I have had quite a few jobs over the years. I was born legally blind but my journey to employment has been nothing but a nightmare. I am unfortunately unemployed now but I hope that in the future I can find something I can do successfully that I don't have to travel a few thousand miles away to get.
What a wonderful idea for a series. Before I retired (before vision loss), I worked at EEOC and two of the supervisory attorneys were blind. They were able to do their jobs as well as fully sighted attorneys using document readers and OCR. If you are a good student and have the proper accommodations, blindness is not a barrier to working in a profession that requires a lot of reading.
Hi Sam! Thanksfor sharing! Loved this episode. Do you have a video suggesting how to navigate midsle/high school when you are newly diagonized? Specially when we don't want to stand out and gel in with kids at that age
You just got a subscriber out of me. As someone with low vision who has always been surrounded by seeing people without really having anyone to relate to it feels inspiring just to be able to see someone else’s experience! I’ll be binging the videos on this channel for sure
This is a very cool idea for a series! If you ever need more guest, I would love to share my experience working blind! This series really shows off the mini occupations that the blind and visually impaired community can work in! Keep it up!
Thank you! I am working on getting confidence with technology so I can get a job. I feel I have to be fluent with tasks using what I need to be successful.
Hello, there! I'm not visually impaired, but for some reason your videos popped up in my TH-cam feed, so I watched one. Then I subscribed. You do an excellent job of providing informative content, and I am glad to have the opportunity to learn something new so I can perhaps make a difference for someone else. Thanks.
Hey Sam, you rock! This is an important series. I would also be interested in knowing how vocational rehabilitation experts, advise young blind people about potential career paths and what if any special hiring programs for the blind exist today.
Outstanding topic Sam, I do find volunteering as the maintenance director for our local not-for-profit youth organization NGS. A local girls' softball park extremely rewarding. Our girls grew up playing fastpitch softball, yes I did, and still do coach, and maintain 7-softball fields at the park. I also am self-taught or should I say. A want-to-be TH-camr focused on helping VIPs and their families overcome low vision challenges. Thanks for all you do to inspire...
I think that this is absolutely an awesome idea! Thank you so much for doing this, I get asked this question a lot. It amazes me though, no matter how many times I answer this question, I get the sense that people don't believe me. I feel that the more people that hear this information may be folks will start to listen.
Hey Sam I' can't believe I'm the first to watch your new series. I'm certainly looking forward to future episodes. I'm not tatally blind, but I feel as im getting there more each day. I'm older and no longer work, but I know I will still learn alot. Thank you!
hi Sam, this is Tom, your much older Stargardt colleague fantastic video and great idea to have this series! Congrats for sure! every young person in the world should see this, obviously, if they are Low Vision or blind. Great job! Tom Perski. 😎
Great series Sam. Don't forget to interview some of the BEP blind vendors. Last count they were over 2,000 of them. I had over 40 years as a blind vender in the Tn. program. Retired now living in SC. as a Blind Ham Radio operator.
Great videos, thank you for putting this together, I am going to be sharing this series with the students I teach who either have low vision or are blind. I wish I had come across your channel before running our careers day last year.
Yay for this series!! I remember recommending the Blind Spot. This is such a relevant topic for so many, including the clients at our low vision clinic for the state of NC, so I'll be sharing even more with our VR department. You make the case for purposeful VIP employment! Your journey is inspiring for so many. Ever considered going for your CATIS certification? Ask because teaching that is in shortage, just saying. Keep on keeping on Sam for your hard work!
I have a Genetic form of Macular Degeneration. I was a Realtor for many years. My left eye is worse than my right. Center of vision is hard. I have a “flash-bulb” affect in my center of vision I’m always struggling with. I keep lights low and wear shades. Love your interview idea! Will follow!
Great idea for a series. I've been fortunate to have the same job for 20 years and work with a lot of great coworkers who are accepting of my vision impairment. It's nice to see your career story here and will be looking forward to everyone ele's as well!
Fantastic idea for a series. We live in a small town where work is difficult to obtain. I can’t work due to CRS which caused me to be low vision from birth. I have too many other health issues from it, Syndromes are tough medically. My husband has been totally blind since age 2 (cancer) He has volunteered in so many areas from tourism to addictions recovery to event planning, the man could seriously write a book however it has never transpired into viable employment due to lack of funding not skills. So we are low income on disability but, he now does scrap metal pickup with a partner. The pay sucks but it’s a job. We do find that discrimination is a factor here more based on assumptions of what people think we can’t do. We continue to try to push past the barriers to work. This may help create awareness to the various barriers to work blind people face and the extra lengths we sometimes need to go to gain meaningful employment. Looking forward to the series.
