Hi all,

Some well-known companies, like American Express and Goldman Sax, have 
positions that can be done from home either for contractors or 
employees. The most common positions, the ones I suspect are on the 
rise, are what amounts to call center positions. The two companies I've 
mentioned have discussion groups and other support for people with 
disabilities, but what that translates to in real life depends to some 
degree on who your supervisor is and how much this person is willing to 
do. I've heard really positive stories of supervisors pushing for and 
getting very expensive scripting done so a relatively low-level employee 
could use her screen reader, and I've heard horror stories of employees 
quitting because their productivity was extremely low due to poor access.

My only real experience with this type of work has been as a telephonic 
interpreter for a couple of different companies. I did it both as an 
employee and as a contractor. There was a portal we could use to manage 
employee stuff, like days off and payroll, and a website that we could 
log into while we were on the phone to get information about the current 
call. In theory, we didn't have to use the websites, but in practice, 
life was made very difficult if we didn't. The portal and website were 
both only partially accessible, even though I know these companies hire 
a number of blind interpreters, and the level of accommodation varied. 
One company was able to give us over-the-phone training since the web 
based training wasn't accessible, but the same company didn't really 
have anything in place for helping us manage absences, breaks, and so 
forth on it's increasingly inaccessible employee portal.

Beyond that, I personally found working from home to be surprisingly 
hard emotionally speaking. The first few minutes were the hardest part 
of a call because I was juggling information on the computer with what 
the parties were telling me in order to figure out what this particular 
call/encounter was about, and on top of that, I would be getting used to 
each speaker's communication style/voice and trying to acclimate to the 
often poor sound quality of the line. Most days, the phone never stopped 
ringing, so I didn't get a chance to clear my head for a moment between 
encounters. And on days with long sleepy gaps, I would find myself 
noticing just how alone and isolated I was. Since interpreters handle a 
lot of highly confidential information and since I don't live alone, I 
had to keep my home office door closed while I worked. This increased my 
mild claustrophobia to levels I could no longer quite ignore. Over time, 
it became harder to tolerate the days and half-days spent alone in a 
room. I wasn't expecting to have this problem since I think of myself as 
fairly introverted, and I generally find noise and distraction bothersome.

finally, the companies I worked for have no problem requiring extra 
training outside of work hours. We were often sent glossaries and 
scenarios to learn for the latest client, and while we were expected to 
work on the material, we were not paid to do so or allotted time during 
our shift for that purpose. If the job paid well, I wouldn't have 
minded, but since the pay was low enough for me to keep looking for 
work, I was more interested in furthering my own job seeking agenda than 
in helping the companies achieve world domination.

I've spoken to a few other people who have done similar work: 
call-center-from-home jobs. They have the same complaints whether 
they're taking calls for banks or offering tech support. I won't say 
I'll never do it again. I learned a lot as an over-the-phone 
interpreter, both when I did it in the early days of my career and years 
later as someone with lots of experience and training. It was also 
convenient as I didn't have to worry about transportation or weird 
I-can't-deal-with-the-stupid-blind-lady issues. But for me, it was one 
of the most stressful and unpleasant experiences of my working life, and 
I would do it again only if I had nothing else going on.

Ciao




On 1/12/2016 6:03 PM, ted chittenden wrote:
> Hi to all.
>
> There is really no sure way to tell a legitimate work-at-home option from an illegitimate one. However, there are signs that you can use to make that kind of judgment. These include how well the company is known, what kind of reputation the company has with other companies, its customers, and former employees, and if the offer you're getting sounds too good to be true.
>
> There is another factor that blind and visually impaired people should consider as well when determining whether or not they will be able to work from home; namely, the accessibility of the company's website. Despite the law, there are still plenty of companies whose website accessibility, especially for employees, is far from adequate. While you could file legal claims or take other advocacy steps against such companies, those actions will not get you nearer to a job from home in the short term, and you may not have the money to fight against such companies in the first place.
>
> Finally, to add to Catherine's comments (which are excellent points to consider, by the way), I should note that my past experience with brick-and-morter companies with work-from-home opportunities has been that such businesses will first want to see how you work in the brick-and-morter environments of their offices before allowing you to work from home.
>
> Good luck!
> ---- Catherine Getchell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> This is a great question to ask your state VR agency.  It's been my
> experience that many of the telecommuting companies that claim to
> provide jobs for people with disabilities provide temporary contract
> work at best.  I haven't heard of too many people having a long-term,
> stable, sustainable wage job from organizations such as NTI or J
> Lodge.  Not to say these sustainable wage, stable jobs don't exist
> with these organizations.  I just personally haven't had any customers
> where this worked out.  There are also usually pretty stringent
> computer equipment and computer skills requirements which can
> eliminate many candidates.  My recommendation would be to look for a
> job from a company that has both a brick and morter office and some
> work from home options for employees.
>
>
>
> On 1/12/16, Jeff Kenyon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Hi everyone, I am also interested in this as well. I am interested in the
>> kind of telecommuting work that can be done from home and also what is legit
>> and what is not and how to tell one from the other.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Jan 12, 2016, at 5:08 PM, Bundy, Keith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Good evening, list. I continually read where legitimate telecommuting jobs
>>> are on the increase.
>>>
>>> For a variety of reasons, I am looking for a career change and would love
>>> to step into telecommuting due to not wanting to relocate at this point in
>>> life. Does anyone on the list have any ideas as to how one can make a
>>> serious effort to find legitimate telecommuting work?
>>>
>>> Thanks for any thoughts you may have.
>>>
>>>
>>> Keith Bundy, MS
>>> Assistant Dean for Student Development
>>> ADA Coordinator, Adjunct Instructor - CSC-105
>>> Dakota State University
>>> 820 N. Washington Ave.
>>> Madison, SD 57042
>>> Phone: 605-256-5121, Fax: 605-256-5854
>>> mail: [log in to unmask]
>>>
>>> Leave list: [log in to unmask]
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