Spotlight on success: Elizabeth Walters

Elizabeth Walters works as a vocational rehabilitation technician, at the Minneapolis WorkForce Center where she provides support services to Rehabilitation Services’ counselors who assist people with disabilities to find jobs. She has been in this job for seven years.

Walters describes herself as "legally blind," for most of her adult life. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Minnesota. After graduation from college, she completed an Office Administrative course at Minnesota Resource Center (MRC) before landing her current job.

During Walters's job search, the state of Minnesota opened up their clerical testing for the first time in many years. She called to set up a time to take the test and discovered it wasn't available in an accessible format for people with disabilities. Walters was given the option of signing up for the "700 hour program," a state governmental program that enabled people with disabilities to work for a state agency for 700 hours with the contingency of being hired permanently based on the individual's performance. She took that option and many departments within state government contacted her. She went through several interviews before finding her current employer.

Walters says the process of finding a job took a long time. She began looking in December of 1998, and went on 51 interviews. In July 1999 she was offered two jobs. She considered both offers, and decided on the WorkForce Center. She says, "It just felt like the right fit."

Walters says the job search methods that worked the best for her were finding job leads online and attending the Creative Job Search course at the WorkForce Centers which she found extremely valuable. Thanks to tips on resume writing that she learned there, her resume began drawing better responses from prospective employers.

Walters says she gets satisfaction from a job well done, and having her co-workers thank her for her work. For the most part Walters says her co-workers have been very respectful and helpful and her supervisors have treated her fairly.

Walters would like to move up to a management position in an office setting. She considers herself adaptable and believes she has the leadership qualities to accomplish this goal. She was recently promoted and believes working up through the ranks will give her an edge in finding such a position.

Once she started working, Walters describes the impact on her life as "amazing". After graduating from college she spent two years being mostly inactive. She says she probably suffered from depression, though she was never diagnosed. Now she has a circle of friends and is involved in many activities outside of work. She takes every craft class she can, and has found she has talents she never realized. Basket weaving, pottery, knitting and crocheting are just a few of her interests.

To people with disabilities who are looking for jobs Walters encourages, "Be confident in your abilities and don't ever give up! No matter how tough it is, hang in there and keep looking. You will find employment!"