HELPING HAND

CAREER BOOST

Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities supports students with various needs by way of a program that dedicates counselors to campuses across the state. BY RUTH CORRADI BEACH

Students with disabilities face additional hurdles when it comes to earning a degree and preparing to enter the workforce. Students with physical challenges may need adaptive equipment for work, while those on the autism spectrum may benefit from coaching to improve interviewing skills prior to their job search.

In 2019, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, a state agency with the mission of helping empower Ohioans who have mental and physical disabilities, launched the Ohio College2Careers program in order to address these kinds of needs.

“The plan was that college students with a disability would have a vocational rehabilitation counselor dedicated to just students with disabilities,” says Kim Jump, communications chief for Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities. “What’s unique about Ohio C2C is that they are immersed counselors at the colleges they serve.”

In the first year, 15 Ohio colleges took part in College2Careers, and now there are 17 institutions of higher education with a dedicated Ohio College2Careers counselor. Two career specialists also support the program. One such person is Dustin Schwab, a career development specialist who serves nine schools in southern Ohio.

“Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities has a business relations team in the Employer and Innovation Services department and partnerships with over 600 employers in Ohio,” Schwab explains. “[Ohio College2Careers] works closely with them to see what careers and internships they have available ... I help with internship preparation, mock interview skills and help find leads we share with students, both at employer partners and sometimes not.”

Ohio College2Careers counselors can also help students procure adaptive technology, including connecting a student with someone who can help them determine exactly what equipment might be needed. In some cases, financial assistance is available through the program to help students purchase the equipment.

Sean McDonald, a senior history major at The Ohio State University’s Newark branch, asked Cyndi Mignone, senior vocational rehabilitation counselor with Ohio College2Careers, for help with “soft skills, like communicating with an employer, interview stuff … That was very helpful to me.”

McDonald, who has Asperger’s syndrome, heard about Ohio College2Careers from his career advisor at Ohio State Newark and is now working as a research intern for a criminologist at the university. Mignone and Schwab helped McDonald navigate how to talk about his disability during a job interview.

“When I was interviewing, [they] helped with knowing how to disclose my disability in the interview process — the timing and how to do it properly,” he says.

Joseph Duncan heard about Ohio College2Careers from an academic advisor at Central Ohio Technical College as he discussed the program in which he wanted to enroll.

“I developed diabetic neuropathy and went from working 70 to 80 hours a week to where I couldn’t pick up a remote,” says the 44-year-old, who had worked with computers. “I couldn’t type on a keyboard. I decided to go back to school and complete a college degree. Ohio C2C offered help with job placement, working with my disability and building my resume. It had been so long since I had built my resume. I also needed to refresh my interviewing skills. I hadn’t interviewed for a job since July 2017.”

Duncan is on track to graduate with an associate degree in summer 2022.

“I have lost 130 pounds and my neuropathy is getting better,” he says. “I’m looking into going back to work if my doctors approve it.”

While he finishes his degree, Duncan is working part time on campus at his school’s IT department help desk.

The success of these two students has been replicated many times over with the support of Ohio College2Careers counselors.

“We’ve placed 50 internships over the last two years and 124 students have been placed into jobs,” says Kristin Garrett, program administrator for Ohio College2Careers. She explains that they have had 53 “successful closures,” in which employment has been maintained for at least 90 days and a counselor has determined a student has received the support to be successful.

While both McDonald and Duncan attend schools with affiliated Ohio College2Careers counselors, any Ohio higher education student with a disability can receive support by starting at the website OODworks.com.

“[Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities] has local offices all across the state, and … we have liaison counselors all across the state who are not necessarily on campus all the time,” Garrett says. “Liaisons are vocational rehabilitation counselors who have a caseload of different types of cases but have formed relationships with support offices on the campus.”

As Ohio College2Careers gains momentum, more on-campus counselors who are dedicated to a certain school will be added, according to Jump.

“There are students with disabilities throughout Ohio, so we want to expand to more schools to serve more students,” she says. “[Presently], we are able to serve any college student with a disability … What’s unique about Ohio College2Careers is that those counselors are dedicated to the school.”

To learn more about connecting with an Ohio College2Careers counselor, go to OOD.ohio.gov.

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