Waiting for Opportunity to Knock: The skills of workers with disabilities often unrecognized

  • By Teri Stein
  • March 25, 2013
  • 311
                        
Summary: Dream job? We’d all like to have one and that includes people with disabilities. Their skills and talents are often overlooked. Read on to find out what some of the workers at Starlight Workshop are hoping is in their future. It is 8:40 a.m. and time to unload buses. Full of smiles and anxious to start their work day approximately 150 workers with varying disabilities, but also varying skills, enter the doors at Starlight Workshop and head to their departments. Like any other worker, many at Starlight Workshop want to move up to better jobs. Some have spent years polishing their skills and many times the only thing a worker with disabilities lacks is an opportunity. Last year, Governor Kasich, signed an executive order declaring Ohio an Employment First state. “The emphasis is on trying to transition students directly from school to employment making minimum wage or above,” said Cassie Elvin, Adult Services Director for the Tuscarawas County Board of Developmental Disabilities. “Anybody who is capable, interested, and motivated can work toward employment.” “We try to find available employment to match the individuals’ desires and skills with the employer’s needs,” said Elvin. “We want employers to know that people with disabilities are a viable workforce.” When working at Starlight Workshop the wages paid are based upon the prevailing wages that year. Workers are paid by the piece and each job is time studied and the prices and costs for each job are determined. In working in the community or on janitorial job training the individuals are paid minimum wage or higher. While many individuals look to move from the workshop into jobs in the community, for those with more severe disabilities and the need for more supports for employment, Starlight Workshop is still a good alternative. Like all of us, people with disabilities have thought about their dream jobs. For Michael Scranton, it would be working on a NASCAR race car team. Though this job may not come about for him, he has mechanical experience. “Since I was a young kid, I helped my Dad work on semi (trucks.) I’d hand him tools, we’d tear them apart and put them back together,” said Scranton. Thanks to the Tuscarawas County Board of Developmental Disabilities Independence program, Scranton is a licensed fork lift operator. “I would be interested in working in a factory, pulling parts at a salvage yard, or working outdoors mowing,” he said adding that he also has experience in packaging and working with car tires. Volunteering has been an important part of life for Katie Burroway, a worker at Starlight, but through this she has gained much experience that could help her on a job in the community. Burroway has volunteered at a nursing home caring for their animals and fish and folding laundry. She also volunteered at a Christian book store where she helped stock shelves, dust and clean windows. Burroway’s skills are varied; she also has experience mowing, planting flowers, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, babysitting children and dogs and she has trained with the Independence program doing janitorial work. “My dream job would be working with kids or animals,” said Burroway. The one job she wouldn’t want? “I don’t want to work with food because it would make me too hungry,” she said with a laugh. One of the newest workers at Starlight Workshop is Devlin “DJ” Mathews. Mathews is a 2010 high school graduate who has worked at the workshop for only two months. He has worked in the community as a sign holder for a local business. It’s a job that required him to endure all types of weather and proved his willingness to work. “My dream job is being a veterinarian because I like animals,” said Mathews who cares for his dog, Bear, at home. “I would like to work with animals.” Thanks to the piece work from area companies that is available at Starlight Workshop, Mathews already has experience in a variety of packaging jobs and doing laundry. Through the Independence program he has trained on janitorial work at the TCBDD’s Service and Support Center building. “I like to work there,” he said. For questions and information on providing work for individuals with disabilities call Starlight Workshop at 330-339-3578.


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