TIE THAT BINDS
Volume 13, Issue 5
Number 149
March 2009
Circulation 698
Attitude is the Real Disability
Let’s Go Surfing
It is springtime, nature is rejuvenated, the economy is rejuvenated and job developers are rejuvenated. In California and Hawaii, everyone looks to the ocean for surfing. In Tennessee, we look to the internet to do our surfing.

For online job searches visit these sites.

Go to http://www.flipdog.com/. You type in a zip code and jobs in the area (or close by) appear.

For jobs at UPS visit http://www.upsjobs.com/.

Another job search based on zip code is http://www.indeed.com/.

At http://www.earnworks.com/ you will visit America’s choice for quality workers.

If you have a disability specific question, you can visit these sites.

A catalogue of disabilities and services are at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/.

American Foundation for the Blind is at http://www.afb.org/.

An internet community for people seeking resources is at
www.kcvanderbilt.edu/tnpathfinder/pathfindertext.html

So you are preparing to go to work, you may want the latest information on job seeking.

Go to www.spot.pcc.edu/~rjacobs/career/index.htm. for information on Career and Employment Guides.

The latest information on disabilities is found at http://www.disabilityscoop.com/.

If you are interested in the President Obama’s plans for the disability community look at these flyers.
www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/disabilities.

And Disability Scoop provides this info www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/01/21/autism-obama/1792/.

The World Is Flat
If you subscribe to the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation or are a member of TNAPSE and receive the on-line version as a membership benefit, you had the opportunity to read an article on global vision. This article, How Globalization is Changing Our Workforce by Dedra Hafner and Laura Owens, expands on the Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat.

The initial concept is that there is a shift in global vision employment models. Technology and transportation access has forced businesses to go where there are highly skilled and technology savvy people, who are eager to work for much lower wages. So businesses once outsourced manufacturing jobs, but look now. Jobs that can be digitized are being outsourced to the smartest, cheapest and most productive workers and the product is available to multiple markets instantly.
So what happens to people with disabilities? New technology produces new industries and new employment opportunities. Look at what we have now that didn’t exist 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 50 and even 100 years ago. My grandparents were born when transportation was the horse and buggy, mass communication was the telegraph and nightly entertainment was a live theater show or a board game in the family parlor. American industry and economy will continue to evolve and re-invent itself.
People with disabilities can look at E-commerce and on-line auctions, computer resale, green technology, E-consignment, computer graphics, web site development, video production and on-line grocers and store pickers. Being creative and having the tenacity have been the hallmarks of rehabilitation professionals. We need to re-think how we work with employers to increase profits and decrease costs. What is being outsourced and how can we keep them in-house?

Self Awareness
From the mental health side of job developing, there is a maxim that job seekers need to be self aware. What is the nature of the job seekers symptoms and what would be appropriate employment? Just because a person has active symptoms doe not mean the individual is “unable to work.”
People with thought disorders may have difficulty in processing and interpreting information. They could be challenged by distractibility, impaired judgment, delusion, hallucination and the inability to express emotion. There may be some learning difficulties.
If a person has a mood disorder, the mood swings would cause variability in work performance. In the periods of stability they may have no difficulty in learning or working.
Try to think of ways to describe symptoms that reference common experience. Instead of saying “I hear voices”, substitute “distracted.” Turn the perceived liability into an asset by identifying the positive. Describe skills that counterbalance the symptom. Finally there is practice, prepare and pre-empt the employers concerns.


There Ain’t No Rules Around Here!
We’re Trying To Accomplish Something!

-Thomas Edison


Contact
Mike Sass
531 Henley Street
Suite 520
Knoxville, TN 37902
865-594-6720 Ext 1150
Fax: 865-594-6535
Email: mikesass@utk.edu
http://www.cde.tennessee.edu/.

The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/ Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services. This publication is sponsored in part by contract # ED-09-25258-00 from the TN Division of Rehabilitation Services to The University of Tennessee. Conclusions and opinions in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the TN DRS or the University.