Monthly Archives: March 2021

Hit Me With Your First Shot: On Finally Getting the COVID Vaccine

Posted on by John

My employer decided, after some long, hard thinking, to host a COVID vaccination clinic so that those of us who hadn’t gotten poked yet could safely do so. As soon as this option was mentioned, I signed up. I do not, after all, know when another opportunity might come for me to take this important step not only to improve my own chances of avoiding this nat virus, but also to make that much more of a dent in the still-too-high overall case count.

I guess because they did not wish to waste doses, people who were not employees were allowed in to get shots as well. Last I heard, we had 150 available, and only 115 employees had signed up. (I bet the others who came in were wide-eyed at all the blind folks roaming around, the modified paths with variable flooring and low plastic fences to keep us all in line that make me feel like we’re in a cattle chute, and the unusual-looking machinery).

And speaking of cattle chutes, that’s how the process of vaccinating all those folks in a relatively short time felt to me. My scheduled appointment time was 2:00, but I was not surprised when someone came to get me at 1:18 to “pre-register”. They tried to collect my basic information at a table set up right in the middle of the factory floor, which meant not only was I competing with pounding said strange machinery, but also with very high ceilings which does odd things with the sound. I could barely hear myself speak, let alone what the woman sitting there was asking me. We managed though, I signed the consent form, and took a seat in my second chair after having arrived over there.

Four chairs, two rooms, and a somewhat disconcerting number of people later, (I do think we were fairly distanced at least), I was finally ready to be jabbed. Ever the baby, I had to psych myself up as she said “3,2,1,” and popped the needle in. I was then given a fact sheet, a card that noted how long I needed to wait to watch for reactions (mine was 30 minutes, since I noted a Penicillin allergy) moved through two more chairs and left in what was formerly the break room but had been re-purposed as the “Observation room”. Makes it sound important, doesn’t it. Anyhow, I regretted not having brought my phone along, because what was I to do to kill the time! Think? Listen to people gossip? Yup.

It’s hours later now, and so far so good. The only issue I have is soreness at the site of the shot, but I fully expected that. My second dose of the Moderna vaccine will be on April 26th. If you are able to safely, I hope you can get vaccinated too, and especially as we’re seeing the numbers start to inch back up again. I feel very sad that we can’t do anything for those many who have already lost their lives, but perhaps the best tribute to them would be to get past this thing and retain some normalcy. I am looking forward to the things I’ve not done in a year, such as: eating in a restaurant, having a hot beverage at a coffee shop while absorbing the writing vibe, riding public transit and enjoying the background hum of my local community, and going to the occasional live sporting event again. Here’s hoping! Continue reading →

Job Days No. 8: Hire Yourself

Posted on by John

I find myself almost exactly 17 years since my job-finding journey began, with a vast majority of those having been spent working for agencies that primarily employ blind and low vision people. If not for my transition period just prior to marriage, I would have reached eight years with LCI, hence this being my 8th Job Days post. And I think I’ve had an epiphany: the truth for me is if I want some other kind of career, I must hire myself.

What do I mean by this? Well, first I had to do an extensive interview with myself, helped by my coach of a wife as noted in my Finding My Passion post. Then, I had to figure out what my, as she says, “Glows” are, those areas I’m already good at and can use to propel me toward that next stage. Finally, I needed to ascertain at least some of my many “Grows,” the areas on which I must work if I want to improve whatever opportunities I am able to find.

And I’m sort of doing that. I’ve upped my book review platforms to two now, having done one book so far on NetGalley that I will probably port over here someday so that I can then link the two and maybe some big publisher will come to view my humble blog.

But probably the bigger thing I’ve done is to actually kick off the podcast to which I referred in the previous entry. That’s right, the first episode is live! It’s an introduction episode, and it took me hours to get all of the pieces lined up just so. Will it pass the true audiophile’s test? No, but I don’t have the fancy audio equipment required for that just yet, so tear me apart softly, please. Ha, ha. What I do have is an idea, and I think this idea just might take me somewhere. So it’s still worth doing, even with the stuff I currently own. I also have booked my first guest, so if I can get everything together the next episode will go up on April 5..

