How I became friends with Ruth Yong, a Visually Impaired English Teacher
On a Friday night in July 2022, I received a LinkedIn message from Ruth, who wanted to know if I had a fully-remote job opportunity as a full-time recruiter for her. I was then, working as a tech recruiter, with regular burnout cycles being my routine. Ruth included her phone number and a warm note for us to get to know each other better in her first message to me, which was something that truly saved me from where I was at the time. I replied to Ruth’s message about 15 minutes after to arrange a time for me to call her on Monday.
On Monday morning, I rushed to preparing myself to speak to Ruth by doing my last-minute quick research to understand her background the best that I could before I phoned her. I scrolled through her LinkedIn profile and Google searched her name and the software she has mentioned on her LinkedIn and read up all the articles that came up as quickly as I could. I jotted down some important details for me to note and reconfirm with her, as well as some questions for her to help myself understand her better, before I could have a professional, and most importantly, engaging conversation with her.
At 2.30pm, I phoned her as scheduled, and the phone call went along as almost as similar to my other phone calls that I have had with job seekers I have spoken with. The only difference in our first phone call was that I had found a new friend through my job at the time. And not only that, but Ruth was very open to share her journey using the screen reader text-to-speech softwares (NVDA and JAWS) that have helped her use the computer along her studies and work.
At the time, I was still very new to learning about web accessibility and the experience of the visually impaired community in the corporate world. Did I feel super ignorant and guilty that I only learned about it then, and not earlier? Yes. Truthfully, I felt that I had been living under a rock. However, I understood that I had to quickly jump out of the feeling about where I was to where Ruth needed me to be, which was being someone who understands her at my best attempt.
Ruth shared with me her unpleasant experience with non-disabled individuals who failed to cooperate with her in her past work experience. Ruth also expressed just how rude and insensitive some people have been when speaking to her when they showed how confused they were at her ability to use the computer, being visually impaired, and how unwelcoming they have been, when she was seeking to join their team to work.
In the phone call, I also learned about Ruth’s teaching experience from Ruth herself after I read about her story as a teacher. I shared with Ruth that I too, came from a language teaching background, so that I could engage with her on a more personal level when it comes to a shared passion at teaching. I asked Ruth to share with me the exact moment she had felt truly happy when she was teaching.
Ruth took some time to recall, and she described how it was very rewarding seeing her students who were at the beginning very passive, became very sharp and engaging during the drilling activities towards the end of her lessons.
I wanted to remind Ruth of her most pleasant working experience to get her mind off the unpleasant corporate experience she just shared, and to see what truly motivates her, as opposed to what she felt that she had to be motivated to do.
When I asked Ruth if she preferred to pursue teaching at the time, Ruth shared with me the challenges she had experienced when teaching working adults and highlighted her sales success stories in freelance recruitment. Deep inside, I could tell that Ruth’s true passion still lies in education, however, I also believed that Ruth will continue to strive in the right environment at recruitment, despite the known stressors that come with the job, with it being very sales-driven.
Fast forward to today, January 2023, Ruth has been working as a full-time recruiter for over three months. However, as much as she finds the job thrilling with its ups and downs, Ruth’s true passion as an educator resurfaces and once more, we are on the lookout for a place where Ruth can contribute her best skills at teaching, training, and helping students in areas of her expertise, namely English language education and Southeast Asia historical and cultural studies, in an environment where she is listened to and practices are tailored towards inclusion and accessibility.
