Hi everybody!

This week I met with my Job Developer that I am meeting with through BVR’s partner JFSA, and it was an intriguing but scary process. While it is nice to get the ball rolling finally, it means I have to actually put some effort into trying to find a real job <shudder>. Together we went over the accommodations I am entitled to, such as, the use of Dragon Naturally Speaking™—a speech recognition software from Nuance—as well as an accessible workspace, and other reasonable accommodations specific to the job. 

Honestly, this meeting helped to ease some of my initial fears of this process. Being someone with a disability, I was concerned that things like having to orally dictate all my paperwork would hinder my productivity, and make me less attractive as a potential employee. The Job Developer taught me though that it is important to focus on other attributes such as my ability to learn quickly and integrate that, and other skills, into my resume. 

One of the other things that I learned in my meeting was to not purely focus on my desire to work with people with disabilities so as not to pigeonhole myself into one career or another, with the job market being what it is nowadays. Another interesting opportunity was a job club, which is a group of people who get together and talk about things such as how to properly act when ‘on the job’ and they also bring in local business people as speakers to discuss what it is they are looking for in potential employees. I am looking forward to getting started with this group because it should be a good opportunity to do some networking as well as take advantage of their peer-criticism to enhance my resume.

Anyone under the age of 15 that is reading this is probably saying to themselves “Ok, but what does this have to do with me?” I would say it has A LOT to do with you, actually. Believe it or not, I started this whole process back when I was around 13. Granted, all I did back then was think of what careers suited me and my disability, and it was awhile before BVR and I began to start the actual process, but it is important to have some direction and some interests, and to think about how you can adapt that job to fit your needs with whatever accommodations are, or will eventually be, available. 

This process has made me think about all of the strides that people with disabilities have made in general. Not that long ago, people with a disability did not have as many opportunities as they do now because of the lack of legislation by our government that has changed in the past 20 years with the passage of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The anniversary date is next Monday July 26th.  There will be a celebration downtown with Mayor Frank Jackson.  Contact Linking Employment Abilities and Potential (LEAP) at 1-216-696-2716 for more information. This makes processes like the one I am going through much more commonplace and adaptations more available so I can maximize my skills and talents without my disability being a factor.  Hope to see you all at the celebration!

My name is Steven Kyman and I’m a 23 year old recent graduate from Cleveland State University, graduating with a degree in Social Work.  I have Cerebral Palsy, which is a disability that restricts my ability to perform physical activities such as walking independently, using my hands to dress myself or write for myself, going to the bathroom without assistance, etc. Every recent graduate is concerned about the job market these days because of the current economy, especially in Ohio.   However, a job search for me is even more limited because of my disability.  Fear of failure, like all of my peers, is something that I now have to deal with on a daily basis.  This is a fairly unfamiliar feeling for me because, as I was growing up, school was a place where I could compete with my peers and succeed. I’ve always felt as though the playing field was level for me academically because, as long as I had someone to take notes for me and was provided with time accommodations for my tests because I need a proctor to write for me, I knew that I could succeed and be just like all of the other kids in my class. This allowed me to grow and learn in a friendly environment.   

One of the reasons for this successful experience was because the Achievement Centers for Children helped me and my parents navigate adapting to the school environment when I was little.  Through the technical assistance program, which went to my school and helped explain and educate the faculty and the students about my disability, the school system learned about what I would need in order to succeed in a regular education environment.   This is where I started to build my knowledge of acceptable accommodations and began to learn how to advocate for myself and others.  As I got older, the ACC provided me with the opportunity to go to Camp Cheerful, which is an overnight camp for people with disabilities.  It might seem a little dramatic but this is where I first learned how to negotiate my own care independently.   Before then I relied on my parents to express what my needs were wherever we were at the time. At overnight camp though, I didn’t have the luxury of relying on my parents to express what I needed, so I had to do it for myself.  Those experiences helped me be able to eventually live on my own in a dorm at Wright State University and will help me when I have to advocate for adaptations to a perspective employer or to the Bureau for Vocational Rehabilitation (BVR) which is a governmental organization that attempts to help people with disabilities find jobs.  I am somewhat limited as to the kind of job that I can even interview for, since I cannot just take a job where you have to do perform any physical task.  I do use an adapted computer and a computer program that allows me to type using my voice, which does permit me to do paperwork, email and any other research that might need to be done.  Because of my physical limitations, I will have less to choose from in terms of available jobs but hopefully with the right job coach from BVR and training I will be able to find something in Social Work in one of the non-profit or government agencies in the Cleveland area.             

Despite any physical limitations I have, I am still able to live a healthy and productive life because of various services and adaptations that I have received from a number of organizations, most importantly the ACC.  My journey is far from over but the lessons I learned when I was a child at the Achievement Centers for Children and my experiences at Camp Cheerful has helped me learn how to negotiate the “real” world outside of camp and school.  There aren’t many places that provide children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to do that.  Throughout the next twelve weeks I will be sharing stories with you about my journey into the job search process, the challenges that people with disabilities face doing every day things, and the experiences I have in the “real” world. I know, however, that I am not the only one going through this process, so I welcome anyone reading this to comment and get a dialogue started about the challenges that the disabled community faces and overcomes each day.