(Seeing is Believing: continued) INTERVIEWER:
INTERVIEWER:
INTERVIEWER:
What’s the most daring thing you’ve done as a blind person?
When you go on a job interview, what do you think people’s perceptions of you as a blind person are?
How many resumes do you think you’ve sent out and how many job interviews have you gone to?
EC:
EC:
People perceive my life as being really hard. I think that’s because they can’t imagine how they would cope if they were blind. So, the problem is getting people to see past that idea that my life is difficult. Is my life that much different, or harder, than anyone else’s? I have no idea. To me, I’m just normal.
I have no idea. I promised myself I wouldn’t do a final count until I get a full-time job. I was keeping track of the numbers for the first few months, but it got depressing. Let’s just leave it at that.
EC:
Hum. Well, a couple of things come to mind. Doing the half ironman race in Old Orchard Beach, Maine was pretty daring. That challenged my physical abilities for sure. Rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park when I was in elementary school. I was one of the best at that. Being blind was actually an advantage. I got the information I needed through my feet and hands, not from vision. Plus I had more body awareness than the other kids. When I was 14, I went to Costa Rica as part of an exchange program. I stayed at a lodge and got to go on the zip lines and water slides in exchange for cleaning up the trails and working on a farm.
INTERVIEWER:
What is your biggest challenge in job interviews? EC:
Fighting the daily biases, the one where people think my life is so difficult. It’s a real challenge.
INTERVIEWER:
What kind of job are you looking for? EC:
I want a regular, corporate job, just like anyone that graduated from Teachers College. Most of my classmates went into consulting. I didn’t want a lifestyle that involved constant travel. But a corporate job, yes. INTERVIEWER:
What about a government agency that focuses on the blind, or a not-for-profit? Have you thought about those places?
INTERVIEWER:
When you’re in a job interview, how do you know biases are prevalent? EC:
Well, this is a very extreme example, but it really happened. During one of my job interviews, a female executive asked me if I would need someone to escort me to the toilet when I needed to use the bathroom. I mean, who asks that kind of question in an interview? I pretty much knew right then and there I had no chance of being considered for the position. I was pretty disappointed.
EC:
Not interested. I want a regular, corporate job. I don’t mind an entrylevel position, but I want to be in the mainstream, for-profit workforce.
What's Your Kind? 2017
If you could change the mindset of people interviewing a blind person, what do you want them to see? EC:
That blind people are just like any other job candidate. That they look at a situation, and just say, “Okay, how do I work though this?” That every time we succeed, we gain confidence in self-management. We’ve developed coping skills and toughness along the way. We know how to face big obstacles, we do it all the time. Most important, that blind peoples’ lives are not the tragedy you think they are. INTERVIEWER:
Any last thoughts you want to share? EC:
I’m just a normal person doing normal things. Inside, I usually accept the challenges I faced with. I just keep asking myself: How do I work through this situation? But this job search, it’s really starting to wear me down.
INTERVIEWER:
When did you get you graduate degree from Columbia University? EC:
May 2016.
56
INTERVIEWER:
STORY BY
Cathy Beaudoin