Taking Charge of My Career
By Chris Stark
As I approach retirement and hang up the spurs, it is fitting to think about how I achieved a satisfying career, earned a living, and with my wife, raised a family.
I believe that in order to succeed, you have to take charge of your destiny, make your own decisions, after assessing all the factors, and live by your choices. Deciding on your goals and pursuing them with determination is very important.
Do not accept the judgements of others, like my early teachers at the school for the blind, who labeled me in front of the class as “the village idiot”. Do not listen to those, like my first career counselors, that all life had to offer was an existence in an institution for the blind.
I dared to dream of inclusion and a comfortable lifestyle. I found friends, role models, and mentors, although this was not always easy. I worked hard, sacrificed a lot, and had a satisfying work life. I never stopped learning. I was loyal to my friends, always tried to help, and made a great effort to avoid hurting people.
I faced many challenges, like having to work to pay my university fees, room and board. So I became a night time Residence Manager, and except for the weekend student celebrations, all was quiet at night, which enabled me to get paid to study and do homework such as essays and presentations. I also honed my problem-solving skills at University, as there were no organized services to produce textbooks in accessible formats. So I found radio personalities to record textbooks for me.
My first full-time employer was in the charitable sector, which I left after 11 years, to join the Federal Public Service. I obtained the necessary contacts for this career change through networking with a school friend who is blind. People with disabilities can be an invaluable resource, if we choose to do so and help each other. This change in career path made me realize that setbacks were not the end, but the beginning of new opportunities.
In my first job with the Public Service, I was involved in energy productivity enhancement. Yes, the government really had a dedicated program to work smarter in that field, where I met many engineers, traveled throughout Canada, shopped in the Hudson Bay Store in Resolute Bay, and had the honour of sleeping in the very bed Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip slept in during their honeymoon visit to Northern Canada, forty years earlier.
However, my main goal was always to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. So, when I had the chance to become involved in accessible transportation, I jumped at the promotion, where I made presentations, trained transportation staff, dealt with complaints, crafted regulations and enforced them. I traveled to several countries like Japan, where the paper I co-authored won best paper at that World Congress.
I had lots of help along the way. Yes, there were the inevitable workplace politics, exclusions, and accessibility issues, particularly with written and electronic communications. I faced many physical, systemic and attitudinal barriers, and tried to have them removed when I could through negotiation and suggesting solutions, or working around them with good but never 100% success.
I made a conscious effort to take courses offered to all employees that would broaden my skills and competencies, and advance my career marketability. I insisted on being provided with the accommodations I needed to do my work, including readers to help me deal with the deluge of paper produced by the bureaucracy. When competing for new positions, I made it a point to network, research the opportunity, and find out about the work environment. I also accepted that I would not get the majority of positions I competed for, so I used the competitions as a way of learning and honing my skills to win other work opportunities. I learned where the best place in the organization was for me, and when I got to that level of salary and responsibility, I then chose to stay in a position where I enjoyed my work, and at the same time, could help improve accessibility for persons with disabilities.
So take charge of your career, try not to let setbacks disappoint you too much, and be the best you can be, and be proud of your achievements. And remember to blow your own horn, because nobody else will!
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HIGHLIGHTS OF PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND RECOGNITION
– The AEBC CCD Award presented to Chris and Marie Stark – 2008.
– The National Federation of the Blind Advocates for Equality certificate of recognition Awarded to Marie and Chris Stark – June 2003
– Co-author of Best Conference Paper Award TRANSED-2005, Japan
– Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal – 2002
– Recognition of contribution certificate – Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat – 2000
– Achievement Award – Canadian Transportation Agency – 1999
– 125th Anniversary of Canada Commemorative Medal – 1993
– Transport Canada’s 50th Anniversary Ministerial Award of Distinction- 1987
– Citation letter from Queen Elizabeth II for contributions to New Brunswick – 1984
– Golden “M”, St. Mary’s University – 1972
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