Let's be clear...

Imagine walking into an interview and not knowing anything about the job you are interviewing for? I feel like this is the situation I am in every time I go to an interview because it seems like the jobs in education are not posted with job descriptions.

Interviewing is a very daunting process for anybody, but for somebody with a physical disability it can be an even more nerve wracking process because you are worried about being judged based on your disability. Recently I was interviewing for a long term substitute position and towards the end of the interview I told the principal that I would not use my walker in the classroom because I only needed it to walk long distances. She responded by saying, "Thank you for being so open about it. You may have to chase a student sometimes and sometimes the safety of our students comes before our safety." I felt this was a totally inappropriate comment and honestly it made me not want to work at this particular school. Actually when I think about it, it would be very funny to see me chasing a student with my walker!

I recently had an interview at a day program for adults with intellectual disabilities. I applied for the job because it looked like a very interesting program and the job was for a general instructor.

In the beginning of the interview, the interviewer asked me standard interview questions. Then she asked me, "Are you comfortable with doing personal care?" I responded by saying, "Can you tell me what kind of personal care you are talking about?" Basically, she said that I would have to help some clients use the bathroom and perform other various tasks.  I told her that honestly I am not comfortable performing this kind of personal care and not trained for this type of job.

If I had known that personal care was a part of the job, I would have NEVER applied and I would have saved myself and the interviewer a lot of time.

I understand what my strengths and what my limitations are and if I have a better understanding of the duties of a job I can make an informed decision of whether this is the appropriate position for me to apply for.

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