October 2017
National Disability Employment Awareness Month Inclusion Drives Innovation
Area businesses embrace inclusion The Arc McDonald’s in Gateway’s Pensacola, she Employment has hired several Services program people from The helps individuals Arc Gateway. John find and maintain O’Conner is her jobs in the latest hire. community. “She has been The program’s a tremendous objective is to find supporter of our a job that matches John O’Conner Employment a client’s interests, Services Program,” abilities and said Jeff Weikert, personal goals. The Arc Gateway Services include Employment creating resumes, Services Director. completing David Byram has applications, also found gainful meeting with employment through perspective The Arc Gateway. He employers, David Byram currently works at preparing for the Welcome Center interviews and all other at the YMCA. activities related to finding “David absolutely loves his a job. Once employed, the job and we are so grateful for Employment Specialist works the support from everyone with the individual to arrange at the YMCA,” Weikert said. transportation, complete “They treat David very well training, and monitor the and have really made him part individual until he or she is of the family.” proficient in all aspects of the job. John and David’s stories are a testament to the recent rise Andrea Wallace has in the hiring of individuals become quite familiar with with disabilities. According to The Arc Gateway’s clients. the 2017 Disabilities Equality As a district manager for
The Arc Gateway
Index (DEI), more companies are working to include people with disabilities and are, in fact, actively recruiting from this population. Of the 110 companies surveyed, 95 percent reported that they have recruitment efforts in place specifically aimed at hiring people with disabilities. That’s an increase of 11 percent since the DEI’s inception in 2014. This is all good news for people like John and David. Overall, 88 percent of the employers surveyed had a disability-focused resource group or organization, and 86 percent had a senior executive working to champion or sponsor the effort. Employment Services is a valuable program that allows adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to stay productive, reach their potential, and live meaningful lives. For more information on Employment Services, please contact Jeffrey Weikert, Director of Employment Services, at (850)293-7100 or jweikert@arc-gateway.org.
October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and The Arc Gateway encourages everyone to participate. The purpose of National Disability Employment Awareness Month is to educate about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities. Held annually, National Disability Employment Awareness Month is led by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, but its true spirit lies in the many observances held at the grassroots level across the nation every year. We all play an important part in fostering a more inclusive workforce, one where each person is recognized for his or her abilities — every day of every month. INSIDE CBE weathers the storm at the Welcome Station
October 2017