Utopia?

What is going on here? I went and applied for a job that was absolutely PERFECT for me. No phone work required, just pure data entry and yet they found someone else? How about when this company said, "When was your last job? I am looking for someone who has been currently working." Good excuse.

Seems to me that most company prefer to hire only hearing people not disabled people. That is MY impression.

Years ago, we used to have a government program called "TJTC" which stands for Targeted Job Tax Credit. The company would get $2,000 Tax Credit for every Disabled person hired for 2 years limit.

One such company hired a whole bunch of Deaf people and got those credits, kept us Deaf working for two years and then fire them all at the same time... well, actually I was there for 2 1/2 years when the company decides to fire all six of us in the same week for several different insignificant reasons.

Out of those six, I knew of two. One worked there for six years without a problem - she was pregnant with her first child in that year. Took 8 weeks maternity leave, by the time she was to return to her place of employment, the boss already filled that position without ever telling her! That boss repeatedly promised job security for her upon returning to work!

Another guy was working there for quite some time and got fired for an unknown reason and here's the doozie: he never once took a sick day off! Perfect attendance record and yet he lost his job.

That company was investigated and later folded. It no longer exists today. Not as far as I know.

Also, TJTC program no longer exists. It was replaced with a new arsenal called ADA - Americans with Disability Act. It was supposed to help us get accomodations for anything / anyplace we need in order to function in this world - public places, employment, etc. I remember cheering when this guy (I'm sorry but I can't seem to remember his name! Something Italian...) signed the words in silence. It was awesome to see him do it and to hear the screams of joy.

Well, I am sad to say that this ADA isn't strongly enforced. What does the company want? A perfect world? A world where they have someone who can multi-task as if they were born with eight arms? A world where the disability are not seen anywhere in the office - no wheelchairs, no white cane, no seeing-eye or hearing dog in sight? Come ON! That's a fantasy world - an Utopia of workplace.

No such thing. We have different color skin, different language, different culture. Why not different disability? We've got those, right? Well, since there are so many of us who happens to have a disability of some sort, we are bound to be seen at a local store, video rental place, resturants, etc.

In other word, "We are EVERYWHERE."

Been away too long

I know it has been months since my last post! The months were filled with a flurry of activities such as caring for my children, running errands, job search, volunteer work at a local church.

Yes, I volunteered to work at our local church in the office. Mainly, it was cutting papers to size, labelling the CD's that they use for sermons, monitoring the copier machine, folding church bulletins, perforating the bulletins, stuffing envelopes. Mostly the "dirty" work that would have otherwise overwhelmed the already overwhelmed secretary. The poor woman was trying to multitask and realized that she alone cannot have superpower to do them all in a flash.

The job search has been pretty disheartening. Most of them have "found" the person that they have been looking for. I mean, as a Deaf adult, it shouldn't be that hard to be hired. We can basically do anything except that our hearing isn't perfect. Some of us cannot work with phones at all, while some of us can use it to convey our message but only briefly and simply. Nothing complicated.

I am not looking to be an office assistant whereas I'll be answering phone calls. That is one duty that I have not been trained to do, nor can really do it even with the really good hearing aid readily available.

It is too bad that more and more companies out there prefer to combine several different positions into one employee to multi-task just about everything that they don't want to do.

Here is an example of the ever-changing trend that's happening in the workforce today:

Back in the 80's, a title "Assistant Accountant I" involves a simple task of data entering all the invoices into the computer whether it be an account payable or receivable, while another person calls to verify the information they received via mail.

Today's "Assistant Accountant I" involves the above mentioned duty PLUS, call to verify the informations AND to make a decision AND to answer any incoming calls AND to create a complete financial report.

Today's job now requires you to have a degree.. now I know that I've been out of work too long, but I need to get back in the workforce soon and fast before I lose my chance of learning how the companies have changed the way they run their businesses.

It is a crying shame that they prefer a hearing person to fill this position when the ADA law came into effect to say that the company can hire us Deaf with reasonable accomodations.

My reasonable accomodations? I can get the CapTel Phone (I wish that the IP Captel is out already so that it is downloadable and not need to go through the process of getting the special telephone!) or that the position be revamped to the point that I can do everything except to answer phones.

CapTel Phones would not cost them anything, and hiring another person to answer the phones would not be a financially sound decision for the company. I noticed that nowadays, all companies are looking to SAVE money rather than to SPEND money. Just like us.

OH well....

It has been too long to be without jobs and trying to obtain one is even harder than I thought.

Why can't the office hire us just to see if they like us or not?