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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2015 - 07 - 27 - ID#3eu7b9
1
Finding employment in Calgary, Canada: I need help! (self.Blind)
submitted 8y ago by MotherfuckinInfidel
I'm having an exceedingly tough time getting employed in Calgary. I lived in Lethbridge until recently, but the job market there is bad for everybody, not just blind people. Anybody know where I should try?

I had a few ideas. I'm a musician, and I play a range of strange instruments, so I thought a music shop would be a good idea. I'm familiar with smoking pipes and such too, so a smoke shop could work. I also thought about a sex shop, as I'm familiar with most of the products on the market, and am entirely comfortable speaking openly about sexuality. I've also thought about trying to work in a library.

Anybody got a list of employers who are known to have hired a blind person at one point or another? I'm desperate.
Lion_the_Bunny 2 points
I'm in the states, but I got a lot of help through a vocational rehabilitation program. They helped me figure out how to successfully get through college (they paid for private tutors), set me up with some amazing free technology (huge computer moniter, iPad, Zoomtext) and had someone out to help me get it all set up, and they give tons of help with career placement. It was a pretty simple process that I put off for years because I don't like asking for help but I'm kicking myself now, wishing I'd done it sooner. I hope you have services like this in your area - PM me with questions if you'd like! Good luck.
fastfinge 1 points
Have you thought about starting your own business? The unemployment for the blind in Canada is at something like 80% or higher, at the moment. So it's pretty bad all around. At least in Ontario, I was able to take some business development classes through a government program, that gave me useful skills that helped me go to work for myself. So you might want to consider looking into that. If you can do technical work (install/configure Wordpress, Drupal, etc, manage domains/dns/email/web hosting, and so on) or write decent copy (advertising, SEO, promotional/PR stuff) getting work is...not easy, but doable. There's a shortage of Canadians who are native English speakers and are willing to do this kind of work at competitive rates. And because you're just a contractor, people are more willing to take a chance at giving you work than they would be to take a chance at hiring you. I've done countless interviews over a number of years, and never found anyone (at least in the Toronto or Ottawa areas) willing to hire a fully blind person. Thanks to a combination of accessibility issues and out-sourcing, even the call centre stuff has dried up.

edit: missing word.
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