"Are we there yet?"

A 20th anniversary is a big deal. Twenty years in a personal relationship. Twenty years with the same employer. Twenty years of service to a great cause.  All can be reason for celebration, reflection and, unfortunately, in the case of the Americans with Disabilities Act,  at least some concern. I will be in Washington, D.C. at a celebratory reception for the ADA 20th Anniversary to be held in Statuary Hall when I publish this piece. I have the great comfort of being able to drive my personal vehicle to the airport and catch my flight for this important and historic moment. Unfortunately many others living with disability are held captive to the sparse transportation resources available to them in their region for the day-to-day or more strategic opportunities that life presents.

ADA in Your Community Midwest Poll

I received the 2010 Great Lakes Region ADA Report Card  late last week in my in box. Robin Jones, the Great Lakes ADA Center Executive Director, is a colleague and friend, and I frequently review the links and stories that her staff forward associated with ADA, disability and our nation. The Report Card was of interest to me. It was succinct and clear.  I had hoped to take some pride in our regional grades surrounding the ADA and its implementation in the Midwest. Unfortunately it was very disappointing.

Of the eleven core subject areas that were graded, ranging from opportunties in the workplace to accessibility of transportation to physical accessibility to website accessibility, not one was graded above a “C”. How disheartening! I would welcome writing a post from a half-full perspective, and had even one of the eleven core subjects received at least a ”B” I might have pulled it off.  Sadly, it’s tough to brag about a combination of C’s and D’s.

The top five priorities for action as noted by the 3500 respondents to the “ADA in Your Community Poll” over the 6-state region were:

These are some very important areas of concern. As the director of a business focused on strengthening employment among qualified candidates with disabilities into the technology sector, I was immediately concerned that three of the top five priorities were very directly related to improving the overall employment picture for people with disabilities, two of them being obvious in more opportunities and reasonable accommodation in the workplace. It’s the third, perhaps less obvious, that I’d like to focus on.

Get me to the Job on Time!

Specifically, the perception – and, I am confident, reality – that accessible transportation is still a cause for concern 20 years following the passage of the ADA is very discouraging. No matter how much we may address opportunity and accommodation in the workplace, if we continue to ignore the very real challenge that so many candidates have in just getting to the job ,  we are burying our heads in the proverbial sand. I am always concerned with logistics when I consider one of our candidates for a position, knowing that whether they can get to the job often trumps their ability to do the job well. The latter is irrelevant if they don’t have access to accessible transportation at a reasonable cost. Unfortunately this is often a challenge for candidates with disabilities. I’ve seen it when trying to place many of our candidates. Many don’t drive for any of a number of reasons; they don’t have the upper extremity strength or movement to drive safely, they have upper or lower extremity spasticity or contractions that make it challenging to drive, they lack acute enough vision to drive, or their disability or condition otherwise prevents them from driving.

An all too Common Story of a Man and his Commute

Several years ago I was working with one of our consultants on landing his first professional opportunity. It was to support a group of developers for a very large, multinational client in the energy industry. He was very excited about the role. My consultant didn’t drive as his diagnosis of severe spastic cerebral palsy precluded his safe operation of a vehicle. The two of us, along with my recruiter at the time, researched the possibility of patching together accessible bus or accessible van routes that would get him to the client site reliably and on time. It was amazing to me how complicated and challenging it became to provide a reasonable approach for him to be able to get to work in a suburb that was fairly close to his home. Not to mention how ill-informed the staff of the regional transit authorities were regarding the availability, timing and routes of lift-equipped buses or other accessible transport vehicles. Ultimately he settled on two buses with a lapse between getting off one and on the other, and it took nearly 90 minutes in good weather to travel a route that would have been a 20 minute car drive!

A Call to Action for Urban Planners

In January of this year the “Innovation in Accessible Transport for All” conference was conducted in Washington, DC. It included global leaders in planning, transportation, policy and governance, and banking. The results from this one-day conference – clearly a compressed agenda – were to feed a follow- up meeting in Germany this past spring. The January meeting’s agenda points included direct language like “practical outcomes, rhetoric to reality, applying innovative approaches to accessibility for all”. At least this was heartening to see. While this was a global initiative, there was representation from several high-ranking members of  key U.S.-based agencies and academic partners engaged in this challenge – the Access Board, Federal Transit Administration and State University of New York among them.

