KEY POINTS:
Describe what you do.
I go out into the community and raise awareness about blindness, vision impairment and deaf blindness. That includes working within the health sector, community groups and employment awareness. I organise foundation members to be guest speakers in Auckland schools because the children want
to meet blind or vision-impaired people and talk to them about their experiences. My area is from Taupo to Kaitaia.
Your history?
After finishing uni, I went to Japan. I have eight years' experience teaching English as a second language. After 2 years in Japan, I returned to Wellington, later moving to Auckland to work as a senior tutor. With my last job, I was doing my MProfStuds. I had achieved everything I wanted to as far as educational aspirations went. I wanted to stay within education as that is my passion but wanted to try something different. I started at the foundation in June last year.
What jobs can blind people do?
We have people employed in more than 80 industries. With technology, there's not much that they can't do. We have people who are landscape gardeners, IT gurus, people working in offices, farmers.
What concerns do employers have about employing a vision-impaired person?
I think it's not knowing the unknown and not understanding how easy the transition can be. They might think they might have to make several changes when all that they need is a CCTV, which is like a magnifying screen, and which the foundation will organise. We have an adaptive technology specialist who figures out what is the best piece of technology to use in that job. We have some great technology like screen readers, a program we download into the computer where it will read out what is on screen so that people who are completely blind can access their emails and use the internet.
What queries do children have?
Children always ask the questions everyone else is thinking of - little things like how do you brush your teeth, how to you get to work? And the kids are hilarious when there is a guest member as they try to creep forward to get their hands on the guide dog. We have to watch out for the silent shuffle.
Why did you choose this line of work?
Education is my key passion and I wanted to add a twist to it. I had great results in the ESOL industry and I wanted to move into a not-for-profit area; and the foundation has a fantastic reputation.
What training do you need to do this job?
I did several courses at the foundation about blindness and vision impairment; learning about things like eye conditions. A lot of my work is talking to people about conditions like glaucoma or cataracts. And I took courses in sighted guiding, as that is something I am instructing - teaching people how to guide a blind person safely.
What skills do you need?
You need people skills and communication skills because you are covering anyone and everyone in society - and time management skills because the area I cover is so big.
Why is your job important?
Blindness is everywhere is New Zealand and it's not going away with things like diabetes. We need to work hard to get the message out there about how certain forms of blindness can be prevented. We can ease the transition for people joining the foundation and make people aware it's a fantastic place to be a part of.
Most challenging part of the job?
Covering the area. I have a big population to deal with. Making sure people in Kaitaia or Rotorua know who I am and what I can do. And also walking into a room where I have 20 strangers, and they have preconceived ideas about blindness. I have to establish a connection with those people, destroy some of the myths they might have and, hopefully, by the end of the presentation, they might walk away with a different perception of blindness, vision impairedness and the foundation itself.
Most rewarding part?
When, at the end of presentation, a person comes up and says their mother has age-related macular degeneration and they understand a bit more about what they can do to support her.
Advice to someone wanting to do same thing?
Do it. If they want to make an impact on their society, look for the possibility for this kind of career. Contact the foundation and find out how they can kick off that career - it may start with volunteering for us first.
What has this job taught you about society's perception of people with vision impairments?
What has surprised me is how much people care.
MY JOB
Name: Clare O'Shaughnessy.
Age: 31.
Role: Awareness trainer, Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind.
Working hours: 37.5, Monday-Friday with some Saturday work.
Average salary: $40,000-$50,000.
Qualifications: BA (politics and history), BA Honours (history), CELTA (English language teaching), MProfStuds (language teaching).AWARE: Clare O'Shaughnessy's passion is education with a twist.