After a week where I have been struggling at work with my vision, watching a video like this gives me the motivation to keep going. Thanks for the inspiration, Sam!
As a fellow "Stargardtian" volunteer, turned worker turned accidental entrepreneur, I will definitely be following this series. Thanks for pioneering ahead of us in this field.👏
This is a wonderful idea and am excited to watch future episodes. I am a nurse experiencing progressive vision loss, and I feel lost about what to do next, how to advocate for myself, very uncertain what tools I will need in order to be employable. But I do know that my mental health and bank account needs me to be working and feeling like I have a purpose.
Great initiative Sam, much needed to make people believe that I can see but i can't. however, Link for membership isn't working, is it just with me or anyone else having the same problem?
Working blind is tough. I am in automotive recycling and I feel like there were reason I can do it as well as I can is because I've been doing it since I was 18 on and off but mostly on. But it's tough and you have to have thick skin because people like to joke and usually that's great but if you're having a bad day or if you just hear the same joke one too many times that's not so great. Perseverance and patience
I’m in my 30s and I currently don’t have a job. I plan to get into volunteering more in 2023, but I don’t really know what I need as far as accommodations. Well I kinda have an idea but when I was offered tools at a younger age, I didn’t always use them 😩
This is a great series Sam, congratulations on starting it! Would love to be a guest on it- I have double troubles, so to speak not only am I visually impaired with glaucoma, but I also have Cerebral Palsy and use a wheelchair full time. And, like you, I work in a non-profit that helps folks with disabilities (Silicon Valley Independent Living Center in Santa Clara County), and work as an advocate for people with disabilities and the disability community at large.
14:57 Sam is that your anecdotal experience or do you have quantitative as well as qualitative data to support this statement? I struggle with this exact issue.
Nice video, my man!. Like you, I have stargardt's and having been working my whole life as well. Great point about people not caring about you being blind. I think a lot of people who are visually impaired have a preconceived notion that you have to hide your disability to be accepted. However, especially when you are in the workforce, your life will be so much easier when you explain your limitations. It takes the pressure off you and gives your employer the ability to help you complete your job. I mean, sure you may not be able to do everything, but at least you will be able to do a job that gives you the tools to be successful. For everyone, 1 person or place that treats you bad for saying you have a disability. Trust me when i say this. There is a 100 people that do not care and will help! Sometimes it is a matter of coming out of your comfort zone to actually see the positives. PS @sam: I think you need to change your logo. Keep the bottom part with the mobility canes. But, instead of the skull on top. You should use that exact side shot of your face you have on the outro screen. Not the whole body, but just your face turned sideways with the beard and sunglasses. I think it would be the perfect branding. Since you are the face of your channel, it would make so much sense. Anway, great stuff, look forward to your series!!!
I have a tunnel vision in one eye and completely blind in other eye. From this vision my reading with naked eye us very slow. I am looking for smart glasses or any other technology which can help me make employable here. Also transportation is a big issue in my life as I can't drive with thus eyesight. Fo employers provide any transportation for such people?
Hey! Videos are awesome! Im looking for a touch screen monitor for magnification purchases so that I can use Samsung Dex as my main computing device. Any suggestions? I tried the Samsung M80 only to realize it's not a touch screen. Thanks in advance for some ideas.
I am a visually impaired person from Sri Lanka. I am planning to visit England next month. May I know if there are employment opportunities for disabled people? How do I get a job?
Can you look up local blind agencies in your area? That would be one place to start in terms of learning about what kinds of services are out there. If you are on social media a lot, I'm sure there are groups on Facebook or Twitter that you could join. I'm not big into social media, so I don't know how that works. But a lot of Places have independent living centers, assuming that you are in the United States. I'm not sure what is available in other countries.
Hi sam I wanna ask can visually impaired work in a bank. Actually I m visually impaired and o worked as a banker in my country (india). Now I have come to usa. So I am wondering wether any bank will employ me
What are jobs a VIP can not do? I am a courtesy clerk at my local Safeway. I have worked there for 19 years, so I am what you may call an OG at what my job is. As far as my virtual handicaps at the store, it is mainly the print but with a Magnifier and lighting and some help from others at times I can do my job. Probably not with very much speed but with accuracy. Hope that being a courtesy clerk was not on your list of things a VIP person cannot do.
