Making Blindness Irrelevant Through Accommodations To Effectively Serve Customers

Summary:
Curtis Bryan, Manager of Client Services for Illuminet, Olympia, Wash., tells how easy it was to provide adaptive technology for Randy Hammer, who effectively serves the telecommunication company's customers.

The Keys: Teamwork Skills, Quick Learner

A Well-informed Employer

And Was It Worth It?

Remaining Challenges

Would Illuminet Hire Another Randy Hammer?


The Keys: Teamwork Skills, Quick Learner

"He was the first person I called," says Curtis Bryan, Manager of Client Services for CIS at Illuminet in Olympia, the capital city of Washington State. Charged with developing a new department to analyze and coordinate changes made in key software and systems, Bryan picked up the phone and called someone he had worked with at Weyerhaeuser, a lumber and paper titan in the Pacific Northwest. This young man was Randy Hammer, who had impressed Bryan with his superior teamwork skills and ability to learn quickly.

The fact that Hammer was blind was, says Bryan, "irrelevant."

Illuminet, a publicly-traded company headquartered in Olympia, provides advanced nationwide signaling and specialized network database services to communications carriers as well as pre-paid wireless services through its subsidiary, National Telemanagement Corporation, Dallas, Texas.

Illuminet needed top flight workers, and Hammer was that. Hammer, who became blind as a child, was happy to make the move to an exciting company in a location which was also a better commute for him.

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A Well-informed Employer

Bryan had himself been aware of some of the developments in making computers accessible for those with disabilities, but he had not seen them at work until he met Randy Hammer. The young graduate from Evergreen State College had appeared in the University of Washington's DO-IT videos, which highlight motivated college students with disabilities who are using technology to advance their career goals. Hammer had also switched from MicroTalk's ASAW to new software, Henter Joyce's JAWS for Windows, which was more compatible with Weyerhaeuser's in-house software. Bryan had seen for himself how readily Hammer could equal or better any other worker with this tool, so he had no concerns when he asked Hammer if he wanted to work at Illuminet.

"The expense was minimal," Bryan admits. ""Nothing we would even worry about. In fact, we'd ordered it before Randy even started working here."

The only barrier these two ran into was that the software arrived during Hammer's second day on the job. Hammer says, "I just downloaded the JAWS for Windows demo from Henter-Joyce's web site to use on my first day. I was able to get to work right away."

Illuminet purchased the access software for about $1,500 and added a software maintenance agreement. "The computer" Hammer adds, "already had the sound card you use with JAWS for Windows." JAWS is a speech output application that works with a wide variety of screen configurations.

"I wish other employers knew how easy this was," Bryan adds. "Our building is 10 years old, so it was already wheelchair accessible. We have been successful in accommodating other disabilities as well. With Randy, the only other thing we needed to do was go to less paper and more electronic communications, but we were doing that anyway."

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And Was It Worth It?

Describing Randy Hammer, Bryan effuses, "Randy shines! He is a wonderful employee and earns every kudo he gets." Pressed to provide more detail about Hammer's virtues, Bryan continues, "Randy was hired for his capability more than his experience. When I wanted to hire him and some were concerned that he may not have had the experience he would need, I told them that he is the quickest learner I've ever met. He has a natural aptitude for serving our customers."

Bryan can't say if being blind helped Hammer develop his skills or if he comes by them naturally, but he credits Randy's success to other qualities as well: memorization, organizational ability and troubleshooting skills. "He has a different perspective on problems because, at least in part, he uses slightly different tools."

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Remaining Challenges

Through mutual problem-solving, Illuminet and Hammer solve unanticipated issues. When asked to provide drawn charts for reports, Hammer turns to Bryan for help. "I'm glad to do it," Bryan says. "And I try to make sure all our charts have good accompanying text so Randy can use them."

Hammer himself is a resourceful worker when other challenges come up. When he needs to help others within Illuminet, he runs into the barrier that JAWS for Windows is not installed on everyone's computer. But he has so much experience doing support via the telephone that having a co-worker just read the screen is all he needs.

As for getting around, Hammer reveals, "I'm 6'4", so they always can see me coming. I don't need to know how to find their cubicles!"

Bryan jokes, "About the only other thing we needed to do was ask the maintenance people to be sure to vacuum up the dog hair from Randy's guide dog, Mogul!"

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Would Illuminet Hire Another Randy Hammer?

When asked if Illuminet could do without Hammer, Bryan answers equitably, "Well, yes, if there were another equally qualified person in his position. The important thing is, 'Are you the best person for the job?' If you are, disability is not an issue."

Hammer has advice for other blind or visually impaired job applicants, too. He recommends that an applicant go to the interview ready to describe what accommodations are needed, how they can be accomplished and how much it will cost. "This will impress your prospective employer that you already know how to get it done," he says. "And it will probably ease his mind as to the cost."

He further recommends that applicants are clear about what system requirements their software may have because some companies may have older operating systems or even work with a mainframe with dummy terminals that cannot support the screen magnification or speech output software that is needed. "There usually is a way around that," Hammer advises. "It helps to be creative and persistent."

Hammer is proud of his accomplishments and of having an important role in his company. Just listening to him, you know he knows he earned it. And he loves his work.

He laughed about being "on call" for friends and family members who want help with their technical questions. He offered, as did Curtis Bryan, to be a resource for eSight Careers Network visitors about how to effectively introduce employees with disabilities into their companies.

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