Man:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you work with Beyond Vision, you\u2019re not working with a charity, you\u2019re working with an actual business that wants to provide you with a quality product in a timely way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Woman:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quality, production, on-time delivery, and honesty. That\u2019s what you get from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We talk about our career runway here, where it\u2019s a place to land and a place to take off in your career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go to beyondvision.com, that\u2019s our website, and there is a careers section there that will give you the current opportunities. They can also email me a resume and cover letter at jobs@beyondvision.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was so cool just being able to take this position on and start working at breaking those stereotypes, and really informing the community about Beyond Vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was very impressed by the way we have gone away from the traditional sheltered workshop concept. Our CEO likes to say this isn\u2019t your grandfather\u2019s sheltered workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Welcome to Blind Abilities, I\u2019m Jeff Thompson. Today in the studio I\u2019m excited to have with me five members from a company called Beyond Vision, a company that is bringing awareness to industries and communities about the possibilities and realities when it comes to hiring blind and visually impaired employees. And to start it out, I have Jennifer Wenzel. Jennifer, how are you doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m doing great, Jeff, thanks for having us here today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, you\u2019re welcome, but the thanks goes out to you and your team for coming onto Blind Abilities and sharing what a great job you are doing for the blindness community with Beyond Vision. Jennifer, thanks for reaching out, and could you tell us a little bit about your title? Talent Acquisition Coordinator at Beyond Vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, one of the most important things that keeps Beyond Vision doing the things that we do are our employees, and I\u2019m lucky enough to be able to help find quality employees for the different jobs that we do, and we have a couple of them here today with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And from marketing, please welcome Diana Voigt. How are you doing, Diana?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hello Jeff! Very good, thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Diana, tell us a little bit about the marketing at Beyond Vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:
I am our Marketing and Funding Development Leader. I help manage all of our communications, and help to drive any of our fundraising goals to support training, and additional equipment for our employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And also from marketing, we have Stephen Gould. Welcome, Stephen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen:
Yes, so I\u2019m the Marketing Assistant here at Beyond Vision, and I work side-by-side with Diana helping her out with a lot of tasks. Then I also do a lot of social media, photography, videography, marketing campaigns, and all the fun marketing stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alright, and we also have Michael Newman, who works in the machine shop. How are you doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael:
I\u2019m doing fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
And from shipping and receiving, we have Javier Johnson. How are you doing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Javier:
I\u2019m alright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Good. Jennifer, why don\u2019t you give us a little bit about what Beyond Vision is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure! So Beyond Vision is what they call a social enterprise, which means we\u2019re a nonprofit, but we have a fiscally responsible business as part of our company. Our main mission is to employ blind and visually impaired people, and we do that in a variety of ways. We have a manufacturing area in Milwaukee, and we have both commercial and federal customers that we work for, do a variety of assembly and packaging projects, and that\u2019s growing and changing all the time, which is really exciting. People do a variety of jobs there. We also do a customer care center, which is a call center, that\u2019s in Milwaukee, and we also have some remote agents that are starting to work for us as call center agents, and we have a variety of customers for that as well. We also have base supply center stores across the country, selling skill craft brand products to federal customers, and we have blind and visually impaired people working there as well, and then we have blind and visually impaired people working at all levels of the company. I\u2019m in HR, and the other people in our HR department are blind or visually impaired, and we have people in IT, and just sort of all over the company integrated with sighted workers, are blind and visually impaired workers, and we\u2019re all making our team better and helping our company succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Great. Stephen, your company is called, I see it all the time, branding itself as a social enterprise, can you explain that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, so we are a nonprofit, but all of our profits go back to our company. We\u2019re making profits off the work that we do, off of our commercial work, off of our government work, we have customers, we\u2019ve worked for Harley Davidson, Birds and Stratton, constantly doing work, so that\u2019s where the social enterprise part comes in, where we\u2019re sort of self-sustaining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Oh, great. I was looking through all the different areas that you have, from machining and we\u2019ve got two people from machining, shipping, receiving, different areas of the company. One of them I saw was call center technology, which is basically customer care. Can you tell us a little bit about that area?