Employment Support

A user guide for visually impaired job seekers

by Rémy LUCAS

The exact number of visually impaired people of working age in France is unknown due to a lack of recent accurate statistical studies on the topic. Most experts on such matters however agree in saying that a larger percentage of blind and poor-sighted are unemployed compared to the general population without a handicap. Furthermore, more than one-third of companies in the private and public sectors who are under the obligation to employ handicapped people fail to do so.







Why the Need for an Employment Guide ?

Theoretically, visually impaired people have the same rights as any other individual, however in practice when looking for a job they encounter major difficulties and the job search process is a veritable battlefield. Most are under-informed as to the regulatory stipulations concerning the blind and visually impaired and on the role and actions proposed by the different partners working in the field of professional integration. Some lack training and professional qualifications, others are unaware of the technical help and real options available to them; others – often the same people – are at a loss when having to choose a professional outlet suitable to their level of education and skills and their handicap. Moreover, attitudes towards visual handicap are changing only very slowly, contrary to the situation in English-speaking countries.

Three qualitative surveys conducted in 2000 and 2001 with 12 visually impaired individuals, 5 specialists in the integration of the visually handicapped and 8 employers evinced these same needs.




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Preparation of the Guide

The first stage was to define the objectives of the guide:

    1. Definition of the targeted public: the visually impaired and their immediate family and friends. A guide specifically for employers is currently being studied.

    2. Preparation of draft contents prior to discussion with the different professional integration organisations.
The objective of stage two was to present the project to the integration organisations and job seekers. We consulted company representatives and representatives of the agency for the employment of the handicapped, three integration specialists, three jobseekers, who provided valuable additional input into the project.

Stage three consisted of collating the information needed to draft the guide:

    - information search by contacting the organisations concerned either directly or via Internet;

    - meetings with the major integration partners to obtain a better understanding of their role in the organisation;

    - Decryption and analysis of the information gleaned.

Then came the phase of actually drafting the guide. Three people took an active part in this work, then a fourth was mobilised for document formatting and for the appendices section. Regular meetings were organised with the work team to discuss the content of the information sheets following the initial draft.

The purpose of the last stage, just begun, is to have persons outside of the work team read the guide. A meeting is scheduled for September to examine the comments and suggestions made by the chosen readers. We should also mention that the final plan of the guide was submitted to the members of the " professional training and employment " commission of the CNPSAA (National Committee for the Social Promotion of the Blind and Visually Impaired) for their opinion.

Unless something unexpected happens at the last minute, the guide is scheduled for publication in the final quarter of 2003.




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General presentation of the Guide

The purpose of this guide for the visually impaired is to assist them throughout the process of training, professional integration and help them remain in their job once obtained.

Part One of the guide comes in the form of information sheets and concerns the major stages of the integration process. Each sheet describes the existing integration process or a particular situation, discusses current legislation, indicates Websites for consultation and provides useful addresses and bibliographical information. The advice column is intended to help the reader in the various steps along the way and in their search for information.

The forms provide information, listed according to topics:

    1. school, university and professional training

    2. learning techniques to compensate for the visual handicap

    3. obligation of employment in the public and private sector

    4. presentation of the organisations for integration

    5. professional outlets in the normal workplace

    6. preparation and job searching techniques

    7. mentoring and follow-up after joining a company

    8. working in the adaptive environment

    9. adaptive technical aids

    10. incentive measures in favour of employment

Part Two of the guide, which comes in the form of appendices, provides practical information:

    1. useful addresses and contacts

    2. detailed bibliography

    3. Website addresses

    4. Table of acronyms




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Guide Plan

I. Visual Handicap, Employment and Professional Outlets

I.1 School and university training

I.2 Compensation for the visual handicap

I.3 Obligation of employment :
A) in the private sector
B) in the public sector

I.4 Professional outlets :
A) Range of professions open to the visually challenged
B) List of jobs or professions exercised by at least one visually impaired person


II. Role of the Professional integration Organisations and Measures to Promote Employment

II.1 CDES

II.2 COTOREP :
A) Presentation
B) Status of the handicapped worker
C) Rehabilitation courses
D) Financial aids

II.3 ANPE and aided contracts :
A) Presentation
B) Partners
C) Aided contracts :
- Contracts for the young
- Contracts for people returning to work
D) Company internships

II.4 CAP-EMPLOI network

II.5 Support services for the professional integration of the visually impaired

II.6 AGEFIPH :
A) Presentation
B) Incentives for employment
C) The national agreements

III. The Work Situation, Training and Preparation for Employment

III.1 Definition of the work situations :
A) the ordinary environment
B) protected employment in the ordinary environment
C) Centres for assistance through work
D) Protected workshops
E) Home work distribution centres

III.2 Professional training :
A) Training in the specialist environment
B) Training in the ordinary environment
C) Organisations offering paid training

III.3 Preparation for employment :
A) The job search and employment offers
B) Preparing a resume
C) Drafting the accompanying letter
D) The job interview

III.4 Professional life :
A) Role of the different company players
B) Adaptation of the workstation
C) Technical aids
D) Staying in the job

Appendices

Establishments offering professional training
Functional rehabilitation centres
Specific employment services for the visually impaired
National associations acting directly in the field of training and employment
Protected workshops and Technical Aid Centres
Regional delegations of the AGEFIPH
Miscellaneous addresses
Websites
Bibliography
Table of acronyms





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Conclusion

Publication of this guide is scheduled during the final quarter of 2003. It will be distributed absolutely free of charge, available on audio CD and also placed on-line on our website : www.avh.asso.fr

Furthermore, the information given in this guide is very general in nature and has been selected with the aim of interesting as many people as possible. Some very interesting initiatives were left out of the document solely due to their regional or local nature only.

This first version of the guide will be regularly added to and updated to fill in any gaps or remedy any imperfections and with the desire at all times of providing the reader with as much information as possible. Some changes may take place in the legislative texts, application decrees or government-aided contracts offered, and amounts indicated for some financial aids may vary. Also, although all of the information given has been checked, mistakes or omissions are always possible.



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