Q: Why mentoring?

"Well, why mentoring? People with disabilities and people in general go through life now perhaps a bit less connected to there ultimate work trajectory than they did in the past.

"Often we see that people with disabilities, people who are blind or visually impaired, have higher levels of education than the general population.  They read more books; perhaps have greater academic accomplishments.  We see people with Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees and even Doctorates come on to the market place without much exposure to either the world of work or the culture of work.

"Often the new employee is unclear on the question, 'Am I here to satisfy my own needs?' or 'Am I hear to satisfy my bosses needs?'  That second question is at the heart of mentoring for many people new to the work force.

"Companies hire people not because of some charitable intent, or a social obligation; they hire people, because they believe that the worker will produce more in dollars than they will consume in salary and benefits.  Part of mentorship is to get that point clear!  This is way beyond disability; this is how the world works.  I wish someone had set me down and told me this when I was just starting out," Bashin says.

Q: What are some of the disability-specific issues you encounter as a mentor?

"It can be quite disparate, but there are a few themes.  Some people have huge motivational issues. It can be hard for some people to simply pick up the phone and make a call.  Often these folks have been shuttled along by a rehabilitation industry, and they have a very poor outlook on themselves, their disability, and the idea of work.

"However, once we have been working together for a while, and they have been completing assignments for me, things begin to change.  I give a lot of positive reinforcement, and soon, rather than trying to make me happy, they start to do things for themselves.  It’s like a reinforcing circle of positivity.  Once you know that you’re not the precious unique person and just a person who needs to make the best decision possible, you’ll start making better decisions for yourself.

"Sometimes I encounter the entrenched issue of getting the mentee to understand that their job is to fulfill the needs of the employer.  This goes back to Carnegie.  The employee’s goal is to serve the other person, be of value to the organization, to be upbeat and positive person around whom you work!

"This can be a challenge for some people with disabilities who have grown up as the center of the universe, fussed over, given special privileges.  If you live in that cocoon of swaddling care, it is hard to adjust to being the new employee with the least seniority.

"The mentee has to learn what it is that you do to meet the needs of your boss; don’t just return a phone call for your boss; follow up until you get the answer.  Think about others!  That interesting article that came across the e-mail, send it to an interested co-worker.  Go to events outside the work hours, take a chance, don’t be afraid to fail.  It sounds trite, but how do you become the shining star, go that extra mile, produce more than you consume?  Somewhere in that mix is how you address a disability."

Q: So how do you address the disability?

"Often when I first meet with a new mentee, and I often take three or four sessions to get to know the person. I am just astonished that people going into a profession have not taken the time to research and learn about those who have walked the path before them. 

The disability community is different from other groups.  If you are Latino, odds are that your parents are Latino, your neighbors are Latino, and you know people in the community who are successful and can serve as professional role models.
Often in the disability and blind community, an individual can think they are alone. Often they are the only person in the family with a disability, the only person in the community with a disability.  When they go to school, they may meet someone else with a disability and they may not.  Even at the university level, they may connect with other disabled students or they may not.  Now they have graduated, and they are entering the work force.  Because of this isolation, they sometimes have a hard time understanding what a successful person with a similar disability looks like.  Part of my job as a mentor is to make those connections but perhaps even more importantly to act as a catalyst, so that the client begins to initiate those relationships herself.

"I can not stress this enough: it is crucial that a person with a disability develop a circle of people who have been there before and have been successful. This circle will understand— they will understand the skepticism when you walk into a new place of employment, and they will understand the doubts and discrimination that we all encounter.  This network of support can also help when we question ourselves.  Let’s face it; it is part of the human condition to experience self doubt, self loathing, and the questioning of our own abilities.  All this needs to be worked on, so that you can become the star at work you are capable of becoming.  There is a very basic need for all people to understand themselves deeply and to connect with people you want to be like who are successful!  You have to carry in your head that image of someone who has been successful.

"I also strongly encourage people to read the biographies and autobiographies of people who came before them.  There is someone with your disability who has done what you want to do.  Often, these people have truly amazing biographies.  Universally, I find people who read deeply in the field have a more positive outlook and positive view of where things are going."

Q: You have talked about putting the needs of your boss first, developing a circle of successful role models, and the importance of reading deeply in the field. What is the impact of accessible technology in the workplace?

"Sometimes the disability community makes an almost disproportionate amount of fuss around accessible technology.  I know far more unemployed people with fabulous technology than I know employed people with technology deficits.  That being said, I have had my own struggles around technology," Bashin says.

"I was a science writer for many years when I had some usable vision.  I used to sit scrunched up two inches from a magnified screen, straining my eyes, neck and back.  My site was getting worse, and I just could not produce the quantity of work to which I had committed.  I had to take a kill fee for three pieces.  I had to go and find other blind writers and find out how they were able to do there job.  Eventually, I discovered the talking software, took some time to learn it and went back to work.

"Is that a story about technology," Bashin wonders? Only partly, he says. "I sought out blind people who were doing it, I found out how they did it, and I gave myself the time to learn it.  I learned about the self respect that comes when, as a person with a disability, you can do your job quickly and efficiently.

This is not something you learn at the University of California, this is something you learn in the University of the Rest of Your Life!"

Q: I have heard that mentoring is a two way street, what have you learned by working with mentees?

"I have learned that there is a huge demand for mentoring services in the disability community.  The Department of Rehabilitation could provide these services, and I think the impact of mentoring is at least as powerful as a pile of adaptive technology.  The Department of Rehabilitation is very good at buying things— technology, tuition, or anything else readily purchasable.  The real challenge today is to make mentor services as easily purchasable as tuition or a computer.  Counselors should realize that they can be a catalyst and leverage the network of existing success for there clients.  I think the combination of mentoring, technology, and training is unstoppable, and each magnifies the other."

You can contact Bryan Bashin at
Id Pro Quo Employment Services
(916) 441-4096
bashin@calweb.com

Bryan Bashin currently works as a management consultant and is the founder of Id Pro Quo Job Services, a northern California firm which provides career coaching and job placement services for jobseekers who are blind.

Mr. Bashin most recently served as Assistant Regional Commissioner for the US Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration, where he supervised rehabilitation programs in seven states and territories with a total funding of approximately $500 million.  Central to this position was the ongoing regulation and analysis of federally-funded programs leading to employment of individuals with disabilities.