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So our call center works for a variety of different customers. We do ingoing and outgoing calls, and it\u2019s customers like Harley Davidson, there\u2019s a bicycle shop, we work for the state of Wisconsin, we worked a lot during the elections, we\u2019ve worked a lot with pandemic unemployment assistance, so we have a variety of customers, and our call center works very well with screen readers, so most of the people working in the call center use JAWS, or they use magnification, and are able to do quality call center work for a variety of customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been around, I don\u2019t want to say my age, but I\u2019ve been around a little while, and I\u2019ve heard a lot of people who have worked in call centers, and it\u2019s always the accessibility, but you guys worked on a solution called TCN, can one of you explain that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m fairly new, but I believe that TCN is a web-based platform that works with the call center to make sure all the calls are coming through, and make sure everyone can access the information and the screens needed. We are all about accessibility in every aspect of work, so we have a lot of manufacturing things that have become accessible due to the hard work of our engineers who have made fixtures using, like, the 3D printer to help make processes accessible that weren\u2019t formerly accessible, and then we have many software things that have become more accessible through Israel, our Accessibility Coordinator, writing scripts and making sure they\u2019re accessible, and I know some of our team leads also write scripts for different projects at the call center that really help streamline the process and make sure that everyone can access the information they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this just proves that if you remove the barriers to employment, that blind and visually impaired people can succeed. You have, from entry level to manager positions, which means they can start there and there\u2019s probably upward mobility as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:
Yes, that\u2019s completely true. And Javier is a fairly new employee that is starting at the entry level, and I know Mike, you\u2019ve been here for a little while. Do you want to talk about how you came into Beyond Vision and what your future plans might be or how you\u2019ve- Mike, maybe how you\u2019ve grown with the company?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes. I\u2019ve been here about 10 years. I used to be in law enforcement, and I lost my- the majority of my eyesight to glaucoma, so I was not able to do my job no more. I heard about Beyond Vision through a coworker that met me in the store, and I applied and I started working here in A&P, then I moved to the machine shop, and I love it since I\u2019ve been in the machine shop. This is a great opportunity and learning experience, something different, something I never did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you learned all that right there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Wow. That\u2019s pretty cool, that the training to bring you up and you can succeed, that\u2019s awesome. How about you, Javier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Javier:
Well, before I got hired on here, I worked at a gym, and then COVID hit, and so I was working in laundry, and they had no use for the laundry people, so I just got laid off, and I just found this on an ad on my computer, and I was just like, I need a job, I\u2019m visually impaired, and I was just like, it\u2019ll be something new, and I just feel like it was a good thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Diana, how do you market to potential employees and to potential customers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think it\u2019s interesting, because most of our efforts end up being community awareness or education, because a lot of people with vision loss aren\u2019t aware that we are here, and offer these opportunities, and in the community a lot of businesses had no idea that maybe we offer machine shop or assembly packaging services, because we\u2019re very old, and we\u2019ve got a very consistent customer base, so getting new people aware of us is one of our marketing hurdles. It\u2019s not just to potential employees or just to potential customers, I think we\u2019re right now doing a blanket of awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mean, you\u2019re offering market competitive wages with benefits to match, so there\u2019s no problem there, it\u2019s just getting the word out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly, because once people come and experience our culture, get to understand the market base wages that we pay, the excellent benefit packages, and really the tremendous people that we have working here, that part isn\u2019t the problem. It\u2019s just getting them in the door the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
So it sounds like your customers \u2013 Harley Davidson, GE, 3M, Hewlett Packard, they\u2019re all satisfied with the work, so they keep coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly, but as their businesses change, we\u2019re trying to change too, and expand to find new customers, maybe new opportunities, as I think there\u2019s some old saying, like you can\u2019t put all your eggs in one basket, so we\u2019re trying to get some more baskets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Mm-hm. And you also reached out with some community service, I heard about the No Empty Backpack program that you got involved in last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:
Oh, yes. Exactly. The No Empty Backpack is a program that a customer of ours, Bested, is working with Milwaukee public schools on, and we are assembling all of the school supplies that BestEd gathers for students in need at MPS, so it\u2019s just a delightful way of bringing the community together, bringing our team into a community supporting effort, and connecting with MPS, because we do want to expand awareness in the public schools of our program, and the possibility of summer employment or first-time employment for young people with vision loss coming out of school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, I think it\u2019s really good that you reach out to the community. It builds awareness, and when you\u2019re hiring people at an entry level, and being able to grow within the company, I mean, whether it be management, assembly, manufacturing, that shows a lot. You probably get employees that are working for one of your customers that might move onto them as well, or you know, advance to a point where they want to go out in the workforce outside of Beyond Vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diana:
Absolutely, we talk about our career runway here, where it\u2019s a place to land, and a place to take off in your career, so someone could get started, learn some skills, and maybe apply them as you had suggested, to work for a customer. We\u2019ve had a number of people build their skillset and work their way up from assembly, packaging, part-time work to customer care center, and then learning some tech skills, maybe taking some classes, and then they go on to work as an HR person at an independent corporate company. We\u2019ve had somebody who moved up the ranks and left our fund development group to work for another nonprofit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
Wow, that\u2019s really neat. I mean, you guys are quite diversified. I also saw that you have some web accessibility testing going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, we do, and you know what, Stephen, do you want to answer some stuff about web accessibility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, so we have a lot of web accessibility, we do a lot of testing. We have our accessibility team, which consists of Israel and another couple of members over at our call center, where they go on and they have a really cool process where they scan people\u2019s websites and make sure everything is accessible on their website, because right now that\u2019s a big issue where lawsuits are happening with a lot of companies that don\u2019t have accessible websites. So we\u2019re providing that service for different companies, and making it accessible for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
And who best to test it out than someone that actually uses the equipment, the JAWS screen readers and stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly. Exactly. That\u2019s the problem with some companies that try to make accessible websites, they don\u2019t have a good way to test it, and so they\u2019re doing their best, but having someone to actually check it can be really important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
What I\u2019m really impressed about is that you have people who have experience with visual impairment or blindness working within and throughout your entire company. I think that\u2019s a major difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think that\u2019s really cool too, because Jeff, I\u2019m actually recently new here, I\u2019ve been working here for about five months now, and that was one thing that- I am typically sighted, and that was one thing that was really cool coming in here and learning and seeing this whole process of how Beyond Vision operates, how we\u2019re an integrated workforce, and how cool and how successful we can be with that integrated workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, it doesn\u2019t seem like it\u2019s kid gloves, it just seems like more common sense. I mean, you\u2019re breaking down the barriers that other companies feel that that\u2019s why they may not be hiring someone, or even acknowledging that there\u2019s people who are blind and visually impaired out there that are possible employees. You\u2019re exposing the talents and the skills that they\u2019re perfectly able to do, if you break those down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exactly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeff:
So if someone\u2019s listening to this and they\u2019re interested in learning more about Beyond Vision or some jobs that are opening, they can go to your website?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jennifer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, they can go to beyondvision.com, that\u2019s our website, and there is a careers section there that will give you the current opportunities. They can also email me a resume and cover letter at jobs@beyondvision.com<\/a>, and currently we are looking for people to work in our manufacturing area in-person in Milwaukee. We\u2019re also looking for a person at our base supply center store in Illinois, as a Customer Care Specialist, and we\u2019re looking for a Production Manager. All of these jobs, we would welcome blind and visually impaired candidates for any of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff: Jennifer: Jeff: Jennifer: Jeff: Michael:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It feels good, when you\u2019re able to take care of yourself and your family, if you have dependents, it\u2019s just a joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff: Javier:<\/p>\n\n\n\n My opinion on it, it feels really good, so I\u2019m on the A-Team. It feels really good to say that, hey, I\u2019ve had this vision ability my whole life and I\u2019m still doing this by myself, I\u2019m talking about myself, I don\u2019t got nobody helping me, it\u2019s just a nice feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff: Stephen: Jeff: Stephen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeff: Stephen: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And when you\u2019re informing the community, you\u2019re talking about going out to the potential customers and selling Beyond Vision to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen: Jeff:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m glad, I like the mission of what you\u2019re all about there at Beyond Vision, and I want to thank you for coming on and sharing with our listeners and hopefully some people will check it out, and we\u2019ll get more people hired on. I\u2019m glad you mentioned those positions, and remember that, that\u2019s jobs@beyondvision.com, send them an email, go onto their website, look it up, they\u2019ve got a section there for career opportunities, and there\u2019s a listing down below, so thank