No, We’re not There Yet!

Positioning our students and professionals with disabilities for success, encouraging their passion to learn, work and contribute to the greater good, and yes – even passing the ADA 20 years ago - will continue to be hollow victories if they must continue to fight just to get to the job. For my consultants, and so many tens of thousands of other qualified candidates with disabilities like them, let’s quit treating them like the kids in the back of the station wagon imploring their parents, “Are we there yet”?

Matt Riebel at work

People lose jobs all the time. In the environment of the past couple of years job loss in nearly every sector has become the norm. We all know this, but unless it’s us or someone close to us losing that job, the impact is modest. Admittedly, when your business is focused on establishing opportunity for careers and someone with whom you have worked closely loses it, it hits closer to home.

When Matt Riebel, nAblement consultant, University of Illinois honors graduate, data analyst, and math wizard – yes, wizard –  was let go after a very successful tenure which featured multiple extensions on his contract, it affected many of us. His managers were effusive in their support of his abilities and effort as an analyst. They were natural mentors for him on the job and were vested in his success. The fact is that his area of expertise is specialized, and sometimes with specialization comes vulnerability.  You see, Matt’s not a typical consultant. Although in fairness, few of the nAblement consultants are typical from my perspective. Each manages disability along with their career. Over the past six years or so I’ve had the honor of getting to know and support a very diverse group of candidates. We were afforded the chance to profile several of them in The forerunners, a documentary film that we recently debuted at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Matt was among the subjects of the film, and provided some outstanding commentary on the challenges and advantages to living with Asperger’s, frequently referenced as mild or high-functioning autism. While Matt notes that he has never been officially diagnosed with Asperger’s, it’s clear that for all intents and purposes he’s living with the perception of having the condition – whether officially or otherwise. He is the first to note that truth.

I met Matt a few years ago at a busy job fair in the south suburbs of Chicago. I remember vividly noticing this well-dressed young guy standing a bit off to the side of my table and holding his resume out toward me, but not making eye contact. Even without his saying a word I perceived he was nervous and awkward. I tried to make him comfortable, introducing myself, commenting on his sharp suit and asking him if he’d like to sit down so that I might take a look at his resume. My first impression? Wow! He graduated Magna Cum Laude as an undergraduate – with highest honors in statistics, a nearly perfect GPA in his graduate statistics study, and Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

For all of his extraordinary accomplishments, as well as paid internships and an early, brief position as a new professional, Matt was overtly uncomfortable with this face-to-face exchange. I applauded him for the extraordinary work he’d done as a student which seemed to encourage him to relax a bit. It seemed evident to me that he was most comfortable speaking of his abilities and passion around statistical inquiry, and I encouraged him to elaborate. My resume in this realm consists of six hours of statistics for business as an undergraduate longer ago than I care to note. But my effort on that morning wasn’t to try to match wits with Matt around the nuances of statistical analysis - I’d as soon challenge Michael Jordan to a game of horse - but to provide him an opportunity to express his passion and knowledge in a discipline that he had worked so vigorously to master.

It would be easy for me to suggest that on that morning I forged a clear and comfortable relationship with Matt, but that wouldn’t be accurate. If you’ve  had the opportunity to get to know someone with Asperger’s you know that it takes a lot of work and trust to forge that relationship. Matt relates to things in very concrete terms and struggles with abstract concepts. Our relationship is straight-forward.  Matt and I haven’t had the deep relationship of a parent-child or siblings, but we have developed a trusting and respectful dialogue over the past few years.

Fast forward to Matt’s transition after his contract ended. This is the real moral of this post – and alluded to in the title – effort and determination. Even before his final week on the job, Matt was engaging me, his manager, another mentor from within the client, and a member of the alumni association staff from U of I to give him our thoughts on updating his resume, strengthening his profile on Linkedin, joining networking groups, attending evening application groups within his field, and on and on. Matt would copy all of us on any inquiry, treating us as his personal support entourage. I think he figured that we should all be as vested in his success as he was, and he was right! We should all be vested in the success of exceptional candidates like Matt. Even if I didn’t know what an extraordinary mind Matt had, his commitment to securing his next career opportunity alone justified a like effort by me and anyone purporting to support him in career development.

