Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Career advice needed for my friend (self.Blind)
submitted by mysterymanOO7
(This is on behalf of friend of mine)
Background: My friend has a genetic condition, due to which he will eventually lose his vision completely in his twenties. He is currently 18 and can still manage to see (partially). He uses vision aids to read. He lives in Pakistan, where there are very limited facilities for people with low vision.
Needed advice: He has recently finished his 12th grade (roughly equates to A-level). He is looking to study in a University, possibly doing a post graduation afterwards. Here are a few questions, he wants to ask
1. What should he study that he can later base his career on (considering his condition).
Two options he himself is considering are
i. Special educations - so he can later play a role to help people in similar situation
ii. Linguistics - As he assumes if he has a career in this field, it wouldn't be hindered (a lot) due to vision loss
Considering option "i", the only choice he currently has in Pakistan is Karachi University Special Education department - which again is mostly limited and doesn't really focus low-vision or behind people.
2. Are there graduation (and eventually post-graduate) proprams outside Pakistan that he can consider.
3. Are there any scholarship that he can apply for?
Background: My friend has a genetic condition, due to which he will eventually lose his vision completely in his twenties. He is currently 18 and can still manage to see (partially). He uses vision aids to read. He lives in Pakistan, where there are very limited facilities for people with low vision.
Needed advice: He has recently finished his 12th grade (roughly equates to A-level). He is looking to study in a University, possibly doing a post graduation afterwards. Here are a few questions, he wants to ask
1. What should he study that he can later base his career on (considering his condition).
Two options he himself is considering are
i. Special educations - so he can later play a role to help people in similar situation
ii. Linguistics - As he assumes if he has a career in this field, it wouldn't be hindered (a lot) due to vision loss
Considering option "i", the only choice he currently has in Pakistan is Karachi University Special Education department - which again is mostly limited and doesn't really focus low-vision or behind people.
2. Are there graduation (and eventually post-graduate) proprams outside Pakistan that he can consider.
3. Are there any scholarship that he can apply for?
EndlessReverberation 2 points 5y ago
I have a blind friend who grew up in Pakistan, and moved to America to go to college. He now lives in America and has a great job teaching A T at a training center for blind people. From what he says, moving out of Pakistan and having the opportunities of a country that has more positive views and opinions on disability changed his life. He did not attend college in Pakistan, so I don’t know how that might have changed things, but if his experience is typical; being a blind person in Pakistan can be pretty hard and limiting. I know one other blind person who is a teenager and lives in Pakistan. He is having an even more difficult time, because his family is very sheltering and protective of him. Of course, sighted people in every part of the world are very ignorant about blindness, but some cultures are worse than others. I have zero personal experience with Pakistan, so all of my thoughts are second hand. If you want to hear the story of my friend who moved to America, in his own words, you can hear it with this link.
https://soundcloud.com/endless-reverberations/august-20
FYI this was the second episode of my failed podcast, so it has some issues and oddities.
PS, for what it’s worth, I majored in communication and I now work in IT at an American university; I am in charge of testing the accessibility of our websites, apps, etc. My wife got degrees in social work and law, and she is the technology specialist for our state’s blindness organization. Of course, there are countless options for careers, but many of the young blind people I know work in technology.
https://soundcloud.com/endless-reverberations/august-20
FYI this was the second episode of my failed podcast, so it has some issues and oddities.
PS, for what it’s worth, I majored in communication and I now work in IT at an American university; I am in charge of testing the accessibility of our websites, apps, etc. My wife got degrees in social work and law, and she is the technology specialist for our state’s blindness organization. Of course, there are countless options for careers, but many of the young blind people I know work in technology.
[deleted] 1 points 5y ago
[removed]
Namrakk 1 points 5y ago
There are programs outside of Pakistan that cater to his interests, and you may be able to help identify scholarships for him. I have never lived in Pakistan, but I do have a cursory awareness of its culture and political/administrative climate. Your friend would have more economic and professional opportunity abroad, especially given his lack of vision, but weighing the tradeoffs would be up to him (not to mention the difficulty of completely relocating while visually impaired)
Amonwilde 1 points 5y ago
My understanding is that accommodation of blindness and low vision is less assured where your friend lives. In my (Western) experience, VI people tend to gravitate toward these professions, though they are by no means the only professions your friend could choose:
- Accountant
- Advocate
- Lawyer
- Programmer
- Musician
- Human Resources
- Counselor
- Radio
- Disability Service
- Researcher/Analyst
- Dispatcher
- Engineer
- Teacher/Professor
- Business Consultant
- Web Accessibility Specalist
- Government
These are compiled from my own experience and this (somewhat outdated) report: http://www.blindness.org/pdf/careerbook.pdf
- Accountant
- Advocate
- Lawyer
- Programmer
- Musician
- Human Resources
- Counselor
- Radio
- Disability Service
- Researcher/Analyst
- Dispatcher
- Engineer
- Teacher/Professor
- Business Consultant
- Web Accessibility Specalist
- Government
These are compiled from my own experience and this (somewhat outdated) report: http://www.blindness.org/pdf/careerbook.pdf
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