you very much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephen: Diana:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Man:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond Vision enriches its employees through the power of work, truly a partner to customers and the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Music] [Transition noise] -When we share<\/p>\n\n\n\n -What we see<\/p>\n\n\n\n -Through each other’s eyes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]<\/p>\n\n\n\n …We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email<\/a> or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities<\/a> Give us a call and leave us some feedback at 612-367-9063 we would love to hear from you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out the Blind Abilities Community<\/a>on Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page<\/a>, and the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired<\/a> group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Full Transcript Man: When you work with Beyond Vision, you\u2019re not working with a charity, you\u2019re working with an actual business that wants to provide you with a quality product in a timely way. Woman: Quality, production, on-time delivery, and honesty. That\u2019s what you get from me. Diana: We talk about our career runway here, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6883","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P6rcRg-1N1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9094,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=9094","url_meta":{"origin":6883,"position":0},"title":"Level Up: Building Confidence, Skills, and Futures for Blind and Low Vision Students","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"August 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcast Summary: Envision\u2019s Level Up program is more than a summer camp\u2014it\u2019s a launching pad for blind and visually impaired students stepping into independence, college, and careers. Since 2006, Level Up has combined skill-building with hands-on experiences that prepare students for life beyond high school. From technology training to culinary\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8428,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8428","url_meta":{"origin":6883,"position":1},"title":"Building Career Paths: Insights for Young Adults from SSB’s Student Career Networking Event","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"October 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Podcast Page Full transcript Jeff Thompson:\u00a0Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson. With October being National Disability Employment Awareness Month, I attended a Student Career Networking Event put on by State Services for the Blind of Minnesota. This event was attended by students and parents from across the state and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8638,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8638","url_meta":{"origin":6883,"position":2},"title":"Peer Perspectives: How SSB Helps Students Build Independence and Explore Careers","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio web Page Podcast Summary: This Blind Abilities episode features peer ambassadors Amy and Maddy, who share how Minnesota\u2019s State Services for the Blind (SSB) has supported their educational and vocational journeys. From summer camps to career exploration and technology training, SSB has played a vital role in helping them\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7531,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=7531","url_meta":{"origin":6883,"position":3},"title":"Job Insights: Accepting Blindness, Job Readiness and Building Confidence… Let’s Get that Job!","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"August 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Serina: How do we address those issues to be best prepared for successful employment? Jeff: Job insights - a podcast to help you carve out your career pathway and enhance the opportunities for gainful employment.\u00a0 Sarlie: I work with clients from all over the world to build up\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"The TechAbilities Logo-Dark Sunglasses with TA and BA bold letters in each lens.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TechAbilitiesLogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TechAbilitiesLogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TechAbilitiesLogo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TechAbilitiesLogo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TechAbilitiesLogo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/TechAbilitiesLogo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8628,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=8628","url_meta":{"origin":6883,"position":4},"title":"Student Readiness: Navigating College with Confidence: Tips for Students with Vision Loss","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"March 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio web Page Podcast Summary: In this episode of Blind Abilities, Jeff Thompson speaks with three professionals from State Services for the Blind (SSB)\u2014Kate Larson, Randi Lasher, and Shane DeSantis\u2014who support students with vision loss as they prepare for life after high school. They share helpful tips about applying for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6197,"url":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/?page_id=6197","url_meta":{"origin":6883,"position":5},"title":"Opening Doors to Opportunities for Transition Age Students: Meet Career Discovery Project Program Director and Author, Jon Marin","author":"Blind Abilities Team","date":"August 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Full Transcript Jeff: Welcome everybody\u2014we\u2019ve got a great guest today from New York City, talking about the challenges that transition-age students have while facing career decisions, education, and entry into the workforce. Jon is the author of an upcoming book,\u00a0See Us, which highlights the process, the journey, of students entering\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"BlindAbilities Logo A black square with white initials, B A.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blindabilities.