Disabilities Job Fair First of Its Kind in Mass.
The Power of Partnerships: Changing Lives One Career at a Time
Nearly 100 job candidates and a score of employers came together in a unique job fair at Perkins School for the Blind on October 18, 2011. The event at the new Grousbeck Center for Students and Technology on the Perkins campus in Watertown was sponsored by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind in collaboration with Carroll Center for the Blind (Newton), Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Brookline), National Braille Press (Boston) and Perkins (Watertown), and endorsed by the Greater Boston and Watertown-Belmont Chambers of Commerce. NESN provided 20 volunteers. Qualified candidates were encouraged to bring resumes to be reviewed and shared with recruiters from businesses such as TD Bank, Blue Cross|Blue Shield, Edenred, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and many others.
The White House sent Kareem Dale, the Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement & Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, to address the capacity crowd. Dale, who is legally blind and uses a white cane, spoke to job seekers and potential employers alike about expectations and results. As a young man, people expected him to get a job repairing clocks or making brooms. Instead, Dale went to college and law school, practiced at a major Chicago law firm, and now works for the President of the United States. “As people who are blind,” he went on, “we need to continue to be excellent, even two times better…” because people expect very little of individuals with disabilities. “It may not be fair, but that’s the way it is.” Dale also said pointedly that the measure of success goes beyond attendance at a disabilities job fair. “President Obama will measure success by the number of people hired,” he said, to cheers from the crowd.
Another honored guest garnered loud applause. Christine M. Griffin is Assistant Secretary for Disability Policies and Programs for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services; she is a former commissioner with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Dorchester native enthusiastically urged, “Let’s drop the word ‘awareness’ in the Disability Employment Awareness Month. Let’s start employing people with disabilities and pay attention to that for the whole year.” Paralyzed in an automobile accident in the early 1980s, Griffin has long advocated for more federal jobs for people who are disabled.
Commissioner Janet LaBreck of the Mass. Commission for the Blind is a Perkins alumna and is a powerful example of a highly successful person who, incidentally, is blind. She and her team are on a mission to build a network of business partners that will support the entire blind community. “This job fair proved that the Commission, service organizations and companies can come together to create a business-friendly environment to inform, enlighten and open doors for both consumers and businesses. While we can and should celebrate a successful event, we see today as an important first step in creating partnerships that really ‘work’ for employers and employees.”
The proof is in the work experience. Many potential candidates are eager to work as interns to demonstrate their skills on the job. Internships are a vital element in the quest to reduce unemployment among potential workers with impaired vision. Employers may not know how to accommodate a worker who is blind or visually impaired. They often do not understand the capabilities of job seekers with disabilities; taking on an intern provides an option for an employer to observe first-hand such candidates at work. LaBreck says, “We have had several employers who did not think that they were able to employ a person who is visually impaired until they made a personal connection with a successful intern. That is the power of partnership.”
In addition to meeting potential employers, job candidates had access to numerous resources such as high-tech assistive device demonstrations and consultations, resume advice, information about public transportation and on-line resources from the Massachusetts Department of Labor.
For some, it was a first, tentative foray into the world of job hunting. Others got closer to matching their skills to an employer. One H.R. representative was impressed with the caliber of candidates, saying “I met five or six people who we could hire very soon.”
Kareem Dale may have summed it up best when he concluded, “Let’s hire some folks. It will make the country better, the workplace better, and put more money into the economy.”
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