Don’t Judge The Disabled By What You See or Hear!!

As many of you know I work with S.C. Vocational Rehabilitation. My job is to contact companies in a five county area and talk to them about our services and hopefully find work for our disabled clients. What many people don’t know is that we handle over 150 different disabilities including diabetes, obesity, cardiac patients, stroke victims, learning disabilities and social disabilities. Many of our clients were not born with their disabilities but rather developed disabilities over time. That means that some of them have college degrees in different areas and many have worked in production, manufacturing and various other fields. With that said, most of our clients have difficulty finding and maintaining employment because of their disabilities or, more often, because of employers lack of understanding of their disabilities.

Recently I’ve had the pleasure of working with a family who didn’t even see the disabilities, but were more interested in the skills our clients possessed. I met Tyrone Wilson shortly after he and his family opened a garage out on Peach Orchard Drive in Sumter. It’s right behind the base and you can’t miss the bright yellow building. I was out on one of my drives knocking on the doors of local businesses when I noticed that a formerly closed garage was up and running.

I made an appointment for the following week and presented our programs to Tyrone. After I was finished he told me he needed a mechanic as soon as I could get him one. That was in early January. So far, we have provided two mechanics and two car detailers for his operation at Wilson’s Auto Repair and Car-Wash.

Between providing the first and second mechanic I had the opportunity to meet Dionne (Dee) Wilson, Tyrone’s wife. Together they are opening a high end coffee shop out on US 378, called Moca Soul Café. Dee told me that they were interested in our agency helping them to find a Barista to help out in the café. We provided three candidates and the Wilson’s selected one ,who will start on March 1, 2010. Oh!! I almost forgot, Dee also does hair. You can get information on her skills and contact information  at www.hairstylist4hire.webs.com or click the link to the right.

So altogether, they have given employment opportunities to five (5) clients and not once did they ask about the clients particular disability.  Additionally, by using our clients they have the opportunity to get tax credits for hiring the disabled and we help them to pay the wages for a specified trial period. This gives them the chance to get to know our clients and their abilities before committing to hiring them permanently.

We need more people like this. They chose not to judge our clients but instead decided to give them a chance, where others wouldn’t.  With 14% of South Carolinians being disabled and more than 1,000 of them on our caseloads in Sumter and Camden, we need a lot more employers to look beyond the disability and see the person beneath. Are you judging people with disabilities because of what you have heard or how they look? If you are, then knock it off and give them a chance!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!

I hope everyone made it safely through the series of snowstorms that seem to have affected most of the central and eastern United States. I know it was especially bad in the northeast, since Mom was supposed to return from Philadelphia and her flight was canceled a couple of times. She finely arrived yesterday.

We watched the news to see the all those poor folks shoveling their walks, only to get a fresh layer the next night. I felt for the people who would no sooner finish shoveling and the snowplow would come by and cover the sidewalk yet again. 

I’ve had my share of shoveling snow, both as a kid growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and again while stationed in Minot, North Dakota. So I know the frustration of clearing the sidewalk only to have it covered again by the plows or new snow. 

Unlike most of my family I don’t have to put up with that anymore. I’m in Sumter, South Carolina and we normally get snow about once every three years or so. However, due to Global Warming we had snow two years in a row. Wait!! That’s the opposite of Global Warming isn’t it. Anyway, I don’t even own a snow shovel. When it snows here we only get an inch or two and it generally melts the same day or at the next day, at the latest.

When it snows here it’s a lot different than in places like Philly and New York.  Southerners have no idea how to handle snow and they tend to go into panic mode. Earlier this year the weather people said we might get some snow one night and, without a flake falling, twenty schools announced they would be closed the following day. Well, it didn’t snow.

We got our share of the latest storm on Friday, the 12th of February. When the first flakes started falling almost the entire population of Sumter headed to Walmart to stock up in case we were snowed in for a week. I was working my second job at Sears. When I arrived, a group of employees were standing at the door. They told me they were waiting for a call from the district manager telling them to close the store and go home. The snow hadn’t even started to stick yet. Later the manager came around and started telling people, who lived more than five miles away, to go home. He asked me how far I lived and I told him not to worry about me because I’m a Yankee and snow doesn’t scare me. Thirty minutes later they closed the mall and the store (2 hours early) and I headed home. By the next morning we had a grand total of three inches of snow and nothing was moving.

I was supposed to take my truck in for new tires but they called and rescheduled me for another day. I couldn’t get my hair cut until later that afternoon because Cost Cutters opened late. They didn’t even deliver the mail that day.

Every time it snows or threatens to snow down here I laugh at the antics that take place. I’m sure Walmart and other grocers love it. They get to sell all the stuff they hadn’t been able to get rid of for the last couple of months. The state saves money because they shut down all the schools and state government buildings. The kids get a day off from school and everyone gets a day off work.

This time there was snow on the ground for about three days, but I didn’t see anyone shoveling snow at all. The sidewalks and streets were clear by about noon time on Saturday and people went about their business knowing that the pantry was full.

If you get tired of the snow just move south. You’ll be able to relax nd enjoy the weather and have the opportunity for a good laugh every two or three years, when it does snow.

Call It What It Is: Unemployment Office

In order to be politically correct, we refer to the state office that is supposed to help people find work, as the Employment Security Commission or ESC.  The ESC is where you go to file for unemployment benefits when you lose your job for any number of reasons. When you arrive you sign in and wait and wait and wait. Eventually, you will be called by an employment coach or counselor. They will take all of your contact information and then ask questions to determine what kind of position you are suited for. Once this is done they match you with a series of occupations, each assigned a numeric code. Using the assigned occupational codes they can now search for openings in those particular fields.

If all goes well, they will actually give you a couple of leads and you can begin your search for that new career.  What usually happens, is you will apply to the selected companies along with multitude of other clients they sent there before you.  You will then go home and begin your own job search using the local paper and the internet. 

When and if you find a job, it will be due to your own efforts and not those of the Employment Security Commission or as I prefer to call it ” The Unemployment Office”.  The reason I prefer unemployment office is that as long as you are depending on them to help you find work, you will remain unemployed.

After the initial visit you will be told how to call in each week to get your weekly check. Beyond that you will receive a monthly notice to report to the unemployment office and update your file. This generally takes about 45 minutes to an hour. It takes two minutes for the counselor to verify that your information is current. The rest of the time is spent waiting to be called.

This is how the system works. They do not help you find work, they simply issue your weekly benefit check and verify your contact information once a month. This is their job and they get paid pretty well, not to mention all the state benefits and holidays they get.

I know all this from my own experience and unfortunately, both of my sons are now going through it. They are supposed to help you with retraining as well as finding work but the system is so screwed up, I’m not sure anyone really understands what  to do. After months of being out of work Tommy and Joey, both asked about retraining opportunities. It seems that what they do is provide additional training in the career you currently CAN’T find work in. Let me clarify, Tommy was laid off from a customer service position in the insurance industry. He had been looking for months for a similar or better opportunity. When he couldn’t find one he asked the unemployment office about retraining. They said they would help him with classes in customer service. WHAT?

Anyway, that’s the way it works. You have to follow the rules and make the monthly appointments of they cut off your check. But, if you really want to find a job you have to work at it on your own. Although the local paper and the Internet will be key to your search, letting everyone know you are looking can come in handy as well.

So good luck and hang in there. Remember, finding work can be a full time job in itself.