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Blind-Abilities-Logo.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6885,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6883\/revisions\/6885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blindabilities.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Now, Jennifer, I\u2019ve known you through working for Adjustment to Blindness Training Center, and when you went to Beyond Vision, how did that feel? I mean sometimes there\u2019s a stigma of places that have visually impaired people working in assembly lines and stuff, and they always talk about, you know, oh, you want to be in a more competitive area or something, but you went there, and you\u2019re there now, and you\u2019re hiring people. Explain that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure, and I think that there is a lot of stigma around what are perceived as sheltered workshops, and one of the reasons I went to Beyond Vision is I was very impressed by the way we have gone away from the traditional sheltered workshop concept. Our CEO likes to say, this isn\u2019t your grandfather\u2019s sheltered workshop, and we\u2019re not. We pay competitive wages, our work is competitive. We don\u2019t just hand blind people a job and say, oh, here\u2019s a job, why don\u2019t you, you know, you do whatever you can and we\u2019ll just accept whatever there is. We\u2019re always working to help people gain more skills, be better at their job, do their job well, be proud of the job that they\u2019re doing, and we pay competitive wages for those jobs, and have competitive benefits. It is a work experience, not a sit around and talk kind of experience. And we do really believe in promoting, and I\u2019ve seen many people promoted throughout our company, or people who gain skills and take another career path, and that\u2019s really important. Sometimes the most important thing for people who are blind or visually impaired who want to be in the workforce is gaining work experience. If you never have had an experience with an entry level type job or any type of job to put on your resume, sometimes it\u2019s hard to get hired for other jobs that you\u2019re looking for that might be more advanced, so I really believe that gaining work experience is a crucial step for anyone in their career path, and if they want to use that career experience to continue working for us, you know, we offer a lot special development, a lot of opportunities, that\u2019s great. If they want to use that career experience to go on and do other great things in other fields or in other places, we\u2019re really supportive of that too, but that work experience is a really important thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, I think it\u2019s a great thing that you\u2019re doing is helping, you know, people become economically independent. There\u2019s a big difference between being in the driver\u2019s seat of your destiny when you go to work, get a paycheck, get the reward, you just feel the dignity, everything that comes with that is really good. I like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael, how does that feel to- I mean, you\u2019ve been there for a while now, so how does that feel to have economic independence? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Javier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, that\u2019s a perfect age to have a job, be independent. Good for you, good for you, and good for Beyond Vision. This is really something. I\u2019m glad that you have something in Minnesota here, and Illinois, Milwaukee, you\u2019re our neighbor over there. I\u2019m sure a lot of people can take advantage of getting ahold of you and finding out more. Stephen, I have a question for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, you\u2019re sighted?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Okay, being someone who\u2019s sighted and you came into Beyond Vision, you must have been curious, so when you got there, what was it like to wrap your brain around what Beyond Vision was about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it honestly, it fascinated me, and what was cool is when I was first applying for this position, I saw it online and I didn\u2019t know too much about Beyond Vision, but the position sounded really cool, and I started looking more into it, and it actually turns out my dad toured here once, and I told him after I applied, I\u2019m like oh, I applied for this really cool company called Beyond Vision, and he\u2019s like wait, like, I\u2019ve been there before. And he\u2019s like, this company\u2019s super cool, like Stephen, you\u2019ve got to, like, commit with this, you\u2019ve got to start following up. I\u2019m like, alright, I got even more excited about the position, and once I started getting farther in the interview process I got a tour of the company, and it was just unbelievable to see the machine shop, and it was so cool talking to Jeff, who\u2019s an engineer here, who 3D prints fixtures to allow people who are blind, visually impaired to do work just as well and even better than people who are sighted because it prevents error-proofing, and all these amazing things, and just all that put together just made me fascinated, and there\u2019s so many stereotypes around vision loss that that was one thing, and even coming in, something I believed, and it was so cool just to be able to take this position on and start working at breaking those stereotypes and really informing the community about Beyond Vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, so that and just telling people in general, breaking those stereotypes that I was talking about. A lot of people, like I said, even myself included going in, believed a bunch of stereotypes, and just going out on social media, promoting it to the community, just general overall everyone, saying that this isn\u2019t true, like, this is what is true, people who are blind are just as capable of doing this work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks for having us, Jeff!<\/p>\n\n\n\nContact Your State Services<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Contact:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com<\/a>
Send us an email<\/a>
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