A publication of the National Dissemination
Center for Children with Disabilities
Audio Script for A Student's Guide to Jobs
Student Guide Audiotape 2 (Tape2)
April, 1999
Written, produced, and narrated by Alyne Ellis
Approx. 25 pages when printed.
Introduction
This document is the script of the audiocassette program that accompanies NICHCY's
publication A Student's Guide to Jobs. On the
audio program, young people with mental retardation or autism speak candidly
about their job-related experiences. Parents, transition specialists, and employers
also share their insights. Supporting materials include:
- a Student's Guide to Jobs, a short booklet
designed especially for students;
- a Technical Assistance Guide to assist
families, transition specialists, employers, and others in helping students
with significant cognitive disabilities find and keep a job;
While listening to the audio program is not essential to students interested
in learning more about jobs, it's a fun program, both informational and motivational.
To obtain a copy of the tape itself, contact NICHCY at the address and telephone
number provided at the end of this publication.
Script
Side One of Audiotape
Joe:
I work in CVS, wash windows, tear box, work make money, put it in my bank account.
Rob:
I put up the movies away. New releases, comedies, drama, adventure. I took a
break at 6:30. I come home at 9:30. I'll go to work at 4:30. Go to 4-9. I'll
take a break at 6. Go to work at 4, come home at 9:00.
Narrator:
A paying job you like. A job where you feel productive, challenged, and needed.
Isn't that what every person who is searching for employment hopes to find?
You have just heard the voices of young adults with cognitive disabilities such
as autism and mental retardation, individuals who are gainfully employed in
their communities in jobs they like.
Marie:
I am a very good worker at Windflower. I am wonderful, and they really need
my help. And that's what I do.
Rob's Father:
I think there will come a time in the not too far distant future, the next two
years or so, Rob will want to work full time. He likes to work. He likes the
pleasures of accomplishing something and people telling him that whatever he
may be doing is good.
Narrator:
This tape will tell you how success can be achieved when families, job coaches,
and teachers all work together with a person with a cognitive disability to
find a job and then keep it, learn and then grow with it. On this tape we will
go to eight different places to meet these young people and hear about what
happens to them on the job. Some work part-time, some work full-time. They and
their families have plans for their careers, and they celebrate when things
go well and troubleshoot about what to do next when things aren't working out.
[Bells chiming]
Jody:
I worked upstairs during Christmas vacation, because a couple of ladies were
on vacation and they needed somebody upstairs so I worked upstairs for a while.
Like two weeks up there. But this is my home so I'd rather stay here.
Hope:
I have no expectations of anybody who comes in and works for Echo. I want them
to feel like that they are accomplishing something, that they have come, they
have worked, they have given 110%. I need for them once they go home that they
want to come back, they feel the need to come back and to be a part of this
organization.
Narrator:
Cory's mom, Linda Belile, is pleased with Cory's progress so far.
Linda:
I'd just like to see him stay with this job for several years and way down the
line, I'd like to see him in a group home with a bunch of friends, buddies.
Cory:
I refuse. It costs too much.
Linda:
He's part-time now, from 9-2. But I'd like to see him work until 5:00. I think
he could handle it.
Cory:
Too much hours. My God! Where's your– It's too much.
Interviewer:
What about the fact that the rest of the world does that?
Cory:
Well I think they've done it for so long that they know what to do and I don't.
So . . .
Interviewer:
Yeah, but more hours is more money, right?
Cory:
Right. But I like the 9-2 better. It is much faster and much quicker that I
see.
Narrator:
Whatever happens to Cory, he's made a start into the professional world of work.
Hope:
Every one of my employees have a resume. If they didn't come in with a resume,
they have one now, and I've sat down and worked with each individual and we've
come up with a resume. Job description, job preference, and what their capabilities
are.
[Music of "La Bamba"]
Narrator:
Sitting in Joe's rec room is a little like watching a collector. He moves about
with pride and ease, happily showing a visitor his VCR, piles of movies, and
tapes.
Joe:
Do you know rock and roll? (Interviewer: Yeah I know rock and roll.) La la la
bamba?
Narrator:
As he strolls over to turn off the CD, Joe stops to look out into his yard at
his pear tree, the tree he loves to make preserves from with his mom. At 20,
Joe's big, almost six feet, and strong. And today he's eager to please and talk
about his part-time job at a drug store.
Joe:
I work at CVS. Wash window, tear box.
Interviewer:
And do you like the work?
Joe:
Yes. They are good. Work make money, put it in my bank account. Do you put money
in your bank account?
Interviewer:
Yeah! And have you bought anything special with the money?
Joe:
Bought CD player. (Interviewer: You bought a cd player.) Yeah.
Narrator:
Joe's been washing windows and cleaning at CVS 2 hours every Wednesday night,
and he keeps the key he uses to cut and tear up boxes around his neck on a string.
He's been working for CVS part time for over a year.
Rex (Joe's boss):
Joe was actually working here when I came to the store. I had never worked with
a handicapped person, and I have to say it's been quite an experience working
with Joe. I've progressed probably as much as he has.
Narrator:
Joe's current boss, Rex Olson, became the manager several months after Joe was
hired. And he's very frank about the problems he first had with Joe when he
took over.
Rex:
He washed windows, he washed the windows to the beer coolers, the windows to
the doors, and he vacuumed. And frankly he didn't do a very good job. We had
to go back over his work each time he left, we had to re-vacuum, and then we
had to clean all of the windows again.