My experience hasn't been as positive. 'Nobidy really cares' doesn't cut it in a world where employees regularly end up on 'performance development plans' (i.e. risk getting fired) if they aren't performing at least 95% as well as their colleagues. The vast majority of jobs out there (including office jobs) are managed in this manner and although managers themselves may allow blind people to work at, say 75% the productivity rate, other employees don't see it like that. Especially when they are at risk of losing their job while you are getting 'special treatment'. I found that whole experience soul destroying. Went from 6/60 to counting fingers in the space of 2 years and, yes sure, I can make use of assistive tech, but can magnifiers make me work at a comparable efficiency as a fully-sighted colleague? Nowhere near.
I have had quite a few jobs over the years. I was born legally blind but my journey to employment has been nothing but a nightmare. I am unfortunately unemployed now but I hope that in the future I can find something I can do successfully that I don't have to travel a few thousand miles away to get.
What a wonderful idea for a series. Before I retired (before vision loss), I worked at EEOC and two of the supervisory attorneys were blind. They were able to do their jobs as well as fully sighted attorneys using document readers and OCR. If you are a good student and have the proper accommodations, blindness is not a barrier to working in a profession that requires a lot of reading.
I'm in the application stage of getting a job at my State's vocational rehabilitation office as a rehabilitation counselor.
Hi Sam! Thanksfor sharing! Loved this episode. Do you have a video suggesting how to navigate midsle/high school when you are newly diagonized? Specially when we don't want to stand out and gel in with kids at that age
You just got a subscriber out of me. As someone with low vision who has always been surrounded by seeing people without really having anyone to relate to it feels inspiring just to be able to see someone else’s experience! I’ll be binging the videos on this channel for sure
I am legally blind and I always go to your videos to help with assistive technology thank you so much
I'm trying to get back to work. Finishing my Master of Social Work degree
Hey Sam. I would love to be a candidate for one of these interviews. I check the boxes lol. Cheers from Canada.
Looking forward to this series. I am blind as well and love to see other people’s journey, perspective, etc.
Congratulations!!!
God bless you more sir Siam.
This is a very cool idea for a series! If you ever need more guest, I would love to share my experience working blind! This series really shows off the mini occupations that the blind and visually impaired community can work in! Keep it up!
Thank you! I am working on getting confidence with technology so I can get a job. I feel I have to be fluent with tasks using what I need to be successful.
Sir Siam you are the best lecturers.
Congratulations. ❤️❤️❤️
God bless you More.
Hello, there! I'm not visually impaired, but for some reason your videos popped up in my TH-cam feed, so I watched one. Then I subscribed. You do an excellent job of providing informative content, and I am glad to have the opportunity to learn something new so I can perhaps make a difference for someone else. Thanks.
Thank you so much, and let me be the first to welcome you to the community!
Thank you for this series. I found out last year that I am loosing my sight and I've been worried about my future, so this will be very helpful.
Love the channel! Looking forward to the working series. I am a legally blind electrical engineer. I have MD.
Great idea for a series. If you continue it I'd love to help out and share my work history
Hey Sam, you rock! This is an important series. I would also be interested in knowing how vocational rehabilitation experts, advise young blind people about potential career paths and what if any special hiring programs for the blind exist today.
We’ll done. Great idea. I love your point about starting to do voluntary because that’s how I got the job that I’m in now 20 years later
Thank You So Very Very Much For All Of That Sam!!!!!!*********
Outstanding topic Sam, I do find volunteering as the maintenance director for our local not-for-profit youth organization NGS. A local girls' softball park extremely rewarding. Our girls grew up playing fastpitch softball, yes I did, and still do coach, and maintain 7-softball fields at the park.
I also am self-taught or should I say. A want-to-be TH-camr focused on helping VIPs and their families overcome low vision challenges.
Thanks for all you do to inspire...
Subscribed!
I think that this is absolutely an awesome idea! Thank you so much for doing this, I get asked this question a lot. It amazes me though, no matter how many times I answer this question, I get the sense that people don't believe me. I feel that the more people that hear this information may be folks will start to listen.
Lol, I can relate!