As of today Matt is planning on accepting a position which he’d been offered some time ago with the National Security Agency (NSA) in Baltimore. If he takes the job it will be a big life transition for him, but he’s preparing to make it and is planning diligently – as he plans everything. In the interim, if you are reading this and would like to see Matt’s skills remain in the Chicago area, feel free to reach out to me. If you’re a candidate wondering how to optimize your efforts to position yourself for success, reach out to Matt on Linkedin. Maybe he’ll connect with you. Maybe you’ll learn something.

The Sphinx Armachis Cairo - Marvel of Engineering

Late last July I received an email from one of my favorite colleagues about an extraordinary opportunity. Professor Fong Chan related that Hunter College – a member of a unique academic collaboration, the MIND Alliance, which supports the academic success of students with disabilities and of color in STEM disciplines, had funding associated with a National Science Foundation grant to support a documentary film. The message of the film was to emphasize that students of diverse backgrounds and with disabilities can succeed in STEM studies and, by extension, in the highly competitive careers associated with STEM skills. Fong then asked if I’d be interested in offering the nAblement channel as the vehicle to communicate this message to students, knowing that nAblement, as a part of SPR Companies, places qualified candidates with disabilities into technology roles. I was elated to help fashion this timely message, honor some of our respected clients, and provide a forum for a few of our respected consultants to mentor students toward career success.

Soon I was reconnected with Sean Jourdan,  respected independent filmmaker and colleague of Fong’s with whom I had collaborated on a previous project of Professor Chan’s related to impression management by candidates with disabilities during the face-to-face  interview process.  I felt confident that our project would yield an important message and film that might be a catalyst to drive greater effort and success of students with disabilities into science and related fields.

Refiring the U.S. STEM Engine

In an article from last November published in The Council of State Governments’ Capitol Comments, it’s noted that in 2006 U.S. 15 year-olds ranked 25th globally in Math proficiency and 14th globally in the percentage of its students graduating from college. While I was aware that our nation’s academic prowess in math and science was slipping, these statistics suggested a far harsher fall. Just a decade or so prior the U.S. was tied for the 1st position in graduating our students.

A recent story in the Huffington Post lays out some of the current national initiatives being supported by the White House and administration to regenerate the U.S. global impact in STEM fields.  The five key public/private partnerships emphasize strengthening the pipeline of qualified educators and, by extension, successful graduates within STEM disciplines. The administration has raised the profile of these initiatives with key cabinet level appointments and high-profile outreach to both educators and the public.

The forerunners Aligned with Key Educational Efforts

Within this very supportive backdrop, SPR/nAblement is proud to be affiliated with the Mind Alliance and National Science Foundation to bring this timely and impactful documentary film, The forerunners, to the public.

The forerunners invitation

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently emphasized the critical need for educators at all levels to recommit their efforts to prepare students with disabilities for college and career, noting that high expectations must be the norm vs. the exception. Our hope is that there are messages for many audiences in The forerunners – students, parents, educators, friends and family, and the business community – that ultimately drive home one central theme. It’s time for our nation to recognize our students with disabilities as we recognize all of our students – valued  and critical contributors to our nation’s globally competitive workforce.

Millennials in the Workforce - are you ready?

I’ve had a great opportunity to begin working with some very skilled facilitators within Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) principles over the past year. One of my colleagues within the Illinois Technology Foundation’s advisory board, Elaine Robbins Harris, is a very experienced facilitator and curriculum developer within D&I. Her current passion is in recognizing both the exceptional skills and challenges that the Millennial generation - born between 1980 and 2000, is introducing and facing in the professional workforce. In fact, we are hoping to work together to deliver this training to Millennials who happen to have a disability. I expect that we’ll be able to help drive home that they are well-equipped to take advantage of the growing momentum for real change in how we view work and contribute value to our employer or client.

More organizations are accepting, and even embracing, the principles as a flurry of academic research is bearing out bottom line impact of greater diversity and inclusion. While the earlier studies looked at race and gender based D&I, the past ten years or so has seen an explosion of activity around other factors of D&I including sexual orientation, faith and spirituality, disability, and generation.

