A number of questions have been asked on Internet lists about the
new federally-funded job program conducted by the
National Federation of the Blind.  I recently found the
explanatory document below and thought it worth sharing.

Regards,
Jamal

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 From the web page http://www.nfb.org/newjob.htm

                      New Job Opportunities

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE BLIND
TARGETED JOBS INITIATIVE
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

OVERVIEW: A PATHWAY TO GOOD JOBS FOR THE BLIND

The real problems of blindness arise not from the inability to
see but from the inability of many people to believe that the
blind can compete on the basis of equality.

The National Federation of the Blind is witness to the truth
demonstrated in the lives of thousands of blind people: with
training and opportunity blindness can be reduced to the level
of a physical inconvenience--if blind people truly have access
to the training and the opportunity.

A number of public and private rehabilitation centers provide
the training necessary for success, but the most formidable
barrier faced by the blind who seek employment is finding the
opportunity. Through the Job Opportunities for the Blind (JOB)
Targeted Jobs Initiative, operated in collaboration with major
national employers, the National Federation of the Blind works
with agencies and blind people they serve to provide a
cost-effective pathway to jobs with good earnings and benefits.

Employers have sought to become partners largely because they
have come to know the National Federation of the Blind and the
"can do" philosophy the Federation practices. They know that a
blind person who completes training in this program will reach
them with a positive attitude and work ethic, ready to hit the
ground running and to help the employer's business succeed.

The program, designed by blind consumers themselves, works like
this: Eligible blind persons [see specific criteria below] are
referred to the project by their state rehabilitation agencies
or other sponsors. While basic project services leading to
referral for employment are free of charge, sponsors support
trainees with ancillary costs of transportation or additional
adjustment-to-blindness training recommended by project staff on
the basis of their needs assessment for each participant.
Trainees enter an initial two-week orientation and training
session at the National Center for the Blind in Baltimore in
strategies and skills for competitive employment conducted by
successful blind role models. Project staff determine basic
eligibility and conduct the orientation and training to
determine trainees' readiness for job interviews and re-entry
into employment through project placement services.

All phases of the orientation and training sequence are crucial.
Most practicing vocational rehabilitation counselors can attest
to the fact that their success with blind persons who are blind
very often is contingent upon (1) achieving a degree of
motivation which will prompt blind persons to avail themselves
of services offered through the state-federal program and
resources like this project and (2) having blind persons
adequately grounded in both skills and self-confidence to get
and keep good jobs.

Like others facing adjustment to a challenging experience, blind
persons re-entering the world of work need the kind of support
provided by those who have succeeded under similar circumstances
and can serve as credible mentors. Without knowledge, blind
persons fail to form an accurate picture of what they can expect
and how to get it done. Without the kind of motivation provided
through effective mentoring, however, they typically are not as
inclined to follow through to achieving realistically ambitious
goals. Imparting and reinforcing these outlooks and skills is an
integral part of the orientation and training, and the task
cannot be completed without at least a minimal investment of
effort to establish mentoring relationships.

Since the orientation and training is based upon establishing a
relationship between trainees and teacher-mentors, it requires
exposure to the positive atmosphere found at a facility like the
National Center for the Blind. First, it is absolutely necessary
to test to the maximum extent possible the ability to use fully
the alternative techniques employed by successful and productive
blind people, including use of Braille, independent travel,
skills of daily living, computer keyboard skills, and managing
the myriad details in a modern office environment. Based upon
extensive experience with blind adults over many years, the
consumer-led program conducted by this project works in the
first phases of orientation and training to be absolutely
certain an applicant can meet the rigorous demands of a
fast-paced competitive work environment through use of the
alternative techniques of blindness to reflex perfection.

Secondly, it is essential to deal with more than skills in
determining a blind person's job-readiness. It is relatively
easy to learn the right words about blindness, but to the extent
that a blind person does not really believe at the visceral
level that it is possible to compete on the basis of equality
with sighted peers, he or she is prepared only for
disappointment and failure. The interaction with well-adjusted,
successful, and experienced blind persons who serve as teachers
and mentors in the orientation and training phase is crucial to
trainees in building their confidence level as blind persons.
Without it the individual trainee may be set up for failure in a
highly competitive work environment rather than equipped for
success to the maximum extent possible.

