[blindza] Re: Bit of a rant - about 'true' blindness
- From: "Carel Ewald" <cewald@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blindza@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 15:18:01 +0200
Hi,
Now, I am a recruiting agent and kind of understand the legal implications
behind this.
If a recruiting agent phones you (and I must add that the persons doing
recruitment these days are a sad bunch of people that have done the
profession a great deal of harm - and yes there is still some good ones),
discuss the job, ask him/her name, get the company he/she is recruiting for
and if he/she invites you for an interview, ask him if he has noticed on
your CV that you are blind. If he has not, he can unfortunately not tell you
that he does not want to see you anymore because of your disability, because
that would be discrimination. If he/she does say he does not think you
would be qualified for the job, ask him to explain to him why he thinks that
and most of the time you will find ignorance on his/her part. In my case I
have studied engineering and worked in maintenance, definitely a job a blind
person cannot do, so the agent is now in a predicament - based on
discrimination charges and the fact that I can take him to the CCMA to which
he/she and the company he/she is recruiting for is held separately and
jointly accountable for the discrimination where they need to prove that I
was unable to do the job or were not selected because another person was
better qualified then me.
After explaining to the person in what predicament he has let himself into,
tell him to in future read the CV decently. Not sure if it is working but
trying to educate them one at a time.
Thanks,
Carel Ewald
From: Robin Barker [mailto:robinb@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 2:54 PM
To: Blindza Free List
Subject: [blindza] Re: Bit of a rant - about 'true' blindness
Importance: High
Hi Jacob,
This is one of life's great mystries. This permanently happens.
Unfortunately they just want bodies to send for interviews etc. They see
the name and qualifications, and are not interested in the rest.
This is what you call "selective viewing" or stupidity to put it bluntly.
I have the same problem with my surname, Barker, everyone says Baker, which
makes me "see" red. Every time they do it I correct them, they appologize
and promptly do it again. That is called "selective hearing".
My suggestion to you is: When they call to say they have a possible job,
ask them if it is suitable for a "blind person". If they say no, take their
details and contact the manager and "throw your toys out the cot". It feels
great afterwards.
Cheers
Robin
_____
From: blindza-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:blindza-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Jacob Kruger
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 2:34 PM
To: BlindZA
Subject: [blindza] Bit of a rant - about 'true' blindness
I would like to know why some sighted people apparently make a point of
ignoring somewhat obvious/clearly stated/relatively important facts...?
In other words, where on my CV, in the top piece of details, along with my
ID number, phone number, etc. which they can't ignore, they seem to
repeatedly bypass the line that says:
Disabled: Yes - Visually Impaired
Also the very first, sort of intro paragraph states a few more details,
etc., but seems like every single time a personnel agent looks at the thing,
they don't 'see' this at all...
In other words, selective vision makes some sighties a heck of a lot blinder
than us blindies.
Makes me want to laugh in their faces, but also somewhat frustrating
sometimes.
Stay well
Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'
_____
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3415 - Release Date: 01/31/11
Other related posts:
