What job do you do?

[Ryann58]

I am 21 years old and have CN. I am currently going to school and majoring in Special Education. I will have something that most special ed teachers don't and that is that I truly understand what the students are going through. It doesn't matter what disability someone has, everyone with a disability feels the same way. I know that I can be an amazing teacher and help those like me.

[Globetrotter]

Hi all,
Just too save future confusion, I have formerly posted on here as "spud".

Anyhow, since I last posted my career has changed drastically. I graduated from university in West London, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, before getting a job in the Oil & Gas industry.
8 months into my career I was sent to work in Paris, and I've been here ever since! In a few months I'm going to start a two year stint working in the Middle East.

Just addressing a few issues that have been mentioned...

I found out when I was 19 that I would never drive, and that has not in anyway hindered my career - if the company want me to go somewhere, they supply the transport.

I never told my company about my problems, but my boss does know 'unofficially'. As he said, if you keep doing whats asked, then it's not a problem

I use computers a lot, and granted occasionally I strain myself too much doing this, but every office worker occasionally spends too much time at their computer, regardless of having or not having nystagmyus.

Simon

[TomUK]

Im 19, and have had CN since birth. By the sounds of it, I'm quite lucky as its not as severe as some of you on here.

First job i had was working @ a garden center, this included everything basically!! Computer/till work, to warehouse work to driving!! Then i worked at a call center for a few months, leaving because I had to go back to university. Someone mentioned above that they couldnt manage this kind of work, I found it no problem, but that'll be down to severity of the N.

And I'm not working behind a bar, about to finish my degree in June, and I've already secured a Web Development job

[samhx]

I'm 21 and had CN since birth I have had years of retails jobs in various companies including Pets at home and M+S and now I work as a call centre agent

[Snake Eyes]

I'm unemployed and really need to find work. There are so many frustrating things about finding a job. I noticed a lot of patterns here. People here have held bar jobs and call center jobs. People shy away from the jobs that involve working with the public and seem to have trouble keeping up with the pace in an office. You end up having to tell everybody in the office whats wrong with you. I hated that aspect of office work. As well as the bright lights. I have low confidence and when I can't sleep I can't see. The light really bothers my eyes. I wish I could wear sunglasses all the time. I have a degree in Business Administration with a concentration in information technology but can't get my foot in the door. I would like a job where i can make money, have some sense of dignity in terms of the Nystagmus. I have worked as a bar cook on the night shift, a call center, data entry, server in a market research firm. Most of my friends have skills and trades that require traveling. The only jobs I've ever gotten are through word of mouth. This has been so frustrating and I wonder what is going to happen to me. I want to try to take classes in sound engineering. Maybe I can use my ears to play on an even field. I wish I had a job where I could not deal with public, have some control over the lighting or be able to wear dark sunglasses, and maybe not have to explain myself to everyone I work with.

If anyone has suggestions for me I'd welcome them.

[disney_cjd]

Hi

Sure. I have severe Nystangmus (congenital) and i work as a Solicitor, in fact i am a General Counsel for a very large company. When i was young my parents were told all sorts of wonderful things like I would not be able to ride a bike or I would have to go to a school for the blind.

But I can ride a bike (oK ish) and I went to a normal school. I can not drive and i have two very large 27 inch monitors on my desk but anything is possible.

I have had to make adjustments in life and had help at school etc but you can do almost anything if YOU want to.

Cheers

[dancingeyes]

I'm 25 and have congenital nystagmus. I work in the theatre as a technician, specifically in electrics, and as a lighting designer. My nystagmus has only stopped me doing one thing, which is working as a followspot operator, which was entirely my choice, not my supervisor's. (I have trouble tracking the beam without the use of a sight, and have to squint through the sight, which upsets my nystagmus to no end. My supervisor was oblivious to any problem.) Otherwise, I have no problems and love what I do!

To the person who was interested in working in film: go for it! There are plenty of jobs that shouldn't require you to drive. You can definitely wrangle actors, focus lights, build a set, etc. while having nystagmus. Not everyone on a crew will be driving, frequently car pools are set up anyway.

One of the stories the doctors told my mother when I was initially diagnosed at 6 months old to calm her down was that his roommate had nystgamus and became a surgeon.

[Machelle]

Would you believe me if I told you I was a professional artist?

[Rhys]

I work in IT operations and while my Nystagmus is bad enough to prevent me from driving it hasn't had much of an effect on my career other than landing my first job as a lot of low level IT jobs are in the field.

I'm only 22 so my career is just starting but I am doing well enough I think, I am the IT Administrator at a High School so I handle pretty much everything support, planning. documentation, purchasing and systems administration.

Before this I was a IT&T Support Team Leader for a multinational recruitment agency.

This particular job has been a great experience (both career wise and as a learning experience) for me but I expect I will be looking for a more senior admin role within the next six months at a larger company again, I miss the dynamic environment from working in a team in an office.

Education wise, I am a Microsoft Certified System Administrator and am nearing completion of my Cisco Certified Network Associate and ITIL Foundations v3 certifications. Uni may be in my future but at this point I am happy to stick with the vendor certifications.

[jknill]

Hi all. I am 18 and was born with nystagmus among many other things (including a coloboma of the optic nurve which causes me to have hardly any sight out of my right eye.) I got through my GCSE's ok - as I had extra time on exams and could use a computer for the written tests. I came out with 2A's 7B's and 3C's I have just completed my A levels and achieved 3 I had a part time job in Exeter working for Jane Norman and was there for 2 years nearly! I am now doing a business Administration level 3 apprenticeship, which means I work at Eastleigh College full time as an administrator in with the part time NVQ assessors and I love it. I don't think I want to do this for the rest of my life but I know that this is great for me for now. I can touch type at nearly 70 wpm so this is great for me. However, I have started getting bad headaches all day everyday and we think it could be affected by my nystagums as it is difficult do do a full days work with this - if anyone has any exprience of bad headaches caused by nystagmus please let me know. I am now living in Eastleigh, Hampshire and I walk to work as I only live 15 mins away.

Jade

[boyhowdy]

I have had and will always have CN since birth and I am a successfully employed computer programmer/database admin. It's interesting to me how so many people here do so many interesting things.
I also have a J.D. (that's a law school graduate's degree here in the U.S.) but haven't ever felt the need to pursue that avenue.
Like most of my family, my brother also has CN and is very successful at his demand & supply planning job at the world's biggest book retailer. And yet my grandfather was a machinist and my mother is a teacher. All have or had CN.
Don't let CN slow you down, no matter how distracting those damned, flickering LEDs are. Turns out we are intelligent, adaptable people. (I have no scientific basis for this; it just seems to be the case.)

[Jkirky]

Im 29 with fairly severe CN but fortuntaly not too many other eye disorders, besides short sightedness...

Ive been a high school teacher for 6 years in a mainstream school... I teach technology...

Its hard at time because it requires so much social interaction, but the kids are quite respectful... But you do feel weird when meeting new students and or their parents. In fact this seems to be the liberating part... It forces me to be social rather than teeing to "hide" my CN...