November 21, 2023

Heather Dicks’ invitation to WorkingNation.org

I want to introduce you to Heather Dicks who was my previous teacher and advisor in EXCEL. She helped me a lot over the first and second years. In interviewing Heather for this blog post, I learned that she serves as a member at large on the board of  DisabilityIN of Greater Atlanta which is a local nonprofit business-led business-to-business educational organization. She told me she was contacted by a consultant from WorkingNation.org who was asking for help in finding people who would be appropriate subject matter experts for a televised special about disability employment issues that would air on WABE, Atlanta’s PBS station. I wanted to share my thoughts on her experience when she was invited to talk about the EXCEL program and how it prepares students like me for our careers. What is WorkingNation.org you may be wondering? It is a nonprofit organization that uses storytelling to educate and galvanize the public about the unemployment crisis and how to mitigate the growing employability gap for solutions that can lead to a thriving middle class.

Thoughts About the TV Special and Workplace Discrimination

I have learned so much from Heather about the TV special and the issues people with disabilities face. During the TV special, a video was shown about Andrew who struggles to keep a job because those potential employers would not make accessibility accommodations and another video was shown about Jennifer who struggles with how much she could earn in her new full-time job so she can keep her social security disability and health benefits. When I first heard those stories, I was disappointed but more so was Heather who had expressed the same feeling as me. She said the following:

“I believe Andrew was the young man who had been offered jobs and the jobs were rescinded because of his barriers. When I first got to watch that interview during filming, heartbreaking is not the right word. I had a level of anger for that story because it's despicable and it's against the law for these jobs to have been rescinded and taken away from him after being offered, especially due to a disability. I mean there is no way to slice that except to label it. It's illegal what they did to him. He is clearly a well-educated person, and he is a wonderful example of someone with a disability who is learning his own accessibility and solving his own problems and a person like that should be in high demand everywhere he goes.”

“Jennifer’s story was very familiar to not only me, but everybody on that panel I was with. We have all worked with people like her where they are in a position where if they earn too much, their Social Security benefits will be taken away. Then they'll be worse off than they were without the job. In my work before coming to Tech, I worked with the blind population and I saw that story happen and play out many times where the person decided not to take a job and just not to work. I felt a sense of pride for Jennifer where she got a job offer as an administrative assistant that she clearly had a passion for.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s still frustrating to this day that some companies are still having issues with giving people with disabilities accommodations to help them improve their working and living conditions. Hopefully this TV special will shine a light on how to make the situation better.

My Thoughts About AI Technology

While we’re on the topic of making things better let’s go back to Andrew using AI technology to help him with his muscular dystrophy. After hearing Andrew’s story about him using Alexa to help with everyday tasks and him saying “Alexa is my best friend,” it is not too far off that people with disabilities to feel that way because AI is like a helpful companion with tasks that you would normally do yourself. But I always wonder why there are so many other people against AI. I did some further research about it. I learned that AI can be controversial because of data privacy, algorithm bias, and potential misuse of AI technologies. I better understand now about the stigma of AI. I even use AI myself over at the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation when my supervisor asks me to look up and test ChatGPT to see if it works for people with disabilities. I also did tests on other AI websites with some of them being better than others. Some just needed minor improvements. I would say since AI was created by us and learns from us, I’m not worried about AI taking our jobs or taking over the world because AI is dependent upon human intervention to work properly.

Advice for EXCEL Students Who Are Entering the Workforce

My advice for any students looking forward to working, I would suggest taking the time to volunteer first to see if you like a particular job before jumping in completely. You should also do some research and learn more about what jobs or careers you like or don’t like. I would recommend doing some networking and asking for advice from the people you know who may already do the job you want. And most importantly, you should be patient. Some jobs you like may change overtime. If you feel that those jobs are not what you have in mind or you want to move on to something new, keep looking around until you find the job that is a perfect fit.

In a similar way, here is Heather’s advice for EXCEL students:

“Over the six years that I've been with EXCEL, we've had a very happy, unexpected thing happen, which is our students are getting the jobs that they want before they graduate. We've been able to be with the students as they start that new job process with all the paperwork and them getting used to office dynamics and workplace politics. And we've been able to help students navigate that. Usually, the general advice that I give to students as they're getting ready to graduate is to ask for help when you need it. That is the sign of independence.”

I was happy that Heather took the time to do the interview with me as I learned so much from her and the TV special. From this experience we should all appreciate people like Heather who take the time to mentor us and provide us with opportunities to help us figure out what our future careers will be.