Hi there, my name is sunila and i am 21years old, and i am in my second year of university. In the past when applying for casual and temp jobs, i have never ticked the box that says do you conisder yourself to have a disability, because i don'f feel that my nystagmus affects me that much, my only problem is that i can not drive, many applications ask if you have a liscense, and i was wondering how i can answer this, will i be discriminated against if i can't drive? (obviously in some jobs this is unaviodable) I am also wondering if it would make a difference if i was to be registered partially sighted, and how that would affect my employment prospects.
At the moment i am ticking the box that says i have no disabilities but then how do i explain i can't drive?
thanks for any help anyone can give me on this one Sx
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driving and employment
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by Mrs Chris McMillan on Tue May 10, 2005 9:57 pm
[size=18]
I was registered as partially sighted for definite back in 1970. It came as a bit of a surprise to realise that although I'd always been at schools for the partially sighted, I wasn't registered.
There aren't that many advantages to being registered partially sighted: at least compared to being registered blind. In theory the registration ought to make a positive difference under the DDA, and companies employing the minimum percentage number of people with disabilities. But its well known that almost no company complies with that one.
I felt I had to be registered PS because I was finding it impossible to get a job anyway, and also I knew that working in many environments back then, the lighting just wasn't good enough for me in all weathers. Also, since no allowances would be made for me as a typist, they'd have to allow me tohave a desk lamp and a stand for any small amounts of copy typing I could do. They were reluctantly provided - and they fell out of long forgotten cupboards. (I worked for one of those then nationalised industries we all love to hate).
If you are really able to function successfully in a work environment without the use of magnification on screen (or a speech program), or a larger computer screen, or more lighting or paper work in enlarged print etc., then it probably isn't worth being registered partially sighted.
Getting the mobility allowance of DLA is possible if you're registered partially sighted, but its jolly hard work to get it, and then keep it at review time.
Not everyone wants to drive at all, and there are people who, while not having a severe enough sight impairment to be registered PS, still cannot read the number plate at the required distance. My father in law was like this, so I see no shame in leaving it at that and not admitting to the Nystagmus if you feel comfortable with it.
But I have always felt I should admit to it. Maybe this is because of my schooling being in special school anyway. I know many of my PS friends have gone down the route you've taken. On the whole they've got away with it as young people but get caught when their jobs demand more of them than their eyes can deal with. Things like computers were a case in point.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely Chris [/size]
I was registered as partially sighted for definite back in 1970. It came as a bit of a surprise to realise that although I'd always been at schools for the partially sighted, I wasn't registered.
There aren't that many advantages to being registered partially sighted: at least compared to being registered blind. In theory the registration ought to make a positive difference under the DDA, and companies employing the minimum percentage number of people with disabilities. But its well known that almost no company complies with that one.
I felt I had to be registered PS because I was finding it impossible to get a job anyway, and also I knew that working in many environments back then, the lighting just wasn't good enough for me in all weathers. Also, since no allowances would be made for me as a typist, they'd have to allow me tohave a desk lamp and a stand for any small amounts of copy typing I could do. They were reluctantly provided - and they fell out of long forgotten cupboards. (I worked for one of those then nationalised industries we all love to hate).
If you are really able to function successfully in a work environment without the use of magnification on screen (or a speech program), or a larger computer screen, or more lighting or paper work in enlarged print etc., then it probably isn't worth being registered partially sighted.
Getting the mobility allowance of DLA is possible if you're registered partially sighted, but its jolly hard work to get it, and then keep it at review time.
Not everyone wants to drive at all, and there are people who, while not having a severe enough sight impairment to be registered PS, still cannot read the number plate at the required distance. My father in law was like this, so I see no shame in leaving it at that and not admitting to the Nystagmus if you feel comfortable with it.
But I have always felt I should admit to it. Maybe this is because of my schooling being in special school anyway. I know many of my PS friends have gone down the route you've taken. On the whole they've got away with it as young people but get caught when their jobs demand more of them than their eyes can deal with. Things like computers were a case in point.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely Chris [/size]
- Mrs Chris McMillan
Mobility allowance
by Mrs Chris McMillan on Thu May 26, 2005 5:17 pm
[quote="shell"][size=18] i have just registered as ps, and would like 2 know what mobilitey allowance is please.
The mobility allowance comes in two levels. Registered partially sighted people can get the lower level - but you have to be very specific about what you can and can't do. You have to remember that the DLA forms were 'invented' for people who cannot physically walk, and the sensorily impaired had to come along and work out how to adapt the questions on the form so that they could apply to them.
I had to think long and hard about how to do this when the DLA (disabled living allowance) was introduced because I have relatively good partial sight and at the time was a relatively young person still. (early 50s now).
The only things I could really claim to have problems with, were:
Seeing bus numbers, train destination boards, being able to read numbers on houses or gates. For these I need a monocular.
and
I find walking over rough ground, even a rough grass verge very difficult as I can't judge the camber of any slope, and don't notice 'pot holes' in the grass. And my distance vision is such that using a white cane is not doing me any favours.
And that was it. In those far off days I was surprised to get it at all.
What I would stress *now* is that reading signs is extremely difficult even with a monocular: not because *I* can't read the size print but becuase modern technology has produced such fancy scripts on shops, and buildings, and the 'weird' spellings of familiar words, that its all the more difficult to find one's destination.
Also I personally find it very difficult to interpret things like the signs for male and female loos. As long as there are words, no problem. But give me pictures only and its a nightmare.
Also i am about 2 go on a computer course 2 help me find a new job is it a problem working on computers in long term.[/quote]
There are a lot of things that help using a computer: mainly the speech and large print packages. I was once upon a time an audio typist, and that was before speech and large print packages were invented for computers. The year I spent using a computer was 'interesting' and incredibly tiring. I did have a magnifier attached physically to the word processor I was using but it was not ideal.
It was very easy to miss one's alterations - and to this day I much prefer having a speech program (or a human) to read through anything I write for publication to the public. magnification systems and a spell checker are not enough of themselves.
If you're not familiar with the foregoing, ask more. I could go on for a very long time, but I'll let someone else have a turn.
Chris[/size]
The mobility allowance comes in two levels. Registered partially sighted people can get the lower level - but you have to be very specific about what you can and can't do. You have to remember that the DLA forms were 'invented' for people who cannot physically walk, and the sensorily impaired had to come along and work out how to adapt the questions on the form so that they could apply to them.
I had to think long and hard about how to do this when the DLA (disabled living allowance) was introduced because I have relatively good partial sight and at the time was a relatively young person still. (early 50s now).
The only things I could really claim to have problems with, were:
Seeing bus numbers, train destination boards, being able to read numbers on houses or gates. For these I need a monocular.
and
I find walking over rough ground, even a rough grass verge very difficult as I can't judge the camber of any slope, and don't notice 'pot holes' in the grass. And my distance vision is such that using a white cane is not doing me any favours.
And that was it. In those far off days I was surprised to get it at all.
What I would stress *now* is that reading signs is extremely difficult even with a monocular: not because *I* can't read the size print but becuase modern technology has produced such fancy scripts on shops, and buildings, and the 'weird' spellings of familiar words, that its all the more difficult to find one's destination.
Also I personally find it very difficult to interpret things like the signs for male and female loos. As long as there are words, no problem. But give me pictures only and its a nightmare.
Also i am about 2 go on a computer course 2 help me find a new job is it a problem working on computers in long term.[/quote]
There are a lot of things that help using a computer: mainly the speech and large print packages. I was once upon a time an audio typist, and that was before speech and large print packages were invented for computers. The year I spent using a computer was 'interesting' and incredibly tiring. I did have a magnifier attached physically to the word processor I was using but it was not ideal.
It was very easy to miss one's alterations - and to this day I much prefer having a speech program (or a human) to read through anything I write for publication to the public. magnification systems and a spell checker are not enough of themselves.
If you're not familiar with the foregoing, ask more. I could go on for a very long time, but I'll let someone else have a turn.
Chris[/size]
- Mrs Chris McMillan
by shell on Fri May 27, 2005 11:29 am
thank you, i am going to try for d.l.a and c if i get anywhere. i am currently getting a lot of headache's in the job i do as a supermarket cashier never really had that many problems till the last 6 months.
I was looking at going in to computers as i have noticed a lot of people on here seem to use them. You seem not to agree what would you suggest as a job.
Also can you apply for d.l.a. if are working or not?
look forward to hearing from you thanks
I was looking at going in to computers as i have noticed a lot of people on here seem to use them. You seem not to agree what would you suggest as a job.
Also can you apply for d.l.a. if are working or not?
look forward to hearing from you thanks
- shell
by Mrs Chris McMillan on Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:22 pm
shell wrote:thank you, i am going to try for d.l.a and c if i get anywhere. i am currently getting a lot of headache's in the job i do as a supermarket cashier never really had that many problems till the last 6 months.
>
I know one or two people with visual impairment who are cashiers in supermarkets. I think they do find it a bit difficult to do for long periods.
>
I was looking at going in to computers as i have noticed a lot of people on here seem to use them. You seem not to agree
>
I was a computer user when I worked. Using them all day every day is *very* tiring from my experience - but I didn't have access to any of the equipment now taken for granted. Many sighted people find computers tiring too.
