The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) hosts a number of important career resources to assist people with vision impairments in their career development, including CareerConnect and its family of ConnectCenter websites. These sites provide job listings, advice for career exploration and development, and help and support for navigating the work world.
APH has begun many new developments since the American Federation for the Blind transferred stewardship of CareerConnect to APH in 2018. For example, Joe Strechay and Richard Rueda have recently posted blog posts on networking, mentoring and employment. This Fall and throughout 2021, they will feature regular posts covering perspectives on career exploration, personal experiences navigating high school, the rehabilitation system, college life, and the world of work. They also plan to solicit and post contributions from APH CareerConnect readers to highlight their own experiences and stories.
In addition CareerConnect will feature 15 to 20 minute interviews with successful working adults who are blind or visually impaired to share how they perform their jobs, how their journey took them to their current employment, as well as some of their challenges and successes along the way.
Other CareerConnect projects include the following:
- Initiatives to connect students and job seekers with successful professionals and experts
- A Transition Toolkit with interactive resources and direct connections to peers, college students and working age adults for high school students.
- Webinars to talk in real time with working adults who are blind and visually impaired.
- Twice a month APH CareerConnect ZOOM room hours for students and adults seeking resources for career exploration activities and mentoring will be a part of upcoming ConnectCenter offerings.
- An email list for professionals who work with teens and young adults to network and share tips and programming successes.
Rueda says to, “Think of the APH CareerConnect as your hub for updates, resources and strong conversations around employment success.” ConnectCenter staff are available by phone from 8 am ET to 8 pm ET at 800 232 5463 and by email at: connectcenter@aph.org to assist with locating information, identifying resources, or setting up presentations about the center. For more information visit APH CareerConnect. If you have a vision impairment and want to learn more about low vision rehabilitation and how it can support your career, visit Ensight’s Services page.