to do different things on the internet and her personality started to emerge.

one of the first things that she wanted to do online was go on You Tube and look for makeup tutorials and we did.

Then she got an I Phone And with that I Phone we recommended that she get a Bluetooth keyboard. Fortunately she was able to afford to do that.

I’ll always remember the first big milestone with her. She. Typed out to me in one day hey could I take this keyboard in and type out what I want my doctor to know before I meet with my doctor? And I just like wanted
to do a fist bump like yes that’s exactly what this technology is for. She figured out for herself how it was going to help her. How it was going to empower her.

## That young lady not only continued learning Braille, but she began providing support for others new to technology and is now continuing her education in preparation for entering the workforce.

Looking back on Chancey’s career path a few notable milestones stand out.
There’s the technology experience and that early opportunity to travel and meet a wide array of people with vision loss that seemed to prepare her for her later work. Including serving as one of the first Holman Prize judges.

Chancey says her involvement with the National Federation of the Blind was also instrumental.

I first joined the National Federation of the Blind in two thousand and one and I came in the way that a lot of people do which is that they got me with
a scholarship.

So I came to a convention for a scholarship and I stayed for the philosophy.

it was Carla McCuillan that gave the first banquet speech. She is a pretty distinguished educator – I think she runs a
Montessori school. I remember the energy and I remember her addressing
the low expectations that the public often has for us and you know immediately I connected with that message that that that’s not a normal thing that we can do better for ourselves.

I think the National Federation of the blind is. Pretty unique in the amount of investment and trust that it puts in its ordinary members who become volunteers.

It is one of the greatest ways that I have
found to get work experience while I was waiting for actual work to come along beginning when I was in college.

TR:
It was an earlier volunteer experience working the phones at a women’s crisis shelter that helped Chancey realize a career in Psychology wasn’t for her.

That discovery Chancey says was just another benefit of volunteering.

CF:
It’s a way to develop skills and self-confidence meet people in the community give back but it’s also frankly
sometimes a way to find a job.

TR:

Like I said, lessons in Chancey’s experience once again go beyond disability

If you live in New York City or find yourself visiting head on down to the library and check out all they have to offer.

For more information on services and upcoming workshops visit Talking Books.NYPL.ORG

To reach out to Chancey directly you can find her at @ChanceyFleet on Twitter.

Remember to subscribe to the podcast; Apple Podcast, Google Play Stitcher, Tune In Radio and Sound Cloud.
Tell a friend!

CF:
… and quietly , slowly it started to take off.

[RMMRadio Theme Outro]

TR:
Peace!

Hide the transcript