Hey Sam I' can't believe I'm the first to watch your new series. I'm certainly looking forward to future episodes. I'm not tatally blind, but I feel as im getting there more each day. I'm older and no longer work, but I know I will still learn alot. Thank you!
oh wow, congratulations on being the first, truly historic
hi Sam, this is Tom, your much older Stargardt colleague fantastic video and great idea to have this series! Congrats for sure! every young person in the world should see this, obviously, if they are Low Vision or blind. Great job! Tom Perski. 😎
Thanks Tom!
Great video sir. I use to work in medical field until I started losing my vision. Thanks for all you do.
Sam I LOVE this ❤❤❤❤
Great series Sam. Don't forget to interview some of the BEP blind vendors. Last count they were over 2,000 of them. I had over 40 years as a blind vender in the Tn. program. Retired now living in SC. as a Blind Ham Radio operator.
Of course!
Great videos, thank you for putting this together, I am going to be sharing this series with the students I teach who either have low vision or are blind. I wish I had come across your channel before running our careers day last year.
Yay for this series!! I remember recommending the Blind Spot. This is such a relevant topic for so many, including the clients at our low vision clinic for the state of NC, so I'll be sharing even more with our VR department. You make the case for purposeful VIP employment! Your journey is inspiring for so many. Ever considered going for your CATIS certification? Ask because teaching that is in shortage, just saying. Keep on keeping on Sam for your hard work!
Awesome!
love it.. I started as a volunteer where I work, now I am the general manager..Looking forward to the rest of the stories
I have a Genetic form of Macular Degeneration. I was a Realtor for many years. My left eye is worse than my right. Center of vision is hard. I have a “flash-bulb” affect in my center of vision I’m always struggling with. I keep lights low and wear shades. Love your interview idea! Will follow!
I love this series thank you for doing these videos
Great idea for a series. I've been fortunate to have the same job for 20 years and work with a lot of great coworkers who are accepting of my vision impairment. It's nice to see your career story here and will be looking forward to everyone ele's as well!
Absolutely love this, I also have Stargard’s, and had some very similar experiences to you! Looking forward to the next episode👍👏🏼🤗
I also have Star Guartz. Nice to meet you!
Fantastic idea for a series. We live in a small town where work is difficult to obtain. I can’t work due to CRS which caused me to be low vision from birth. I have too many other health issues from it, Syndromes are tough medically. My husband has been totally blind since age 2 (cancer) He has volunteered in so many areas from tourism to addictions recovery to event planning, the man could seriously write a book however it has never transpired into viable employment due to lack of funding not skills. So we are low income on disability but, he now does scrap metal pickup with a partner. The pay sucks but it’s a job. We do find that discrimination is a factor here more based on assumptions of what people think we can’t do. We continue to try to push past the barriers to work. This may help create awareness to the various barriers to work blind people face and the extra lengths we sometimes need to go to gain meaningful employment. Looking forward to the series.
So glad you are doing this. I think Blind people are often invisible. (No pun intended)
After a week where I have been struggling at work with my vision, watching a video like this gives me the motivation to keep going. Thanks for the inspiration, Sam!
As a fellow "Stargardtian" volunteer, turned worker turned accidental entrepreneur, I will definitely be following this series. Thanks for pioneering ahead of us in this field.👏
Outstanding
I’m so excited for this new series! Thank you Sam.
This is a wonderful idea and am excited to watch future episodes. I am a nurse experiencing progressive vision loss, and I feel lost about what to do next, how to advocate for myself, very uncertain what tools I will need in order to be employable. But I do know that my mental health and bank account needs me to be working and feeling like I have a purpose.
Great initiative Sam, much needed to make people believe that I can see but i can't.
however, Link for membership isn't working, is it just with me or anyone else having the same problem?
Working blind is tough. I am in automotive recycling and I feel like there were reason I can do it as well as I can is because I've been doing it since I was 18 on and off but mostly on. But it's tough and you have to have thick skin because people like to joke and usually that's great but if you're having a bad day or if you just hear the same joke one too many times that's not so great. Perseverance and patience
I’m in my 30s and I currently don’t have a job. I plan to get into volunteering more in 2023, but I don’t really know what I need as far as accommodations. Well I kinda have an idea but when I was offered tools at a younger age, I didn’t always use them 😩
This is a great series Sam, congratulations on starting it! Would love to be a guest on it- I have double troubles, so to speak not only am I visually impaired with glaucoma, but I also have Cerebral Palsy and use a wheelchair full time. And, like you, I work in a non-profit that helps folks with disabilities (Silicon Valley Independent Living Center in Santa Clara County), and work as an advocate for people with disabilities and the disability community at large.
amazing
, have you any knowledge of the escoop glasses? Is there a video that you have done on the escoop glasses?