As for the actual job stuff, what I usually write about in these updates, it’s mostly the same old same. Still doing light sticks, or I guess as it is more appropriately called, Omni Glow. My own slightly overconfident evaluation is that I’m now stronger and faster than ever with my work. Or I’ve at least come up with my most effective strategies for making it through the day ever. The supervisor, and pretty much everyone else, says I’m still too quiet though, but a lot of that is related to my subpar hearing. This issue has not been made any easier with everyone now wearing sound-muffling masks. And speaking of, we’re finally starting to get back to full speed after COVID, and I could not be more thankful for that. Lots of boring days had been spent twiddling my thumb or doing some form of “re-work,” where we remove already-packaged items so that they can either be correctly packaged or disposed of. It kept the bills paid, but…

So yes, I think this is the first year I find myself, not just hoping that some magical opportunity would land in my lap, but really starting to lay down the foundation to make my own show. I think that’s an important lesson not just for me, but for so many of us with disabilities, especially if, like me, you’re and paper resume is kind of lacking. As I have stressed in the last few of these posts, sadly our perceived job abilities are still far too constrained: rehab counseling, assistive tech work, or government work. These positions are great and have led to rewarding careers for many, but I just think that those of us who wish to need to start pushing our own boundaries to make more for ourselves and for those who are coming up behind us. Hopefully I am a positive influence to others, as I certainly aim to be.

On Creating My New Podcast, and Joining Clubhouse

Posted on by John

While I am loving the technological changes we are experiencing of late, they also make me feel like we are speeding ever more inevitably to a “Ready Player One” world. In this book by Ernest Cline, society basically lives behind computer screens and does all of its transacting from bedrooms and other places at home, because a disaster has struck. With the pandemic possibly having no discernible end, it is not hard for one to imagine this kind of world taking hold for real, but even so I guess I’m embracing the possibilities it might create. It’s especially promising, hopefully not taken to extremes but existing in whatever form it does, for persons with disabilities.

I’ll talk more about the part that really makes one feel we are headed in that direction towards the end, but first I have created a podcast! Well sort of. At this point, only the trailer exists. But the idea, as you can hear in said trailer, is that I will interview different authors who have written works concerning disability in whatever way it is portrayed. I certainly want more than just blind and even deaf people to be represented, since I believe that we can actually be a more powerful block of “people with disabilities” if we work together. I think book portrayals are an important element of our ability to fit into society, because people make strong associations with the characters they read about and what they expect to see when encountering someone who seems to fit that description. I’ve not tried to land interviews yet, but I have composed an initial list of eight authors with whom I would love to speak. The tricky part will be coming up with a proposal that succinctly communicates the goal of this podcast and hopefully makes them want to do it.

Creating the podcast has been something of a challenge as well. I dithered on which platform to use, but when I went to re-evaluate Anchor I discovered that it has come a long way from what it was even a couple of years ago. I guess this is because they were acquired? I’m not aware of the exact relationship) by Spotify. They walk you through the whole process of setting it up, and even seem to provide the auto-transcript which I can then go in and edit, a much faster process than trying to write one up myself. So I’m going to continue developing the show, and I’ll let you know when it officially launches.

And speaking of things launching, I suppose, I’ve finally been invited to Clubhouse. By now, I suspect you’ve heard of this invite-only app that I’ve been told is, unfortunately, only available on iOS. I certainly hope they can change that soon. Anyhow, I was invited by two different friends within a couple of hours, so I signed up and started exploring. So far it looks neat, and I learned a lot by attending a presentation specifically about using Clubhouse with a screen-reader (I suppose the only screen-reader is VoiceOver at this point). I did find one book club of interest, and I think they’ll notify me if the club has another meeting some time soon. That’s one thing I’ve noticed, you can end up getting a lot of notifications about various rooms you might be interested in entering. I’ll have to go and look at settings to see if I can adjust what I want to hear about.

So those are some of the exciting happenings in my corner of the world. I’ll have my annual Job Days post coming soon, in which I will look at how things are shaping up at my employer and with my side hustle of book reviewing. In the meantime, I hope you are keeping well and staying safe.