Re: [AI] career of a blind technical writer
hullo Mr. sanjay, thanks for sharing such a nice article on the topic of career for our visually challenged persons to evaluate their writing abilities. this will certainly prove to be a bright sunlight given to a blossoming flower. i once again express my hearty appreciation for forwarding such a inspiring topic amongst us. with warm regards, v mukesh jain. On 2/2/08, Sanjay [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: (Editor's Note: Some of you may remember Gynger Ingram, a scholarship winner in 1986. In 1995, she legally changed her name to facilitate her writing career.) In 1986, the American Council of the Blind generously awarded me the $1,500 Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarship. Subsequently, the Louisiana Council of the Blind provided an additional $300 to sponsor my trip to the ACB national convention in Knoxville, Tenn. to accept the scholarship in person. That was 21 years ago, yet I remain most thankful for the award and the experiences it brought me. I used the funds for tuition, textbooks and a large-print thermal typewriter, an indispensable tool for a visually impaired student in the days before laptop computers. As a measure of gratitude, I would like to let ACB members know what they got for their investment in my future. I went on to graduate summa cum laude from Northwestern State University of Louisiana in May 1989, earning a bachelor of arts in English. I then proceeded to graduate school at Texas AM University at College Station, earning a master of arts in English in August 1991. During my master's program, I developed an interest in scientific and technical writing that augmented my original goal of being an author and university administrator. In the second year of my graduate program, I earned a split assistantship, continuing to teach one class of freshman composition while also working as a technical writer in the university's Supercomputer Center. This role defined the future course of my career. Better Communicators In today's global work force, one cannot underestimate the value of clear, precise communication. In the fall of 1991, I took a teaching position at the College Station, Texas branch of Blinn College, the oldest community college in Texas, which regularly prepares students for advancement to Texas AM and other four-year institutions throughout the state. I taught courses in freshman composition, introductory literature and technical writing. My department head quickly discovered that I possessed an unusual gift for working with international students, who often began their course work at the community college level to improve their language skills before moving on to their advanced degree programs. Between 1989 and 1995, I taught over 1,000 American and international students to be better writers. Over the years, I have heard from many of my former students who have taken what they learned and successfully applied it to their own careers. Interestingly, throughout six years of teaching, I had only one student who blatantly took advantage of my low vision. His own peers called his treachery to my attention and made him apologize to me. Ironically, the culprit was a physical therapy major studying to work with disabled people. I took him privately into the hallway and encouraged him to evaluate more closely his career choice. The rest of the semester passed uneventfully. A Safer World In the summer of 1994, the head of Texas AM's Department of Nuclear Engineering spotted me teaching a technical writing class and remembered me from the Supercomputer Center. He was considering adding a technical writer to his staff pending an upcoming large-scale research project. I took the position in December 1994, although I continued to teach in the evenings for another year. That research project turned out to be the Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium (ANRCP), a program established by the U.S. Department of Energy to look into options for disposing of excess weapons- grade plutonium from the Cold War era. For the next three and a half years, I worked with scientists from around the world as they investigated the best options for dealing with the excess plutonium. My role involved everything from sending e-mail reminders about technical meetings to preparing abstracts and progress reports to serving as the technical editor of a full- length book containing the proceedings of a NATO conference on nuclear waste management. I also assisted professors in the department with their technical publications by typesetting their equations, correcting their English and checking galley proofs of their articles prior to final publication. I felt particularly honored when one of the department's lead professors invited me to serve with him on the university's Council of Principal Investigators. In fact, he had made it clear that he would not accept the CPI's nomination of him as secretary unless he had my
[AI] career of a blind technical writer
(Editor's Note: Some of you may remember Gynger Ingram, a scholarship winner in 1986. In 1995, she legally changed her name to facilitate her writing career.) In 1986, the American Council of the Blind generously awarded me the $1,500 Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarship. Subsequently, the Louisiana Council of the Blind provided an additional $300 to sponsor my trip to the ACB national convention in Knoxville, Tenn. to accept the scholarship in person. That was 21 years ago, yet I remain most thankful for the award and the experiences it brought me. I used the funds for tuition, textbooks and a large-print thermal typewriter, an indispensable tool for a visually impaired student in the days before laptop computers. As a measure of gratitude, I would like to let ACB members know what they got for their investment in my future. I went on to graduate summa cum laude from Northwestern State University of Louisiana in May 1989, earning a bachelor of arts in English. I then proceeded to graduate school at Texas AM University at College Station, earning a master of arts in English in August 1991. During my master's program, I developed an interest in scientific and technical writing that augmented my original goal of being an author and university administrator. In the second year of my graduate program, I earned a split assistantship, continuing to teach one class of freshman composition while also working as a technical writer in the university's Supercomputer Center. This role defined the future course of my career. Better Communicators In today's global work force, one cannot underestimate the value of clear, precise communication. In the fall of 1991, I took a teaching position at the College Station, Texas branch of Blinn College, the oldest community college in Texas, which regularly prepares students for advancement to Texas AM and other four-year institutions throughout the state. I taught courses in freshman composition, introductory literature and technical writing. My department head quickly discovered that I possessed an unusual gift for working with international students, who often began their course work at the community college level to improve their language skills before moving on to their advanced degree programs. Between 1989 and 1995, I taught over 1,000 American and international students to be better writers. Over the years, I have heard from many of my former students who have taken what they learned and successfully applied it to their own careers. Interestingly, throughout six years of teaching, I had only one student who blatantly took advantage of my low vision. His own peers called his treachery to my attention and made him apologize to me. Ironically, the culprit was a physical therapy major studying to work with disabled people. I took him privately into the hallway and encouraged him to evaluate more closely his career choice. The rest of the semester passed uneventfully. A Safer World In the summer of 1994, the head of Texas AM's Department of Nuclear Engineering spotted me teaching a technical writing class and remembered me from the Supercomputer Center. He was considering adding a technical writer to his staff pending an upcoming large-scale research project. I took the position in December 1994, although I continued to teach in the evenings for another year. That research project turned out to be the Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium (ANRCP), a program established by the U.S. Department of Energy to look into options for disposing of excess weapons- grade plutonium from the Cold War era. For the next three and a half years, I worked with scientists from around the world as they investigated the best options for dealing with the excess plutonium. My role involved everything from sending e-mail reminders about technical meetings to preparing abstracts and progress reports to serving as the technical editor of a full- length book containing the proceedings of a NATO conference on nuclear waste management. I also assisted professors in the department with their technical publications by typesetting their equations, correcting their English and checking galley proofs of their articles prior to final publication. I felt particularly honored when one of the department's lead professors invited me to serve with him on the university's Council of Principal Investigators. In fact, he had made it clear that he would not accept the CPI's nomination of him as secretary unless he had my help. In this capacity, I worked with researchers throughout the Texas AM University system by helping coordinate the meetings, taking the extensive minutes, and streamlining the dissemination of electronic information throughout the membership. The most rewarding aspect of my position, though, involved helping nuclear engineering graduate students prepare their theses and dissertations. Again, I strove to impart principles of good
