[Nfb-science] adapting to a new workplace

[j8miller at soe.ucsd.edu]

Hello, This is John Miller.  I would like to hear what steps you take when
starting a new position.  Each of us addresses how
we solve the problems of blindness in the workplace in a different way.
Here are my thoughts on the subject.  Since receiving
my masters degree from Stanford University in 1992, I have started a
position at six different companies.  There are a few
things I do upon starting a position that make me more effective
on-the-job.  1.  I compose a greeting e-mail that I
distribute based on the list suggested by my manager.  It may be to the
coworkers in my building or company wide but often is
the target group of 50 to 200 people I will be interacting with the most. 
In the e-mail I introduce myself, tell coworkers
that I am blind, and ask if they would tell me their name when they greet
me in the halls.  This is the quickest way I know
to learn who people are.  Offices often have posted in print the name of
the worker in an office or cube.  I make and
distribute braille name tags for each person on my team and everyone on my
floor or in my building.  With frequent office
moves it can be hard to maintain for a group of one hundred plus, but is
very useful for the first month.  During office
moves I have trained coworkers to take their braille name tag with them to
the new office location.  Office staff send me
lists of new hires and I braille the name tags.  I show a coworker which
line of braille corresponds to each person's name.
The coworker writes in pencil on the back of the name tag, separates the
name tags using scissors, and tapes or glues them at
the appropriate office location.  The braille office name tags are useful
for several reasons.  First of all, they
demonstrate that a blind person uses braille and catches my coworkers
interest in braille.  This interest helps find creative
solutions when it comes time for coworkers and I to design solutions
together.  The braille name tags keep me from getting
lost.  I believe in some building lay-outs that everybody would frequently
be lost without some signage for reference.  I
place a name tag at my office location the first hour I have been shown to
my office.  Now I can explore a building that is
new to me and know I can return to my office independently.  I distribute
NFB braille alphabet cards to all coworkers.
Everyone enjoys decoding the braille secret message.  Again this is an
opportunity to meet those who want my adaptation to
the workplace to be quick and successful.  These individuals can help
tailor software and find internal webpage work-arounds
that will be invaluable later.
  I present an engineering lecture showcasing access technology for the
blind I use in the workplace, the Nemeth braille
code, the process of braille production, raised-line diagram creation, and
showcasing internal webpage navigation for
activities such as internal phone book use, completion of frequently used
web forms, and so-on.  If possible, I go through
the entire engineering design process, showing how access technology and
blindness modification applies each step of the way.
 Making this important effort gets me ready for the real design process
that will come later.  Showing the steps I can
accomplish ensures management assigns me key design tasks.  Bringing up
the steps that contain pitfalls for the blind gets a
discussion started about possible work-arounds.  Showing what these
pitfalls are to a diverse group in a lecture setting is
the best way to engage a coworker who has the experience and motivation to
help me find a solution.  Often it is an
individual contributor and not a manager who has the design solution or
work-around.

I also show fellow engineers the screen board that I use for making raised
line diagrams. A screen board is an 8 1/2 x 11
inch piece of wood covered with nylon window screening. I got my board
from the NFB store. It was originally a letter writing
guide, but I removed the cover that had strings to assist writing in
straight lines. Tracing a figure with a ball point pen
on a piece of Braille paper (or regular paper) creates a high relief
raised line drawing on the back side of the page. The
raised line drawing is detectable via sense of touch. The drawing on the
front side of the page is also detectable via sense
of touch. I create free-hand diagrams for fellow engineers using the
screen board because I can feel the diagrams. I or my
fellow engineers can modify the diagram during an engineering discussion
and I can see the modification. After some practice
fellow engineers make free-hand block diagrams for me in reverse so that
the mirror image raised line drawing reads from left
to right.

Here is a list of the access technology that I find helpful at work. In my
work I use Jaws for Windows from Freedom
Scientific.  I use it with both speech output and with a focus 80 braille
display.  I use a Perkins braille writer to take
notes and to solve math equations.  I use a Thiel braille embosser for
brailling design documents and hard copy of software
source code.  I use a braille note taker, currently the braille note pk. 
>From the PC I access UNIX via Cygwin. It offers SSH
with good accessibility.  I use Matlab in UNIX or Linux for writing
simulations. I also use Linux to generate, typeset math
independently by using latex. I use Duxbury braille translation software. 
I work with a part-time sighted assistant to
prepare MS word design documents, send materials to braille transcribers,
and typeset company confidential documents.  My
assistant uses Scientific Notebook 5.5 to prepare mathematics so that my
reader has a WYSIWIG typeset mathematical document
that can be sent to hardcopy print for verification.  Sending me the
document as an attachment allows me to braille it in
good quality Nemeth braille code using Duxbury 10.4.

On the first day my reader drives all this access technology to the
office.  I also bring my personal laptop with the
software I plan to use pre-installed.  I find configuring software
packages and access software, and dialog boxes within
Windows XP itself most efficient with a computer at hand from which to
copy settings. My reader stays with me the first day
at work to assist in configuring my work computer with access software.