What Millennials Want from the Job

Our Gen-Y or Millennial colleagues are already having dramatic impact on the nature and definition of career, the speed at which new knowledge is processed, considered and made actionable to strengthen, disrupt or completely dismantle traditional business models and deliveries, as well as on Boomers’ , and even Gen Xers’, staid notions of hierarchy and internal communication. But with Boomers and Gen Xers still holding the reins of many businesses, agencies and other prospective employers, these shiny new products of Helicopter parents and all that’s Green will need to navigate their career seas with at least some caution.

Monitor has published a very insightful report based on better than 100 in-depth conversations with senior HR executives. Some of the most interesting hallmarks of this current generation of new grads and younger professionals are their drive for work/life balance and associated need for a flexible environment or workplace, their strong belief that results vs. “time in the office” should be a critical measuring stick by which employers assess their value to the organization, their insistence on the integration and transparency of connected technologies into their work and life (What do you mean I can’t Twitter and update my Facebook profile in the office?), and their disinterest in corporate hierarchy over knowledge capital.

While Millennials may not have their cake and eat it too, at least not in one big bite, the impact that they have on how we view career can only grow as they mature in our workforce and ultimately control its direction. What a great opportunity for students and young professionals with disabilities to finally begin to establish careers alongside their brash and highly capable Millennial peers! As long as you can bring value, knowledge, drive and passion to the workforce, this wave of new influences should naturally support your success.

Why You may be a Perfect fit for the new Workforce

Consider the following hypothetical case study. Our young candidate is a new grad from a quality university who uses a power wheelchair for his mobility. He graduated with a B+ average, was active in clubs and social service projects, uses social media extensively with profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn – plus his own branded You Tube site for some creative video projects, and employs assistive technology in the form of voice out over his laptop and mobile device, sip and puff controller for his chair, and alternate input devices for both his laptop and mobile due to his challenge with finger dexterity. His challenges or key considerations as he looks to begin his professional career track are the following: difficulty of travel/driving, verbal communication, overall accessibility, and occasional need for personal care attendant support. Hmmm. In our traditional, 9-to-5 workplace these challenges have posed some real issues for “traditional” employers.

Fortunately Millennials not only aren’t hung up on the traditional workplace,  but it’s clearly anathema to them. They work effectively from anywhere, at any time of day or night - focusing on the results of that work as opposed to punching a clock. They are completely trusting of and comfortable with e-communication and knowledge transfer, and value others who are like-minded. In short, it’s what you bring to the team or the organization that counts, not what you look like,  when or where you contribute to team success, how you “speak”, or what car you drive.

Let me be clear. I don’t believe all of us are on the verge of being offered pure telecommuting positions. Nor do I mean to suggest that the Millennials don’t value face-to-face teamwork and the breakthroughs, mentoring and support that often occur within that dynamic. I am only suggesting that they are clearly compelling senior officers, HR Directors, and fellow colleagues to rethink how we perceive work and our capacity to bring value to an organization.  So brush up your business and social media footprint, rustle up your Baby Bach tapes, know your value proposition to an employer or client, and plan to ride the Millennial wave to career success!

Communication is critical to success

As a Software Developer, I have worked at different companies/clients as a contractor successfully so far. At my first job, I was actually more concerned that I was no longer able to communicate as effectively as others, leading me to think that I was not as productive as my co-workers. Therefore, I always took a short lunch and hardly any breaks to get my assignments done. I was angry that I was not able to find work due to my disability, and I used that anger as motivation to work harder in my positions and make a point to others that my hearing loss wasn’t going to influence my ability and value.

Persistence is Key to Success!

That effort paid off! My first major assignment was the rewrite of a software system at a telecommunication company. I was part of a big team. I worked on it completely by myself, finished it on time, and was told the work was of excellent quality. I also received a lot of praise from my peers who then actually had to use and work with the software. We had daily client meetings over the telephone to discuss new requirements and change requests. I presented my situation to my manager, noting that I was not able to communicate over the phone very well.

I started sitting with my manager during daily calls so that she could explain anything on the call that I missed. That was when I fully recognized that I could be productive despite my disability, and consequently much of my self-confidence was restored. Even though I was bad at communicating with clients over the phone, I was as productive as my peers after only a few months on the job. I learned that I actually became more efficient in my time management, and that I was more focused on my work to compensate for my poor hearing. All of this convinced me that my brain was, and still is, more important than my physical condition.

