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Using my Computer to Build a New Career

Summary: My blindness is partially negated with a computer.

Author:  Joelyn Day


When I moved from California to Tennessee in 1990,
I fully expected to go back to my previous occupation -
working as a nurse/radio operator in a hospital
emergency room. Besides that work, I am a certified
medical transcriptionist. However, when I went to the
proper authorities locally, I was reminded of my
blindness and told I could not do the work required -
despite the fact that I had in hand diplomas and a
resume to dispute the claim. I was really unhappy; I
guess you could say culture shock hit hard.

I decided, as time passed, to make a place for myself
in the work-a-day world, doubts of colleagues
notwithstanding. I had a computer (and had owned one
since 1984). I asked myself how I could best use it to
adapt to my changing career options. I knew I had a
lot to offer, if someone would just take it, so I set
up the braille embosser I owned, started using the
computer, got an Internet account and let it be known
that I would do braille transcription and desktop
publishing as well as medical transcription (in all
its guises, including veterinary.

That was in 1991. In 1999, I am using a highly
upgraded system. My presence on the Internet is not as
good as I would like it, but I find myself frequently
called for technical support for other blind persons
and their computers, braille jobs or other items of
desktop publishing.

Attitudes toward me are changing, too. No longer am I
looked upon with pity but as a valuable addition to
the community. Now, I am asked often for input in
decisions regarding my housing complex, whom to go see
if someone needs a specific computer item, or how to
initialize a computer so old it is DOS only.

My blindness is partially negated with a computer.
After all, on a modem, no one knows anything about me
unless I choose to inform them. I usually do after I
have completed whatever task set before me, and then I
receive a shocked response. "You're blind and you do
this?"

My response: "Why not?"

People can never learn what they are not exposed to.
My own acceptance was slow for that reason. I live in
a very rural area of Tennessee. No blind people lived
here, so no one had business dealings or one-on-one
contact with a blind person. The victory is mine now
that I have shown my capabilities and willingness to
work.

Things have come a long way for me as well as members
of my community. I have pointedly written articles for
our local newspaper on blindness and blindness issues.
Never has my work gone unnoticed or unheeded.

Without my computer, my guide dog, and other options
for acquiring and retaining independence, I might be
still sitting alone, my life a waste. I am so glad the
sun shines on me and mine. It could have been so very
different.

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