The need for preserving the integrity of the effective
motivational strategies built into this program cannot be
emphasized too strongly. Beyond the motivation to seek work and
knowledge to obtain and keep it, which are both critical,
constructive attitudes about blindness are for blind persons
also essential to individual empowerment. Since independence is
a way of living and thinking, it cannot be merely handed to a
person. Enjoyment of the rights and opportunities associated
with productive employment cannot occur for blind people if they
fail to pursue opportunities or fail to expect equal treatment.
Those who continue to sell themselves short, based on false
beliefs about blindness, will not be able to reach their full
potential. A substantial and growing body of evidence from the
experience of the National Federation of the Blind indicates
that relationships with peers who can serve as blind mentors as
well as teachers can help individuals develop the requisite
confidence and self-esteem as blind persons to take advantage of
opportunities. This project is built on that belief, which sets
the tone at the National Center for the Blind.

At the end of the initial two-week orientation and training,
some trainees will perceive the need for additional training,
and for others project staff may recommend it as a prerequisite
to placement. If further adjustment-to-blindness services appear
necessary at the end of the first phase of orientation and
training, participants are offered them on a fee-for-service
basis at one of the project's regional sites: the Colorado
Center for the Blind in Denver; the Louisiana Center for the
Blind in Ruston, Louisiana; and Blindness: Learning in New
Dimensions (BLIND, Inc.), in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Only by
correcting any deficiencies noted in skill levels or belief can
the trainee be sent to a job interview with a reasonable chance
to succeed. If the deficiencies uncovered by the orientation and
training are relatively minor and can be addressed during the
initial two-week period, they will be. Extensive deficits,
however, require more time to correct through extended
specialized training which builds confidence.

When the basic orientation--including counseling regarding work
incentives in the Social Security Disability and Supplemental
Security Income programs and advice in dealing effectively with
attitudinal barriers encountered on the job--determines
participants are ready, project staff conduct the next segment
of training, including work on basic information access
technology for the blind and specific training in the systems,
software, and procedures used by potential employers. This
training segment also takes place in the International Braille
and Technology Center for the Blind, housed at the National
Center for the Blind. Following completion of training, program
participants are referred to a major cooperating employer for
interview and consideration in filling vacancies in jobs the
employer has targeted through collaboration with the project.

While the final decision to employ rests with the employer, the
careful program design, thorough orientation and training, and
superior technology instruction offered by the project are
expected to result in an offer of employment for most
participants who qualify.

If a blind person seeks rewarding work with a major company
using information access technology, is willing to relocate, and
can qualify on the basis of the criteria described elsewhere in
this brochure, opportunity may be knocking through the JOB
Targeted Jobs Initiative.

ELIGIBILITY AND ORIENTATION AND TRAINING SEQUENCE

The project targets people of working age (18-65) who are
statutorily blind, regardless of the cause of blindness, and who
have been out of work for a period not less than four months but
not more than five years. It is anticipated, therefore, that all
eligible applicants will be eligible for Social Security
Disability Insurance for the Blind (SSDI) and/or Supplemental
Security Income (SSI). In general, if the individual is
receiving vocational rehabilitation services, all services of a
prevocational or vocational nature included in the
Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE) should be completed or
should be nearing completion so that the individual is
approaching job placement status. Applicants must have completed
high school and should have completed prevocational training
after becoming blind within a year prior to application for
services from this program. (In the case of those who received
prevocational training earlier but have been continuously
employed up to otherwise attaining eligibility for these
services, this requirement may be altered or waived.)
Prevocational training should have included at a minimum
instruction in (1) independent travel for the blind, (2)
alternative methods of communication such as Braille, (3)
alternative techniques of blindness used in daily living, and
(4) counseling in overcoming attitudinal barriers to opportunity
for blind persons. At placement, participants should understand
that other eligibility criteria may necessarily be stipulated
for specific job classes identified by participating employers.

