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In Victoria, Australia, most secondary school students with a vision impairment attend their local schools and have specialist visiting teacher support for issues relating to low or no vision such as assistive technology, teaching strategies for teachers and/or mobility issues. Similarly, students with impaired vision participate in the normal career and work experience programs that their schools offer for all their students. The schools and families of students however, often contact the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind (RVIB) for ideas on the type of suitable work experiences, future realistic jobs or even employer contacts for holiday or permanent jobs. School personnel or parents are often at a loss to identify job opportunities and there is often an emphasis on the disadvantages that poor or no vision will bring to various aspects of jobs rather than a focus on the aptitudes, skills and interests of the students. There is often also a concern about the employment prospects of people who are vision impaired that is founded in depressing statistics.
Figures quoted for the United States and Britain suggest that unemployment among those who are vision impaired is as high as seventy to eighty per cent. The figures for Victoria should be known as a result of a survey by the end of 1997 but I think they will also indicate very high unemployment. Given this situation, it is important for young people in particular, if they are interested in joining the workforce, to carefully and widely consider their options and also to meet with role models, that is, other people who are vision impaired and an employee or employer.
This is the major reason for running the Career Explorer Programs at the RVIB since 1991. The program demonstrates that people who are vision impaired or blind can work, do work and work in a wide range of occupations.
In this presentation I will be telling you about the program's goals and objectives, the participants, the exercises, the work visits, evaluation and outcomes of the programs.
THE PROGRAM
The Career Explorer's Program is based on an American book entitled 'Career Exploration Groups: A Facilitator's Guide' by Nancy J. Garfield and Richard E. Nelson and published by Consulting Psychologists Press, 1983.
The goal of the Career Exploration
Groups is to encourage vision impaired participants to prepare for entry
into the workforce.
The seven primary objectives
are that participants will:
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1. become aware of how their interests relate to occupational choices.
2. become aware of how their values relate to their occupational choices.
3. be able to differentiate between the expectations of significant others and their own expectations when making career choices.
4. be assisted in assessing their aptitudes and will become aware of how these aptitudes relate to their occupational choices.
5. acquire decision-making skills necessary for making career choices.
6. become aware of the possibility of unforeseen variables in life planning, such as personal problems and economic conditions.
7. become aware of locations and types of career information available to them.
All of the these objectives (from page 7 of 'Career Exploration Groups: A Facilitator's Guide') are linked to workshop activities.
Permission to reproduce copies of the workshop exercises is given with the book and these have been put into large print or braille where required for students.
Several plans for the running of the program are provided but I have chosen to run it over three days in the school holidays because it is a practical solution for students particularly those from the country who travel and stay in Melbourne for the program.
A specific addition that I have instituted has been to provide visits to employees who are vision impaired in the afternoons following the workshop activities in the mornings.
As a preliminary to the program several questionnaires are administered, both to prepare the students and to provide some basic information on vocational and personality preference types. The two I have chosen to use are Holland's Self-Directed Search – the Australian version and Firo – B. The feedback on these two questionnaires forms part of the Career Explorer Program.
THE PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
For detailed information on the program it is best to read the book, but to give you an idea of the range of activities in the program I will show one variation of how the program was organised last year.
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RVIB'S CAREER EXPLORER PROGRAM
COURSE OUTLINE — DAY ONE
Tuesday, 9 July 1996
9.30 AM -
10.45 AM
INTRODUCTIONS
VOCATIONAL HISTORIES
10.45 AM -
11.15 AM
YOUR LIFELINE
11.30 AM -
12.30 PM
ROLL CALL
12.30 PM -
1.30 PM
LUNCH
1.30 PM -
4.00 PM
VISIT TO PERSON WITH VI
IN THE WORKPLACE
Leader: Mary Broderick
Volunteer: Brenda Harding
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RVIB'S CAREER EXPLORER PROGRAM
COURSE OUTLINE — DAY TWO
Wednesday, 10 July 1996
9.30 AM -
10.30 AM
CAREER SELECTION:
WHAT'S IMPORTANT
10.30 AM -
12 PM
WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM A CAREER?
12 PM - 1 PM
LUNCH
1 PM - 2 PM
WHAT IF I WANT TO DO FURTHER
STUDY?
Robyn McKenzie and
Joanne Webber
2 PM - 4 PM
WORK VISIT TO COMPUTER OPERATOR
Leader: Mary Broderick
Volunteer: Kathy Ferne
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RVIB'S CAREER EXPLORER PROGRAM
COURSE OUTLINE — DAY THREE
Thursday, 11 July 1996
9.30 AM -
10.30 AM
APTITUDES - YOU'VE GOT SOME
10.30 AM -
11 AM
ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT INTERPRETATION
11 AM -
11.30 AM
GUIDED IMAGERY TRIP
11.30 AM -
12 PM
CLUES AND CONCLUSIONS
12 PM -
12.30 PM
LUNCH
12.30 PM -
3 PM
WORK VISIT:
SOUTH MELBOURNE ADVENTURE
PLAYGROUND
3 PM -
3.30 PM
ROUND OFF - COMPLETION OF EVALUATION FORM
Leader: Mary Broderick
Volunteer: Brenda Harding
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THE PARTICIPANTS
Fifty-two students have participated so far in the ten programs. Twenty-six were male and twenty-six were female. The following tables provide fuller descriptions of the participants. Half of the students were large print users. In the overhead chart you will see the program format requested by participants.