>
But the main thing to be aware of in our case is that if we already hold our heads at an angle, sitting in one position for ages holding our heads in a particular position, over a long time may well increase any neck and back problems we may already have.
what would you suggest as a job.
>
Also can you apply for d.l.a. if are working or not?
DLA (both mobility and daily living) are nothing to do with whether one can work or not. They're non-means tested and are to pay for the extra expense of living with disability. You might need it for taxis if you don't have public transport that's any good: that sort of thing (mobility component).
In this month's 'New Beacon' there is an article about applying for jobs with a disability, written by the RNIB's Employment Officer, and they reckon one should be talking about the effects of disability and what you need to work effectively in the desired post, during your interview.
Its part of a very long series on employment matters so I can't really sen dit to you.
Sincerely Chris
look forward to hearing from you thanks
- Mrs Chris McMillan
by jamjars on Sun Jul 17, 2005 9:40 am
Sunita,
My eye consultant was shocked when i said i wasn't registered partially sighted, i have very poor vision, i always tried to keep it a secret. After a long chat i decided to do it and he signed the dotted line.
I had been seeing him for over two years as i was having corrective surgery done, purely cosmetic, as i couldn't take any more nasty comments.
Certain jobs will be off limits ie the police force, i always wanted to be a policewoman, so i opted to work in a store and worked hard to become a retail manager.
I never told a soul about my condition it was my secret. I thought it would hamper me in getting promotion and sometimes i had to leave a job because the system had changed, ie the paper work and the print became to small to read, how i wished i had confessed to having problems but i always chose to run away.
The RNIB are there for you, they will give you the best help possible and my twin got two degrees at uni but without their help she wouldn't have made it to the classroom.
Driving? Well i can't and yes it is a bug bare as nowadays it would appear that if you don't drive it will go against you in a job interview.
There is help out there too if you don't drive, so own up to everything.
I wish all the help that is out there now had been there twenty years ago life for me would have been much easier.
I say own up and get registered if you qualify, join the RNIB and register at the job centre and you will get good advice there too.
I say be honest and upfront your future depends on it.
My eye consultant was shocked when i said i wasn't registered partially sighted, i have very poor vision, i always tried to keep it a secret. After a long chat i decided to do it and he signed the dotted line.
I had been seeing him for over two years as i was having corrective surgery done, purely cosmetic, as i couldn't take any more nasty comments.
Certain jobs will be off limits ie the police force, i always wanted to be a policewoman, so i opted to work in a store and worked hard to become a retail manager.
I never told a soul about my condition it was my secret. I thought it would hamper me in getting promotion and sometimes i had to leave a job because the system had changed, ie the paper work and the print became to small to read, how i wished i had confessed to having problems but i always chose to run away.
The RNIB are there for you, they will give you the best help possible and my twin got two degrees at uni but without their help she wouldn't have made it to the classroom.
Driving? Well i can't and yes it is a bug bare as nowadays it would appear that if you don't drive it will go against you in a job interview.
There is help out there too if you don't drive, so own up to everything.
I wish all the help that is out there now had been there twenty years ago life for me would have been much easier.
I say own up and get registered if you qualify, join the RNIB and register at the job centre and you will get good advice there too.
I say be honest and upfront your future depends on it.
- jamjars
by Mrs Chris McMillan on Sun Jul 17, 2005 5:12 pm
Don't give up on working within the police force. I have had visually impaired friends work as clerical officers in the police force. This was back in the 1970s. It was no problem getting a job at all then. OK, you might not make it out onto the beat but there's still jobs you can do within the force.
Even jobs you thought you couldn't do. My daughter wanted to join the police, and even though with spectacles she does have driving vision, without her specs she is more than registrable blind. So she would have failed her medical.
She went and got herself a degree (BA Hons) in Music Production which she also has a love and much experience in - and has found herself a job teaching young offenders radio production skills. In this instance she does need to drive to the young offenders unit, but that was just she was able to drive when the college came up with the joint scheme with the Prison Service.
So take what skills you've got down to your local nick and see if they've got any clerical jobs you can do. And you know that the RNIB will support you with getting equipment in order to do the job.
Sincerely Chris
Even jobs you thought you couldn't do. My daughter wanted to join the police, and even though with spectacles she does have driving vision, without her specs she is more than registrable blind. So she would have failed her medical.
She went and got herself a degree (BA Hons) in Music Production which she also has a love and much experience in - and has found herself a job teaching young offenders radio production skills. In this instance she does need to drive to the young offenders unit, but that was just she was able to drive when the college came up with the joint scheme with the Prison Service.
So take what skills you've got down to your local nick and see if they've got any clerical jobs you can do. And you know that the RNIB will support you with getting equipment in order to do the job.
Sincerely Chris
- Mrs Chris McMillan
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