Israel Antonio, Anthony Tanzi and Twalla Gipson are Chicago-area high school students with big career plans.
Israel, 15, wants to be a musician. Anthony, 19, has his heart set on becoming an actor. And 17-year-old Twalla thinks she`d make a great lawyer.
They`re all planning to attend college.
But whether these students find jobs when their school days are over may have less to do with their talents and skills than with workplace attitudes.
That`s because these students are blind.
And, according to a new survey, Corporate America is woefully unprepared to welcome the vast numbers of blind and visually impaired job seekers who could come knocking at its doors.
These are the same doors that the recently enacted Americans with Disabilities Act was designed to open. The ADA provides sweeping civil rights protection to the nation`s estimated 43 million disabled people. Of that number, about 1.5 million are estimated to live in Illinois.
But, according to Robert Perle, manager of Braille Resources, a New York- based Braille translation service, if Corporate America`s attitudes toward the blind and visually impaired are any example, the disabled work force is going to be fighting an uphill battle. Braille Resources is owned by Hanigan Consulting Group, a management consulting firm specializing in campus recruiting for Fortune 500 firms.
Perle recently conducted a random survey of Fortune 500 companies, asking these firms about plans to make their recruiting materials available to blind or visually impaired job seekers-and about plans to provide assistance and necessary auxiliary aids that would help a disabled worker apply for or perform what would be normally considered a ”mainstream” job.
”Our research has shown that Corporate America remains blind as to what steps they need to be taking to comply with the new legislation,” Perle said. ”About 25 percent of the companies we contacted said they were studying the idea,” he said. ”The other 75 percent said they weren`t considering it at all. Of this latter group, some said they thought translating materials into Braille was a good idea but they didn`t personally see the need for it.” These employers are wrong, said Perle.
”The blind aren`t just piano tuners and broom makers,” said Perle, noting that most large universities claim a sizable group of visually disabled students among their student population.
”What this means is that each year these schools are turning out college students who happen to be visually disabled and who are also educated and employable,” Perle added.
But, he said, for these visually disabled students, finding work is very difficult.
”I don`t think it`s an intentional bias,” said Perle, of this lack of attention to the blind by big business. Perle believes the issue stems from ignorance and also from a lack of visibility. Most of these companies don`t have any blind workers, so they don`t even think of this segment.
”The ADA says that employers have to remove barriers in the workplace . . . not having any blind employees is no excuse for not making recruiting materials available to the blind,” Perle said.
About 3.4 million Americans are blind or severely visually impaired, according to the American Foundation for the Blind. Of that number, about 20 percent are of working age. But only one-third of that population is employed. The high unemployment rate among the blind is mirrored in the disabled population nationwide. General unemployment among the disabled is estimated at more than 60 percent. And of those who are employed, advocates say they are severely underemployed.
The issue of addressing the needs of the visually impaired points up a continuing point of contention between supporters and critics of the ADA-just how is American business supposed to address the myriad needs of the millions who could be legally classified as physically or mentally ”disabled?”
Because the ADA allows those with complaints to sue alleged offenders, the matter takes on greater urgency.
Currently, only companies with 25 or more employees are affected by the employment provision of the law. As of July 1994, firms with 15 or more workers must be in compliance.
In an effort to allay corporate fears about the new law and also assist firms in changing or creating new workplace policies, a number of disabled advocacy groups around the country are offering advice, expertise and, in many instances, information on potential employees.
”One of the major problems in the blind community is not unemployment but underemployment,” said Liz Greco, a spokeswoman for the American Foundation for the Blind.
The foundation, along with the National Center for Law and Deafness of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., is among the handful of disabled advocacy groups that have received funds from the Justice Department to fund the creation of educational and consulting services for employers and potential employees.
The foundation has created a career and technology information bank that provides names of more than 1,400 skilled blind and visually disabled workers who are employed in a variety of jobs that run the gamut from attorneys and psychologists to computer specialists and graphic artists.
These employees are willing to answer questions about what type of equipment and other adjustments have been made to accommodate their needs.
These aids could include large-type reading materials, materials in Braille, an electronic magnifier, reading materials on audiotape or a personal reader.
Future workers Israel, Anthony and Twalla say that with some physical assistance they know they can make their dreams come true.
Israel will be a freshman at Schurz High School, where he`s repeating the 9th grade because of absences resulting from three eye surgeries last year for a detached retina. Anthony, who has retinitis pigmentosa, will be a senior at Schurz, and Twalla, who was born blind, will be a junior at Bowen High School. The three were among a group of 16 blind and visually impaired youngsters, ages 14 to 19, who participated this summer in an innovative, eight-week program called Pathways for Youth. The program, held at Washburn Trade School, was sponsored by the Chicago-based Blind Service Association in cooperation with the Chicago Board of Education.
The program was designed to provide the youngsters with independent living skills such as cooking, grocery shopping, using public transportation and handling money, said Maureen Hinterberger, the program manager.
Another goal, she continued, was to introduce these students to the professional work world. Students learned about applying for a job, including how to fill out application forms and career dressing. They also visited several Chicago-area locations, including the Goodman Theater, O`Hare International Airport, the Criminal Courts building and the Internal Revenue Service offices.
”We wanted to familiarize the students with a variety of places. We wanted them to say to themselves, `Oh, I might go to school here.` Or `I might want to work here someday.`