Large print 25
Braille 15
Audio tape 4
Normal print 5
Computer disc 3
Almost half of the students were in year 10 when they undertook the program. The next chart indicates the year level of all the participating students.
Year 10 (Ages 15-16 years)
29
Year 11 16-17 14
Year 12 17-18 9
The students were all at integrated schools, although five were undertaking modified educational programs.
Occupational titles and fields of interest listed by students at the commencement of the programs ranged widely and included computer operator and programmer, librarian, musician, physiotherapist, theatre worker, social worker, interpreter, sports administrator, interpreter, youth workers, office worker, lawyer, stockbroker, factory hand and hospitality worker.
WORK VISITS
Attempts are made to match the occupational interests of students with visits to employees although naturally with larger groups this becomes more difficult. The occupations of employees visited include computer analyst, employment officer, telephonists, lawyer, rehabilitation officer, administrative officer in the public service, disability liaison officers, word processor operators, adventure playground manager, psychologists, teacher, manager of Employment services at RVIB and an education consultant.
These employees talk to the students about their experiences in studying and training, finding their jobs and they often demonstrate the equipment that enables them to access print and/or perform their jobs. They will also answer students' questions and often tackle issues such as when to disclose about a vision impairment in the process of finding employment. It tends to be an informal, friendly and valuable encounter for both the students and workers.
The visits sometimes include
a visit to RVIB's training facilities and supported employment centres
as well if this seems appropriate.
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EVALUATION
As part of the Career Explorer Program, an evaluation form is administered. The results to date have been consistently positive and there has been no need to change the exercises provided.
Similarly the work visits have also rated highly and feedback from the students has confirmed my feelings that it is the visits that make the program particularly meaningful to them.
OUTCOMES
There have been useful outcomes of the programs including offers of work experiences and certainly increase of occupational information for students following visits. The programs have confirmed for some students their original career choices while for others it has given them the opportunity to realistically consider jobs for the first time.
The outcome that I think would be of most interest to people would be to find out what jobs or careers these students will ultimately have, if they are not to be included among the unemployed. It is too early to tell, given that most of the participants are either completing secondary or tertiary education programs. The employment outcome is also naturally related to individual factors such as a student's abilities, school results, and acceptance into courses e.g. As well, economic and political factors such as the rate of unemployment and the number of tertiary places available for students impact on these students' prospective employment.
However, some interim information is available. In a telephone survey conducted in May 1997, 40 of the 52 participants were able to be contacted and their situation is as follows:
Year 11 students 4
Year 12 students 3
RVIB Open Employment Training
Programs 1
RVIB Supported Employment
Employees 6
Tertiary courses in a range
of courses
including computer science,
secretarial studies,
visual arts, and business
studies 13
Jobseekers 7
Employed (administrative
work) 6
Many of these are positive
outcomes. This is especially so for the tertiary students who are studying
in courses that are directly related to their career choices in the career
explorer program. However, some of the graduates as well as those who did
not go on to university studies, are unemployed and there is also a high
proportion of participants who could not be contacted.
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So, I do not want to leave you with the impression that the Career Explorer Program answers all the career needs of students with vision impairments. It certainly doesn't. RVIB also has several other programs that complement this program, two in particular that are geared towards students who will be moving into tertiary settings and which address practical issues such as accessing libraries, organising personal readers or meeting with equal opportunity counsellors on their campuses.
In summary it is a useful, optional, initial step for students to take in planning for their vocational future. The program is further enhanced by visits to role models and mixing and working with other students with vision impairment. For those who use the residential option of the program, the additional recreational activities and support that is provided by them is an added bonus.
I would invite and encourage other agencies or service providers to consider using this or similar programs for their student populations. Career Exploration forms an important part in assisting students who are vision impaired to wake up to some of the factors involved in making the transition from secondary school to work.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bruce, Ian, McKennell, Aubrey and Walker, Errol,1991, "Employment" "Blind and Partially Sighted Adults in Britain:The RNIB Survey, Volume 1," Royal National Institute for the Blind, London, pp. 235-252.
Garfield, Nancy J. and Nelson, Richard E., 'Career Exploration Groups: A Facilitator's Guide', Consulting Psychologists Press, 1983.
Holland, John L. and Locan, Jan., 'Self-Directed Search – Australian Edition'. Adapted from the American SDS published by Psychological Assessment Resources, with permission, ACER 1988.
Kirchner, Corinne, 1988. "Employment: Selected Characteristics". Data on Blindness and Visual Impairment in the U.S., The American Foundation for the Blind, New York, pp. 169-177.
Schultz, William C., 'The Firo Scales: Firo-B', Consulting Psychologists Press, 1978.
Wolfe, Harvey E., 'Career education: a new dimension in education for living', New Outlook for the Blind, Vol. 67, No. 5, May 1973, pp.193-199.