Janet Ingber
If you are blind or have low vision, the chances of securing a job are significantly lower compared to someone with sight. Unemployment rates within the blind community are notably high. (For detailed information and statistics, visit this source.)
A highly accessible website called Our Ability offers job recommendations based on your skills, not your vision. Using this platform is free for individuals; companies pay to list their jobs. If creating a profile isn't your preference, you can browse through the extensive list of available jobs.
Our Ability was conceptualized by John D. Robinson, the CEO of the company. I had the privilege of interviewing him for this article. When I initially emailed him for an interview, he responded within approximately 3 minutes, and we had our discussion the following day.
“My name is John Robinson. I am president and founder of Our Ability Incorporated. I am 54 years old, white male, born without the extension of my arms and legs, so I’m a quadruple amputee. When I stand, I stand about 3 feet 8 inches tall. “I’ve been disabled my whole life and I think that has given me the perspective for me to really found and run this organization. What you really should know about me is that after college, I was unemployed for four and a half years.” He obtained his degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He added, “A major part of the reason for my unemployment was because corporate America wasn’t ready for somebody with a profound, visible disability to go into a public-facing world, a sales business world.” Despite this, Robinson had a successful 16-year career overseeing sales operations for television stations. He reflected, “Somewhere around 40 years old, a lot changed.” A local PBS station in his area sought to create a documentary about him, initially intended for that specific station but later distributed to all PBS stations in the U.S. and six other countries. You can view the documentary here. Unfortunately, the documentary lacks description, but it's worth exploring.
Numerous companies requested Robinson to address their employees. He noted, “When I spoke at major corporations, where there were people with obvious disabilities, I realized I was not alone in that unemployment period of time.” This realization motivated Robinson to start his own company.
In 2011, Robinson founded Our Ability with the intention of building a mentor network for people with disabilities. However, he discovered that what they truly sought was employment opportunities. Robinson explained, “What wasn’t happening in the early ‘90s when I was looking for my first job which is happening now is companies do want to hire a diverse workforce. They just don’t know how to find, recruit, and communicate with people with disabilities.”
“Today what we’ve done is we built a Generative AI system that matches people to jobs. We do that because of the struggle we’ve all had in underemployment and unemployment.”
Our Ability comprises four full-time staff members and four contracted individuals, some of whom have disabilities. Kartik Sawhney, the Senior Manager of Technology and Product, is completely blind. Robinson remarked, “If I’m the business, he’s the technology.”
In October, over 15,000 unique users visited the website, and this number continues to grow each month. The website respects user privacy and doesn't inquire about a user's disability, following a model similar to LinkedIn. No personal information, such as social security numbers, is requested.
Using the Site
- Visit Our Ability's website.
- To build a profile and access job recommendations, navigate to the "Jobs Ability" link and activate it. Use the "Log In" link or select the "Create a Profile" link. You can log in via Google or use your email and create a password. Robinson recommends the Google login. Then, activate the "Register" link.
- You can upload your resume to the site. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can send a PDF version of your resume. For those without a LinkedIn profile or who are unwilling to create one, upload a PDF copy of your resume. The website prefers LinkedIn due to formatting. In either case, it might take about two minutes to upload the file.
- Once your resume is uploaded, you'll receive ten questions to answer. These questions do not pertain to your disability but aid in matching you with suitable jobs.
- Upon profile creation, you'll have access to a dashboard with job-related options. The dashboard includes sections for applied jobs, saved jobs, and recommended jobs. Upon logging in, your recommended jobs will be immediately listed.
On the Our Ability homepage, there's a link to their comprehensive list of available jobs. Click on the "Our Ability jobs" link. At the time of this interview, there were 77,020 jobs listed across North America. If you prefer not to create a profile, you can visit this page to view available jobs. The platform offers various search options, such as sorting by state, city, or country, and includes a search field for job titles and keywords. Additionally, there's a link to view all available jobs.
Furthermore, Our Ability introduced a new product, ABLI.AI, an ableist language filter. Robinson elaborated, “We wanted to read through the language that’s in job descriptions, so we created an ableist language filter. We’re running that language filter against jobs on our job board. We’re working with our clients to flag things that might be considered ableist and then make recommendations on changing them.”
The Our Ability website contains abundant information, featuring details about their team, news, contact information, and new projects. It stands as an excellent resource for individuals seeking employment opportunities.