Adversity Can Breed Success!

All of the challenges that I faced had the positive impact of encouraging me to work even harder to prove myself. Now I communicate with my teammates more effectively. I keep communication as open as possible, but I have difficulty understanding fewer people over the phone. I present my situation to them and have found ways to communicate effectively, mostly through email. I am a very active and diligent person which has helped me as a surrogate to my disability.  As you can see, to work after becoming physically disabled can be challenging at first, and I can understand that many people with a disability may be scared. Your fear cannot keep you from integrating into the workforce. If you have the motivation and you’re willing to put your brain to good use, you can be as productive and successful as many able bodied people. I encourage you to do so – and please let me know how it goes!

After years of being assaulted with scores of inappropriate references  in print, television, film and the internet to “the disabled”, I need to register my formal complaint to “the media.” Wake up and apply some accepted, common sense principles to the treatment of people with disabilities in your work!

How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb…or Journalist, or Reporter?

The answer is just one - but the lightbulb, journalist, or reporter  must really want to change! I wish that I had catalogued every time in recent memory that I noted the inappropriate or awkward use of language  in a television, newspaper or internet story while referring to or interacting with a person who had a disability. Sadly I’ve become anesthetized to its presence. It’s like the soft rumbling of a building’s heating or air conditioning unit, or the regular and rhythmic grumble of the L through a closed window in Chicago’s Loop. Not true! It’s more like nails on a blackboard, the maddeningly high volume of commercials during television shows, the incessant pounding of jackhammer on concrete or the constant ringing of tinnitus in your eardrum.

While I am seeing signs of improvement, members of the media continue to portray people with disabilities far too frequently as either superheroes or…well, modern day facsimiles of Oliver and his woebegone pals in Oliver Twist.

It seems we’re still required to possess super human strength – or strength of character – or we are left to depend on the capricious goodwill of others in our search for survival and meaning. Seriously, this has got to stop! Every time I read an article or view a story that includes or profiles one of “us,” I try to see it through fresh eyes, hoping that the writer or reporter has done her homework and learned how to treat this subject – with common sense, dignity and respect. People with disabilities are just that – people – with flaws, abilities, weaknesses and strengths. I know that this may not always make for good coverage, but if we don’t collectively begin to represent the reality of disability in the media, the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - complete  and meaningful integration of all into society – will fail to be realized. While this may seem like hyperbole, media coverage is a very powerful influencer of perception. And often this either/or representation is the norm in covering the presence of disability.

The reality is that our lives are as rich and mundane, exciting and boring, challenging and modest, exemplary and tragic as any others. At times reference to a disability is relevant, supportive, or natural in a story. Other times it seems cheap, patronizing and artificial. Reporters and writers of substance should grasp the difference.

Did I Really Say That?

Here’s a brief review of typical language that I’ve noted  from staff writers at venerated daily newspapers to nightly anchors. Confined to his wheelchair, suffers from Cerebral Palsy, the mentally retarded youth, the disabled, the blind woman, the Deaf man, the deaf-mute child, the handicapped man, dwarf, lame, or my favorite – midget.

I’ve used a wheelchair for my mobility for nearly thirty years. I am not, I can assure the media, confined to the chair. I don’t find it constraining. It has come to represent independence, enjoyment, health and vitality. I expect that the majority of persons whose primary mobility aid is a wheelchair value their chair for these reasons and many more. Stop harnessing us with your need for us to feel confined. We don’t suffer from our challenges; we address them. We don’t lead our conversations with “I’m deaf or, I’m blind or, I’m retarded or, I’m a dwarf.” To my knowledge, in AA support meetings you introduce yourself by name before your admission to the disease. We are people, not conditions.

There exists a well-defined and accepted style guide published by the National Center on Disability and Journalism. Why am I able to quickly find it, but so many writers and reporters can’t?  What I find most disconcerting is that when I read an article in a magazine, newspaper or on line that uses respectful and appropriate references to the presence of a disability, I feel as though I need to go out of my way to compliment that writer. That’s crazy! Here we are twenty years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and I want to give out ‘attaboys to professional journalists for NOT offending the nearly 54 million Americans in our nation with a recognized disability.

