Not like any other part-time Job

Imagine waking up in the morning and not being able to see how the weather is, not being able to check the latest Instagram posts and not being able to read the newspaper in the morning. This is the everyday life over 37 million blind people and over 120 million partially sighted people worldwide. Of course, these people are dependent on special assistance. Next to guide-dogs or the blindman’s stick blind people get the possibility to live in the home for the blind. I got the chance to talk to Sarah, who is working in one of these blind homes. She has agreed to give us some insights into this challenging work and will tell us some exciting things about this job. 

Sarah, you are a master student in English studies and you work in a home for the blind, how did you come to this exciting job?

After my graduation from college I was looking for a part-time job to earn some money. It was always clear that I want to work with people. At first, I wanted to go into service, but I didn’t want to do any normal, blunt work with strangers. My current job has made an announcement that they are looking for students who can work in the evening service. Then I applied there and they took me.

You started as a temp in the evening service of the home for the blind. What did the work look like? 

First, we had to prepare the dining room with tea and coffee until the residents arrived. Beginning with the starter and followed by the main course. Depending on the residents some needed help with cutting the food.

You used to work in restaurants before this job. What is special about service for the blind? 

The big difference to working in a normal restaurant is that you see people every night and you start building a relationship to them. You get to know their story as well as their shortcomings. With time you get to know every single resident and after some time you know, which one needs what kind of help. Another difference is that you work with clock times. You tell the inhabitant which food is on which time. E.g. on the 6 is the meat, on the 9 the vegetables. That was an acclimatization. There is thereby much more interaction between the service staff and the inhabitant.

You don’t only work in the service of the home for the blind. Would you like to briefly explain what else you do?

Yes, exactly. It’s called hotel business. So, I don’t only work in service but also in housekeeping, in activation, there you work especially with seniors and demented people like playing games all day long or going for a walk. I also work in administration, which includes things like personnel planning.

So, you’re a girl for everything, so to speak? 

Yes, I am an all-rounder. The students are used everywhere where no education is required. Wherever there is a shortage, we are deployed. But it is also important how long you have been there. Working with people always requires trust, which is why it is also important to establish a certain relationship of trust with the residents. The resident must know the caregiver.

You mentioned earlier that you also have demented residents. I conclude from this that mainly older people live with you? 

We really have people of all ages. Beginning with 18 years up to 102 years. The big percentage is certainly 60 plus. We have about 20-30 people per year who are newly blind and simply learn to deal with this limitation. For example, they learn how to handle kitchen appliances. 

Other people watch television in the evening, go to the cinema or read a book to relax. For blind people this kind of entertainment is not possible. How do they do that? 

But surely the blind can enjoy this kind of entertainment. They read books by listening to the appropriate audio books. In addition, more and more organisations for the blind are trying to record every kind of magazines and books on tape, so that the blind people can listen to it. In addition, public television offers programmes specially for the blind.

Now I would like to ask you my last question: How would you react if you were suddenly blind? 

That’s a very good question. To be honest, I’ve never thought about that before. I would certainly be very shocked in the first moment and would also have existential fears for sure. Because I did not plan my life so that I would go blind. I certainly have less panic than other people because I have been working with blind people for so long. Life is worth living in exactly the same way. I think I would think very carefully which country I wanted to live in. 

What would be the biggest loss in your opinion? 

I love taking pictures and would consider this a huge loss. I think you have to find something different, something new. You can’t change it and so the only thing you can do is just to adapt it.