14:57 Sam is that your anecdotal experience or do you have quantitative as well as qualitative data to support this statement? I struggle with this exact issue.
Nice video, my man!. Like you, I have stargardt's and having been working my whole life as well. Great point about people not caring about you being blind. I think a lot of people who are visually impaired have a preconceived notion that you have to hide your disability to be accepted. However, especially when you are in the workforce, your life will be so much easier when you explain your limitations. It takes the pressure off you and gives your employer the ability to help you complete your job. I mean, sure you may not be able to do everything, but at least you will be able to do a job that gives you the tools to be successful. For everyone, 1 person or place that treats you bad for saying you have a disability. Trust me when i say this. There is a 100 people that do not care and will help! Sometimes it is a matter of coming out of your comfort zone to actually see the positives.
PS @sam: I think you need to change your logo. Keep the bottom part with the mobility canes. But, instead of the skull on top. You should use that exact side shot of your face you have on the outro screen. Not the whole body, but just your face turned sideways with the beard and sunglasses. I think it would be the perfect branding. Since you are the face of your channel, it would make so much sense. Anway, great stuff, look forward to your series!!!
Anything but a skull…
I have a tunnel vision in one eye and completely blind in other eye. From this vision my reading with naked eye us very slow. I am looking for smart glasses or any other technology which can help me make employable here. Also transportation is a big issue in my life as I can't drive with thus eyesight. Fo employers provide any transportation for such people?
I was watching you when you were “the blind spot”.
What is the pay scale?
If there isn’t a Vocational Rehab in your area, what would you recommend to try to get a job….Social Security offices?
What kind of educational background do you need to be an IT?
Hey! Videos are awesome! Im looking for a touch screen monitor for magnification purchases so that I can use Samsung Dex as my main computing device. Any suggestions? I tried the Samsung M80 only to realize it's not a touch screen. Thanks in advance for some ideas.
Unfortunately I don't have any experience with touch screen monitors that aren't part of a computer. Surface line of devices for example.
I am a visually impaired person from Sri Lanka. I am planning to visit England next month. May I know if there are employment opportunities for disabled people? How do I get a job?
how do I advocate for myself if I don't know what is out there? Thank you for all that you do for the blind and vip community.
Never stop asking questions! Always lead with transparency and heartfelt.
Can you look up local blind agencies in your area? That would be one place to start in terms of learning about what kinds of services are out there. If you are on social media a lot, I'm sure there are groups on Facebook or Twitter that you could join. I'm not big into social media, so I don't know how that works. But a lot of Places have independent living centers, assuming that you are in the United States. I'm not sure what is available in other countries.
Hi sam
I wanna ask can visually impaired work in a bank. Actually I m visually impaired and o worked as a banker in my country (india). Now I have come to usa. So I am wondering wether any bank will employ me
👏👏👏
What are jobs a VIP can not do? I am a courtesy clerk at my local Safeway. I have worked there for 19 years, so I am what you may call an OG at what my job is. As far as my virtual handicaps at the store, it is mainly the print but with a Magnifier and lighting and some help from others at times I can do my job. Probably not with very much speed but with accuracy. Hope that being a courtesy clerk was not on your list of things a VIP person cannot do.
My experience hasn't been as positive. 'Nobidy really cares' doesn't cut it in a world where employees regularly end up on 'performance development plans' (i.e. risk getting fired) if they aren't performing at least 95% as well as their colleagues.
The vast majority of jobs out there (including office jobs) are managed in this manner and although managers themselves may allow blind people to work at, say 75% the productivity rate, other employees don't see it like that. Especially when they are at risk of losing their job while you are getting 'special treatment'.
I found that whole experience soul destroying. Went from 6/60 to counting fingers in the space of 2 years and, yes sure, I can make use of assistive tech, but can magnifiers make me work at a comparable efficiency as a fully-sighted colleague? Nowhere near.
Did you ever spoiled any work because of your eye condition?
Please I’d like to know how I can contact you