Simon talks about the skills he gained at HKNC
Simon tells about the skills he gained at HKNC to be successful
Meet Simon, he works at Adecco Staffing, a national agency with a branch on Long Island.
Video Image description. A close up of a man speaking into a camera. A sign language interpreter is in a separate window at the top corner of the screen.
Hi, my name is Simon Gaudiuso. I am blind and hard of hearing. I am a software engineer at Adecco and my responsibility is developing and maintaining our intranet application.
Image description: Here Simon is seated at his work desk. He is wearing earphones which are connected to the laptop in front of him.
I’ve been at Adecco since 2009.
Video description: Here Simon is using his guide dog to get around the office. He sits down at his desk and places his earphone on. Simon uses speech output software to access the content on his computer.
Title Slide: What form of transportation do you use to get to and from work?
I live in a condo in Farmingdale, New York. I use paratransit bus system to get to and from work. It’s a door-to-door service where they will pick me up from my place and drop me off at work.
Title Slide: How did your experience at HKNC enable you to be where you are today?
Helen Keller National Center showed me how I was not alone. There are a lot of other people just like me. And they gave me the tools to be able to live productively as a DeafBlind individual. For example, they taught me how to use a screen reader so I could work with a computer. They taught me mobility skills so I could get around work and in my community. They taught me basic cooking skills so I could cook in my home on my own. And they also provided me the opportunity to work in a community. They set me up with an internship at Adecco which provided me the opportunity to show what I can do and a year later Adecco ended up hiring me full time and I have been working at Adecco full time for the last 9 years.
Helen Keller gave me the tools to be successful and gave me the confidence to be successful in life. I owe a lot of my success to Helen Keller. I don’t think I would be where I am now if it weren’t for the Helen Keller National Center. [End of Transcript]
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