Application forms and program information will be furnished to
interested individuals and sponsoring agencies upon request. The
process for conducting the eligibility determination at the
initial stage in each case will be the responsibility of the
project's national staff in Baltimore.

Candidates found eligible at this stage will be scheduled for
initial orientation and training at the National Center for the
Blind in Baltimore. The process will normally involve the
two-week orientation and training period already described,
including a series of in-person interviews and practical
exercises. During this process each applicant will participate
in a structured series of activities designed to assess the
extent to which the individual is truly "ready for employment"
through the targeted jobs partnership if provided with
additional training.

In order to smooth each trainee's transition from dependence on
government benefits to productive employment, the targeted jobs
training component includes at this stage intensive
work-incentive information relative to eligibility for and
termination of disability insurance and SSI benefits. The
training includes provision of comprehensive written information
and the opportunity for personal face-to-face counseling to
address specific questions. Topics include return-to-work
policies of the Social Security Administration, utilization of
the Plan for Achieving self-support (PASS) provisions to receive
SSI benefits while working, and explanations of special rules
about work and earnings of blind beneficiaries.

The findings at the initial stages of the orientation and
training phase in each case are based on two essential
considerations: (1) whether or not the individual demonstrates
the capacity and skills needed as a blind person to function
effectively in a targeted-jobs-partnership opportunity and (2)
whether or not the individual has the requisite knowledge,
skills, and abilities to meet the employer's published
qualifications for positions used for referral in the
partnership.

The recommendation made at completion of basic training on the
basis of the first criterion centers on the demonstrated use of
knowledge and skills required for a blind person to perform
successfully and compete on equal terms with co-workers who are
not blind. Based on their knowledge of blindness and reasonable
expectations of performance, staff at the National Center for
the Blind are expert in conducting such orientation and training.

The recommendation made in accordance with the second criterion
is a straightforward evaluation of each candidate's knowledge,
skills, and abilities in relationship to published
qualifications used for positions by employers in the
partnership. The object of this part of the orientation and
training is to apply the standard tests for qualifications used
by the employers in the case of applicants who are not blind.
Modifications to the employers' standard testing instruments
will be made to accommodate to nonvisual use when necessary.
This will include the use of readers and preparation of test
instruments in alternate formats such as Braille or computerized
accessible versions as needed.

ADDITIONAL ADJUSTMENT-TO-BLINDNESS TRAINING

Applicants who are determined on the basis of the first
criterion not to be ready for employment are considered eligible
to enter a program of comprehensive adjustment-to-blindness and
skills-training classes at the regional sites. This training is
offered and provided at the applicant's option if arrangements
can be made for payment of costs by the sponsoring agency.

The focus of supplemental adjustment-to-blindness training is on
needs identified during the initial orientation and training
phase at the National Center. These are addressed through
offering regional centers' normal comprehensive
adjustment-to-blindness training to eligible participants. The
classes consist of teaching skills of independent mobility,
communications, and activities of daily living which are
prerequisite to success on the job. In addition these classes
focus on counseling and mentoring by experienced blind teachers
on personal adjustment and confidence building through an open
discussion of fears and guided study of information about
pertinent issues that face blind people in social and workplace
interactions.

When applicants complete this phase they are referred for
interviews and placement through the project's network of
employer partnerships.

SPECIALIZED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING (ITT)

The content of the training program has been designed to assist
participants in meeting their needs for blindness-related
training and placement in employment. Therefore, the activities
following the initial orientation and training phase include
three components: (1) the additional adjustment-to-blindness
services explained above, (2) information technology training
(ITT) services provided as a culmination of the two-week basic
training at the National Center for the Blind, and (3) job
search/placement services. Some individuals may participate in
both the additional adjustment-to-blindness and information
technology training components while others will not. However,
all individuals who are placed in employment through the
targeted jobs partnership receive information technology
training services since this is central to the project's stated
placement goals. The rationale for this training is the
realization that modern methods of electronic communication
threaten to leave blind people behind in the competition for
jobs unless they have the means of overcoming their knowledge
deficit on adaptive technology.

