Getting Started
How can I start the ball rolling?
So, you’ve had a good look around our website and now you’re thinking about what the next steps might be. Here are a few options:
Pick up the phone and give us a call
We’d love to talk to you – we can discuss in better detail how we may help you once we know your specific needs.
Attend one of our events
Meet the blind and partially sighted graduates and undergraduates that we work with, and learn more about visual impairments and their impact on people’s lives and abilities (and then learn just how capable people are, regardless of visual impairment).
Role models
We can put you in touch with role models – employers who have been through the process and who can be honest and open about the barriers you may be concerned about.
Get out there
Start to advertise your company and its opportunities on our website with our Web Advertising and Priority Service. Call us for more information.
Why not think about hosting an event at your company? Maybe a Business Breakfast, or something more formal. It’s a way for you to show off your company, and for your staff to start familiarising themselves with the challenges posed by visual impairment.
Top Ten Tips for Recruiters
- Advertise online and make sure your website is accessible. If it’s not, your advert won’t be seen and you may come across as not being open to applications from the VI community.
- Have application forms in electronic format and in Word. This allows for completion of the forms through using Access Technology such as JAWS (speech software).
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help – we all need it from time to time.
- COMMUNICATION is the key! Talk to the candidate and make sure they are free to communicate their needs and that you use their expertise. There is no-one better qualified than the candidates themselves to tell you how they can access your procedures.
- If you’re offering alternative formats, such as Braille, make sure you leave plenty of time to arrange for them. Three working days won’t be enough, you’re better off allowing for ten working days to make sure everything is in place.
- On the other hand – don’t assume that your blind candidate reads Braille, not everyone does, and these days electronic access is more important. If in doubt, ask.
- Don’t be concerned with everyday tasks such as how your candidate might use the toilet. They do these things every day. Concentrate on making adjustments for work-related tasks.
- Be prepared for unexpected barriers to pop up. They will inevitably. No amount of planning will cover every single base. Just be ready to be adaptive and keep those communication channels open!
- Take some time to learn about the technologies available to VI people. It will help you understand how they will be able to do the job.
- Remember that reasonable adjustments are just that – REASONABLE. It’s also the job of the candidate to be as flexible and adaptive as you are being.