Choosing a career path and finding suitable
employment is challenging for any young person, but the challenges are greatly
magnified and the employment opportunities are greatly decreased if that person
is blind or partially sighted. In December I wrote about the Employment Counselling
team at Vision Australia. This past week I have been making some enquiries
about services offered by CNIB. Following are a few personal observations. I must stress that the comments are my own
and I am not a spokesperson for CNIB.
CNIB is a private agency and as such relies
heavily on government funding. The services offered by the agency are very much
dependent on this funding. In the course of my questions, I also learned that
although CNIB is a national agency, services to clients are conducted at
provincial levels. Although I have spoken with working age blind and partially
sighted adults across the country, I have really only spoken about employment counselling
with CNIB staff in Alberta.
In Alberta there are two employment
counsellors, one located in Edmonton and the other in Calgary. The service
appears to function with particular emphasis on the age demographic of 18 plus years.
Prior to age eighteen, young people who are blind or partially sighted come
under the umbrella of child and youth services and school counselling agencies.
Heather is the employment counsellor in the
Edmonton Office and she shared with me some of her job responsibilities. One
aspect of her position is to ensure that career plans are in place for the
young client who is nearing graduation from secondary school. This means
meeting with the client, his/her family and also school counsellors. Generally
speaking, Heather works in coordination with the area of CNIB responsible for
child, youth and family services.
Upon request from a client, Heather will
also connect with adults who are already working but who are experiencing
changes in vision. When this happens, sometimes accommodations can be arranged
so that the person can continue to work in the same or similar position. This
might mean that Heather will connect with the employer and visit the work site
to assess the situation and make further suggestions.
Heather also told me about a new program
started in Calgary last summer. The
program was a youth internship program and was open to young people between the
ages of 18 and 29. This was a paid summer position and so the prospective
intern needed to apply and meet specific criteria outlined by CNIB.
Bert, another CNIB staff, told me about the
STAR program. This program was inspired by Bert himself about ten years ago and
continues to function as a viable program today. Again, those who are accepted
must meet certain criteria and only six clients are accepted each spring. Bert
told me that STAR stands for Skills, Technology, Adjustment and Recreation and
the three week program trains clients in each aspect.
Although I didn’t come away from these
discussions with the same enthusiasm I felt when I visited Vision Australia
last December, I acknowledge that there are differences between that
organization and the small part of CNIB that I now know about. In Australia I
was privileged to meet and talk with a team of counsellors in a city of over
four million people. In Alberta, I spoke only with one person at a time in a city
of a much smaller population. In Australia I didn’t personally meet with any of
the working age adults who were looking for jobs, while in Canada I have spoken
with a number of young blind and partially sighted adults who are actively but
unsuccessfully seeking employment.
As I conclude this entry, I know that I
haven’t put forward any particular solutions to the challenges of unemployment
or underemployment faced by people who are blind or partially sighted. Instead, I simply want to bring the problem
forward for examination and discussion. My thanks to Dorothy who asked the original
question on this blog and to Heather, Bert and other CNIB staff personnel who
spoke with me and answered my questions.
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