Disability is Real, not Make-Believe

Kathie Snow of Disability is Natural notes, “Words do matter! They can raise or lower expectations,  hurt or help, crush hopes or create dreams.” Again, perception can impact or influence reality. I don’t necessarily believe that these inaccurate portrayals influence how we see ourselves – I respect people with disabilities far too much to accept that – but I do believe that they can taint how the wider population views disability.

But let me give some quality reporters and journalists their due. A few come to mind immediately. Karen Meyer of ABC 7 News Chicago  has been a standout reporter for years on human interest stories that frequently involve the presence of a disability; however, she always treats the people she features with dignity, respect and, above all, realism. Karen manages profound hearing loss in her own life, and is clearly sensitive to her coverage of disability.  Joe Shapiro of NPR is the consummate reporter and has been lauded by many disability groups, including the National Spinal Cord Injury Association for whom I serve as President of the Board of Directors. We honored Joe with our SCI Hall of Fame Media Award at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2006. Finally, John Hockenberry, another SCI Hall of Fame member, is  a Peabody, Murrow and Emmy award-winning journalist, former 20/20  and MSNBC reporter among other credits.  He sustained a spinal cord injury while attending the University of Chicago as an undergraduate student studying math. He’s disarming, highly intelligent and witty beyond measure, and his autobiography, Moving Violations, addresses the sometimes comic, other times heartfelt, challenges that living with spinal cord injury imposes on him as he strives to manage his career and life. Above all, however, he is an accomplished journalist who doesn’t make his disability the focus of his existence.

A one-page article in the Chicago Tribune’s Parade magazine recently, Dancing to Defy Expectations, caught my attention. The writer is Stacey Becker and this exceptional profile of a young Chicago native – Challes Reese - recently transplanted with her family to Dubuque, Iowa, combines warmth with honesty in framing Challes’ efforts to try out for her high school’s freshman dance team. Challes lives with cerebral palsy and uses a power chair for her mobility.  She makes the team, which is great, but her reaction to being represented as the first wheelchair user in Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Association competition is even better from my perspective. She noted, “It felt a little weird.” I love it. That’s reality! There I go again, complimenting a writer for addressing the presence of a disability with honesty and respect.

Well, I can feel my pulse slowing, so I think this rant is coming to an end. Don’t get me wrong. We need the media and the media needs us. I only hope that all members of the Fourth Estate will come to understand and embrace the reality that disability influences lives, but  doesn’t define them.

Harmanpreet

Harmanpreet Kaur is our guest blogger on nAblement.com. She is an IT consultant with nAblement.

Back in 1999, when I first became hearing impaired, I could never have imagined that my life would be as productive and fulfilling as it is now.

Despite all the challenges, I came to the United States to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. My language and background created significant challenges for me to follow lectures, as well as for living in the U.S. My hearing loss created great difficulty for me in situations such as classrooms, restaurants, movie theaters, meetings, telephone conversations and listening to music. I just felt as though I didn’t fit in. I had to work really hard to understand what was being said in the classroom. I had to invest all my energy into lip reading as well as understanding what new subject was being discussed. I overcame this difficulty by becoming familiar with the topics that were going to be discussed. I would sit up front to make sure that I understood everything. I took careful notes every day and I never hesitated to discuss my classroom challenges with my professors after lecture.

It takes a great deal of courage to face our disability. As a hard of hearing person, I had to face a particularly rough road. My first job attempt was at an on-campus job. It took six months to find that job to support myself. The thought of not getting the job due to a disability was frightening and uncomfortable. Upon my graduation in 2007, I bagged a job as a software engineer intern at an insurance company. It took me nearly a year of searching!

In the past, I left a few jobs due to being told that If I could not understand, then how could I be expected to work productively. I was not being provided with reasonable accommodations and only offered a poor salary that did not reflect my qualifications or background. It was heart-breaking and very frustrating, since I felt the employer had discriminated against me.

