Dear Accessindians,
I hope that everyone of you is just fine. I am Aarthi from Mauritius
and I am sharing my experience which carries a good news for the
Mauritian blind community with you all.
In Mauritius it is the Public Service Commission {commonly known as
the PSC} which recruits for the Government. I had applied at the PSC
for the post of Assistant Secretary for the Prime Minister's Office on
5th April 2011. On the PSC application form it is not asked if
applicant is disabled or not. Thus, one cannot reveal one's
disability. As a blind person I filled in the PSC application form. On
the PSC application form it has been mentioned that the selected
elgible candidates would be called upon for a written examination.
On 4 July 2011 I received a written correspondance from the PSC
informing me that I have been selected for the written examination
which is to take place on 15 July 2011. The next day, 5 July I phoned
at the PSC for inquiring about what to do now that I have been
selected for the written examination and that the PSC do not know of
my disability as the PSC application form does not allow our
disability to be officialy revealed. The lady who answered my phone
call told me that I should have annexed on the application form that I
am blind. I retorted to her that having in mind to follow the ordinary
procedure I did not annex any unasked matter as otherwise my
application form would have been disregarded. She finally asked me to
address a letter to the Secretary of the PSC to inform him of the
present subject matter.
I wrote a letter the same day to the Secretary of the PSC. I faxed a
copy of this letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of
Social Security. In my letter to the Secretary of the PSC I had
inquired about if any blind candidate had ever taken part in the
written examination of the PSC. The Ministry of Social Security has
been dealing with the PSC on this matter. On Monday 11 July the Head
of the Disability Unit, a Disability Officer and myself had had a
meeting at the PSC. At the end of the meeting it has been agreed upon
that I would have access to my written examination in accessible
format as a blind candidate. I had taken part in this written
examination of the PSC on 16 July with my lap top with the use of the
Jaws. I had had 1 hour extra time. I had been allowed to use my
talking calculator. My question paper had been placed on a pen drive
and the Jaws read it to me. I opened a word document and wrote in the
answers to all the questions. I answered to all the questions. I
managed to finish just in time.
I am the first blind person having had sat for a written examination
of the PSC. the day following my examination on 17 July the Minister
of Social Security has anounced on the readio news headline that from
now on the PSC must ammend its procedures so as to allow blind persons
to take part in these examination for blind persons to be employed by
the Government.
The PSC and the Disability of the Ministry of Social Security do not
have any Jaws software. Fortunately I have my Jaws 11.0 that the
Service Civil International {SCI} gave me on my lap top. I had had IT
courses from the National Computer Board and I know how to type
rapidly as a blind person.
It is the first time that I had had a written examination on computer
with Jaws. In the past for secondary and tertiary studies I had had
recourse to the Braille system for all written examinations. I was
having my questions in Braille and I was answering in Braille. But the
PSC do not have any Braille literate examinator and this mode of
Braille system is not suitable. The medium of reader and writer is not
convenient also when the question paper carries comprehension more
than 500 words. This is why I opted for the use of computer.
So now, this is done: blind persons who are computer literate with the
Jaws may have full access to the written examination of the PSC.
After the corrections of the answer sheets, there will be a selection
of the candidates who will be called upon for oral interviews and
after these interviews the right person will be awarded the post. If I
receive some news I will definitely let you know
I thereby seize this occasion to thank Harish Kotian for his advices
and support while I was dealing with the authorities to have access to
my written examination in the best conditions
Aarthi.. .
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