I can’t believe it but it’s already week 12 of my blog!  This will be the last one for awhile.  I've enjoyed sharing my thoughts and experiences with all of you.  

It’s back to the waiting game for me- the interview last week with the Rehabilitation Services Commission (RSC) went well but I won’t know anything about whether or not I’m a newly employed man until after September 17th.  Again, waiting is hard but I’m not sitting still- I’m continuing to look for other opportunities and applying for anything I’m remotely qualified for.  

The interview with RSC was actually kind of uncomfortable because the two interviewers spent the majority of the time writing information down, as opposed to making eye contact. Therefore, I couldn’t gauge their reactions to my answers. This is mainly because they are going to send the notes they took down during the interview to Columbus, where someone there will make the final decision. Essentially, the people I interviewed with were merely a proxy to the actual decision maker at the state level. 

I was intimidated when I walked into the interview environment because an older woman was just leaving the interview room and there was an older man who was to interview after me.  I thought that perhaps this would mean they were more experienced and that I was less likely to be able to compete with them for the job.  It’s discouraging when you read the ads for employment opportunities and it always says a minimum of 1-2 years experience-it’s that recent college grad dilemma again! Competing with older, apparently more experienced people always makes me nervous. However, I realize that, in today’s job market, this is something I will likely see more often than not, so I have to be prepared to be as competitive as possible. 

Interestingly, however, in my job club, the dynamic is the exact opposite. Most of the participants are much older than me and they are out of work because they have been laid off but are ‘too experienced’ to find another job.

 Wait…how can someone be too experienced, you may ask? 

Well, in today’s market, companies are looking for the cheapest experienced labor possible. A lot of people in the job club have worked in generally the same position for 20 to 30 years and therefore, could use that experience to ask for a higher starting salary at a new company. This makes them an unattractive candidate to a perspective employer, when the employer could just as easily hire someone just out of college for the same job and just train them and hope for the best.  This job club experience has shown me both sides of being unemployed and helped me put my own job seeking into perspective.

My previous blogs have all tried to encourage parents of children with disabilities, as well as other people in the disabled community, to advocate for their needs and be mindful of what you’re entitled to in order to facilitate a smooth integration into the professional community. With the help of agencies like The Achievement Centers for Children, families can learn how to effectively express their opinions and how to seek the resources that their children need in order to succeed later in life.  Anyone can become an advocate in their own life and can help bring awareness and change into the lives of others. 

Remember, all you have to do is tell your story. It is what I have I have tried to do here these past 12 weeks, and by doing so, hopefully, I have helped educate you about the value of expressing your unique perspective. 

In the end, you never know who is listening. 

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.