I feel the same unease. In China, blind people are often given jobs as piano tuners and masseuses. In a country with few resources and opportunities for disabled people, I first viewed these types of jobs positively. However, people can be pressured or even forced into taking on these careers in order to be less of a burden on their families.
>However, people can be pressured or even forced into taking on these careers in order to be less of a burden on their families.
You could argue that able-bodied people are also pressured or even forced to take on careers. What fraction of piano tuners, sighted or not, could quit their jobs and live without being a burden to their families?
I frequently muse about how I was coerced into a 20 year "career" in software. I liked computers, but this is not what I liked. I've refound that balance and it's going well, but at no way do I feel like there was ever another road. I tried tons of things. To quote a popular cartoon, "It's like slavery with extra steps!"
This sounds pretty common sadly. People need to make money so they get a job. At some point they get so into whatever they're doing it's difficult to switch.
Most people don't like their jobs. Most people tolerate it and appreciate it though because for most people having a job is a lot better than not having a job. However I can't say I really know anyone who would continue doing their job if they weren't paid to do it.
One issue is jobs are generally all or nothing. An equivalent pay cut for an extra 4 weeks off a year is appealing. But, most companies hate the idea of someone working 10 months a year vs 11 months a year.
Well, all the simple jobs that you can drop into and out of like that are being automated, so competition for the remaining jobs is fierce and accordingly pay and conditions are terrible. The remaining jobs are all, to some degree, knowledge jobs, and there are significant sunk costs in bringing each employee up to speed. Would you rather spend $50-$100k (minimum) to train one full time employee, or $100-200k to train two part-time employees to cover that same role?
I can’t think of any company that pays for that kind of training. Due to frequent job hopping company specific on boarding costs are generally kept fairly low.
More widely people truly work alone, companies need redundancy in the case of illness, vaction, or other such matters. Further, their is a benifit to be able to staff a team with a non integer number of people without splitting focus across multiple projects.
I'm not talking about formal training, I'm just talking about the fact that when you take on an employee in a knowledge job, it's usually quite some time before they start contributing positively, let alone reach their potential. In software, generally it seems to be around 6 months before a new player is a full member of the team, and the first 3 months of that they're a net negative because they're taking up more team time asking questions than they're saving by doing work.
3 months at say -10% productivity and 3 months at say 50% productivity does not add up to 100+k for most employees.
On top of that, new people really should be a net gain by week 3-4. It’s not about what they get done but the time they save other people. Inexperienced people may take longer to get up to speed, but they also cost less.
I'm concerned because I feel that society has already decided that blind people can only do these certain types of menial jobs, that these jobs are "good enough". They neatly tuck away blind people while giving them a function in society. And as a consequence there are few other opportunities given to the blind, the blind are expected to only be piano tuners and masseuses. Yes, we all must work, but we have some measure of control over our lives and can improve our situation through education and hard work, provided we have the opportunity to do so.
I think it's just that the disability added another layer of empathy for GP. Sort of like when people react more strongly to children suffering, or how D.C. freaked out over the Kashoggi murder. Everyone else's suffering is just as bad, but humans aren't logical about our emotions.
