Handicaps no barrier for D.C. internship
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- Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:21:48 -0400
Beloit Daily News, Wisconsin USA
Friday, October 19, 2007
Handicaps no barrier for D.C. internship
By Ashley Rhodebeck, staff writer
Caption: Jason Corning stands with Senator Herb Kohl in his Washington, D.C.,
office. Corning networked with many people during an internship with the
Department of Homeland Security this summer. Submitted photo
For 21-year-old Jason Corning, landing a job was challenging because he is deaf
and partially blind.
As he would say, "People look at me and don't think I can do this kind of
stuff."
But a summer internship at the Transportation Security Administration
headquarters in Washington, D.C., helped the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
student wedge his foot in the door for a post-college career.
"It was wonderful," Corning said in a phone interview via a sign language
interpreter he could see on a screen. "They really took care of me as an
intern."
Microsoft and the American Association of People with Disabilities sponsored
Corning's internship with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through a
Federal Internship Program that began in 2003 and is open to college students
with disabilities. Participants work in information technology for a U.S.
government agency.
Internships - both paid and unpaid - are "highly sought" in the country's
capital. Although those who place interns have done "a very good job" to
increase diversity in ethnicity and sexual orientation, they've neglected those
who are disabled, said Mariana Nork, senior vice president of communications
for AAPD.
"Those young students have been left out," she said. Employers "might not have
ever looked at someone (with a disability) before and realized the phenomenal
talents he has," Nork added.
Microsoft approached the AAPD about beginning the internship program because it
wanted workers in the information technology field to reflect the country's
population, she said.
So far, 54 students have participated in the program, and they often have
"better IT experience than the folks in the agency," Nork said. "They are given
a lot of really good hands-on work when they get there."
That's just what Corning wanted from an internship. The Beloit native and
information technology major didn't want to become a summer-long gofer.
"They treated me like one of their coworkers," Corning said.
Though many people are blind and deaf, Corning said people often assume a
person just has one of the disabilities.
"Most people look at me and see I have the glasses and the dog, start talking
and I ignore them," he said. "They tap me and say, 'Excuse me,' and I have to
explain to them I'm deaf also."
Communicating with his colleagues wasn't difficult because an interpreter
accompanied Corning about seven hours a day, and, although Corning is legally
blind, he can see well enough to read and send e-mails.
For about 10 weeks Corning worked 10 hours a day. He had "stacks and stacks" of
information to look through, attended meetings, checked the Web site for
glitches, processed client complaints and checked the organization's training
materials to make sure they were OK.
By summer's end, Corning had learned how to manage his time efficiently, talk
directly to people, write business letters and make proposals.
He would like to get a similar job after graduation. Many of the interns are
hired by the agencies they worked for or by other people they met during their
time in D.C., Nork said. Once, she said an intern for the Department of
Homeland Security was offered five jobs from five divisions.
Nork said, "They make impressions wherever they go."
http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2007/10/19/news/news02.txt
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