This deficit is partly the result of rapidly changing methods
and the capacities for use of technology by anyone--blind or
sighted. More importantly, however, the knowledge deficit for
blind people has resulted in a high degree of dependence on the
judgments made by manufacturers who want to sell their
particular nonvisual access products.

As an antidote the targeted jobs training provides participants
with a baseline understanding of all devices and software which
permit use of computers and other electronic data systems by
nonvisual means. Participants equipped with this comprehensive
knowledge will be able to advocate for themselves in securing
appropriate nonvisual access technology on the job.

The content of this training focuses on devices and software
needed to provide the user with information from electronic
systems in both Braille and speech. Lessons provide trainees
with the following knowledge and skills:

(1) all known and available scanning devices which convert
ink-print characters to electronic digital text;

(2) all known and available computer screen review software
programs;

(3) all known and available computer-driven Braille embossing
devices;

(4) all known and available synthetic speech-output systems
(hardware and software);

(5) print-text to Braille-text translation programs;

(6) all known and available refreshable Braille displays which
are interfaced with personal computers to obtain Braille output;

(7) Braille- and speech-output portable note-taking devices;

(8) programs which are developed and planned to address the
graphical user interface (GUI) problem, which involves solutions
for reading graphically based applications and operating systems
with speech and/or Braille output;

(9) resources pertaining to disability, blindness, and
employment that are available through electronic data bases,
such as the World Wide Web, search engines, and discussion
groups found on the

Internet; and

(10) learning how to locate establish networks with blind and
visually impaired persons who regularly use information access
technology in successful job performance.

In addition to this general survey of information access
technology for the blind, trainees receive specialized training
in use of access technology, systems, and procedures necessary
for initial entry into employment with UPS or another
partnership member employer. This training is provided to
achieve the requisite skill level to perform job duties after
placement through the project.

JOB SEARCH, PLACEMENT, AND POST-PLACEMENT FOLLOW-UP

As the final component of the program, job-search and placement
services include referral of candidates trained by the project
to employers in the targeted jobs partnership. Services also
include assistance with the employers' application forms and
other required documents. While participants are expected to
complete the necessary application materials independently,
project staff will be available to answer specific questions.

Participants placed in employment will be able to receive
post-employment technical assistance for resolving on-the-job
technology problems to the extent permitted by the limited
resources of the project. Also, project staff maintain a system
for post-placement follow-up which includes notations of
progress on the job at intervals of 30 days, 60 days, and 180
days after employment.

COST DATA

The cost of the entire orientation and training sequence for
eligible persons is covered by the project. Services provided
include but are not limited to:

(1) Orientation and training in strategies and skills for
competitive employment (Fourteen days long, including housing
and daily continental breakfast);

(2) Targeted jobs technology training;

(3) Placement, follow-up, and technical assistance.

1 This includes the basic program of orientation and training,
placement, and follow-up technical assistance. If additional
adjustment-to-blindness training is recommended as a
prerequisite for placement, it will be offered by the regional
centers at current rates they have established. The living
expenses covered for those in training at the National Center
for the Blind are lodging and breakfast, and the balance, for
items like other meals and ground transportation, must be paid
by the participant or sponsor. Travel (for job-readiness
orientation and training at the National Center for the Blind in
Baltimore, to and from regional sites, and to and from
interviews for targeted jobs) must be paid by individual or
sponsor.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR TARGETED JOBS TRAINING CLASSES

While targeted jobs training will be highly individualized, it
will occur in the context of regularly scheduled classes
tentatively scheduled as follows:

#1 September 21-October 2, 1998

#2 December 7-16, 1998

#3 January 4-15, 1999

#4 January 25-February 5, 1999

#5 February 8-19, 1999

#6 March 1-12, 1999

#7 March 22-April 2, 1999

#8 April 12-23, 1999

#9 May 3-14, 1999

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE BLIND

TARGETED JOBS INITIATIVE

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

1800 JOHNSON STREET

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21230

TELEPHONE (410) 659-9314

FAX (410) 685-5653

E-MAIL [log in to unmask]

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End of Document


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