Starting at an entry level job while managing a disability made me realize how much harder I needed to work to thrive and survive. I was both driven and compelled to find a job. This situation helped me to overcome most of my discomfort and helped turn all of my positions of employment into joyful, productive, and rewarding experiences.  It was important for me to listen effectively, present myself strongly to employers and develop my own work strategies based on my hearing loss. Ultimately, my drive to succeed led me to undergo a binaural cochlear implant procedure. I was 27 years old. Today, I work as a software consultant and I have worked in multiple industries successfully.

Harmanpreet, our guest blogger on nAblement.com

Harmanpreet Kaur is our first of hopefully many guest bloggers on nAblement.com who will tell their story about living and working with disability. Harman is an IT consultant with nAblement.

For many people with disabilities, attaining employment or even getting fair consideration for a position from a potential employer can be difficult. I have experienced some challenges. Today technology has changed the landscape of employment opportunities for persons with a disability. A person with a disability can now be just as productive in several fields of employment as a person without a disability. In fact, in a virtual work environment, you don’t need to lead with your disability.  I came to that realization this week during an email conversation with one of my teammates. In a face-to-face work environment, I use cochlear implants and I can read lips very well. This really helps my career and working with people who can hear. I do my best to live day to day and given the opportunity and resources, do quite well despite the challenges I face.

To me, working as a software developer was clear evidence that having a disability can be a complete non-issue as far as job performance goes. For me, it is not letting my sensory limitations overshadow my abilities. It is about seeing what is possible in spite of any barriers. You judge to see if people will accept you or not. You need to stand up for yourself and be strong and say I can do anything that people with normal hearing can do.

50 for the Future Award!

I had a great opportunity recently to facilitate  our Breaking Down Barriers forum between a panel of professionals with disabilities working in the technology field and the Illinois Technology Foundation (ITF) board. I also serve on ITF’s board. The Foundation’s mission is “to develop an ample supply of professional talent with the requisite business and technology skills to make significant contributions to the success of Illinois businesses.” This high-level mission is followed by specific, tactical efforts that support the mission such as establishing a robust mentoring program for students, supporting the seamless integration of technology into education, and assuring that business leaders in the region are prepared to hire and engage this pipeline of talent. Fifty for the Future , now accepting submission for qualified students, is a great example of an ITF program that honors students in the Chicago area as future leaders of our technology-centric businesses. Several students associated with the nAblement channel have been honored as 50 for the Future recipients in past years. It’s a great evening for the students being honored, their professors, family and other key supporters, as well as the ITF and the 50 for the Future chairs and committee.

Breaking Down Barriers to Support Technology Education

Breaking Down Barriers (BDB) is a highly participative program that we designed and first conducted in 2005 with the mission of supporting the business community to better “know” the state of disability and its impact on career - from those who do know, professionals with disabilities. Further, the BDB forum is designed to establish enough trust with the audience that they can feel free to ask any questions of the panel members, without the need to be overly sensitive, concerned about the ADA or Title I restrictions, or otherwise reluctant. Having lowered the walls of propriety, appropriateness or political correctness – in this forum for this brief window – it’s amazing how much knowledge transfer takes place,  and how much common ground is identified between audience and panel.

At our ITF program the panel members’ challenges related to vision loss, hearing loss, mobility and communication restrictions, and non-evident disabilities.  Their careers related to application development, application training, quality assurance and technical analysis in a range of industries.  

 The conference room at TechNexus, a multi-purpose “clubhouse” for the Illinois technology community and home to the Illinois Technology Association,  was packed for the program, and our panel and board engaged in a lively, insightful, and heartfelt dialogue focused on the panel members’ educational foundation, the impact of their disabilities – or educators’ perceptions of their disabilities - during their education,  and preparation for careers around technology. The discussion reflected great respect by the board for the hard work and success of these professionals, as well as great insight by the board in posing provocative questions tied to the panel’s educational experiences with keen interest in how the ITF might help to strengthen that experience for current and future students.

The ITF board is comprised of a wide range of senior level executives and educators at the forefront of this mission, including academic and industry CIO’s, educators, private sector principals, and others. Several board members approached the panel following BDB and continued with the give and take after the formal program ended. It was an uplifting Breaking Down Barriers program for me, the panel of professionals and the ITF board, and I am hopeful that it will promote our board’s efforts to help assure that all students, with or without disabilities, are supported and encouraged throughout the educational continuum to strengthen critical technology skills that could lead to a brighter future for all of them.