Narrator:
Uneasy about how to deal with a person with multiple disabilities like Joe's,
Olson says he was frustrated. He kept repeating directions, trying to explain
to Joe what he should be doing, and still sometimes it just wasn't getting done.
Rex:
Occasionally I could see that what I was saying wasn't really sinking with Joe.
Narrator:
But Olson says things began to change for the better after Joe's parents hired
a job coach to come to work with Joe and oversee his performance with a "tough
love" approach.
Rex:
Or at least that's what I call it. I don't know your term. But I could see that
they pushed Joe more than I did to go back and re-work. Once he thought he was
finished, they would say "No. It isn't a good job. You go back, and I want you
to do it again." And mainly I think that was because they had time to spend
with him so that they could make sure his job was complete, whereas I had too
many things to do to be able to spend with Joe when he was here for his two
hours.
Narrator:
Things at CVS seem to be going along for Joe right now, but he hasn't been so
lucky at his other part time job where until recently he put away carts at a
grocery store:
Joe:
My work fire me. Fire.
Interviewer:
Why did they fire you, Joe?
Joe:
I don't know. I need a cart. Move back around, I need that.
Interviewer:
So you needed a cart, and it was hard for you to give it to someone else, right?
Joe:
Yes. I say, I need that, this my job. My boss don't know that.
Interviewer:
And a lady wanted the cart and you couldn't give it to her?
Joe:
No.
Interviewer:
How did you feel when you got fired?
Joe:
I felt very angry.
Narrator:
Joe has been able to refrain from carrying over the anger he feels about what
happened in the grocery store into his CVS job. But, it's still been pretty
hard. Right now he has a job coach with him the whole time he's at work at CVS.
The coach is helping him articulate his needs.
Sometimes Joe gets tired or hot, and the coach is teaching him how to recognize
when to ask to take a break. Jeff Freedman is one of Joe's job coaches. He's
concerned that Joe isn't as motivated as he could be.
Jeff (Joe's job coach):
One of the things Joe loses at CVS is gratification, making a different in some
respect. I think something like an animal hospital where at least he could get
the trade-off of going to play with a dog or cat or knowing that this animal
is a little more comfortable because he cleaned out its cage right, would probably
make some differences.
Narrator:
Joe's boss at CVS is also aware that Joe needs something more.
Rex (Joe's boss):
There are times when I sit around and think, "Well, what can I have Joe do?"
And I'll be frank. It's hard to think of what he can do. Someone suggested,
well we can have Joe take out the trash outside. No, I don't think that's a
good idea. There are too many cars driving by and big trucks outside, and I
would not want to be responsible for him getting hurt. Yeah, I'm always thinking
of new things. It's new to me. He's my first experience with the handicapped,
and so I can't say that I'm. . . I don't know that . . . Oh, what am I trying
to say? Joe's a learning a experience for me. Okay? And he continues to be.
Narrator:
Joe's parents are on the lookout for other opportunities for Joe. They say each
time he tries something new, they learn more about how to help him and where
he might find a job he can do well and enjoy.
Carolyn (employment counselor):
When you're talking about a person with a disability in a job, you need to consider
a job match.
Narrator:
That's Carolyn Ebler, an employment counselor in the Fairfax County Schools.
Carolyn:
I meet a student, we talk, we think about what that student might be interested
in doing, we think about the kinds of things the student likes to do, and we
begin to develop a plan to make a job match.
Narrator:
Part of that plan, says Ebler, is teaching a student to look at his or her weaknesses
as potential strengths on certain jobs.
Carolyn:
This is very difficult, because often it's something that's very concrete like
reading. "I don't read very well" or "I don't have the math skills that I know
I should have," or "I can't sit still for more than 5 minutes." My hope is that
we're applying for a job where the young person is not going to be required
to sit still for more than 5 minutes, and possibly it is a stock job or a courtesy
position where they can be moving around and the student might say, "Well, one
of my weaknesses is that I can't still for 5 minutes, and that's why I feel
like I would be quite good at this job because I'm going to be helping customers
put their groceries in the car and I will have an opportunity to move around
quite a bit so that is why I'm applying for this positions because I can move
around and I need to do that." So part of it is making that job match with the
strengths and weaknesses.
Narrator:
Ebler also looks for the more intangible assets each student has. When she helped
Rob Boyer find a job, she zeroed in on this skill.
Carolyn:
One of his strengths is that he has an incredible memory.
Narrator:
But Rob, who has autism, also has some big weaknesses.
Carolyn:
This is a student who's pretty severely disabled. He can communicate but communicates
often in echolalic speech. He's very positive and very friendly but in some
settings almost too friendly, and in other settings will ignore people completely.
Narrator:
Ebler needed a place where Rob could always be on the go doing something, work
pretty much alone at his own pace, and use his phenomenal powers of recall.
And she found it.
[Blockbuster music]
Sandra (Rob's boss):
My name's Sandra Wilson, and I'm assistant manager of Blockbuster video in Chantilly.
Every time I come in to work like on a Monday or Tuesday night when we have
a lot of returns, I keep saying, "Please let Rob work! Please let Rob work!"
Because he is great. He is so smart, he knows where all the movies are, he can
put movies away in like seconds, like faster than anybody I've ever seen, he
never gripes, he never complains, he's always on time, he never wants to take
off so he can go swimming, he never wants to take off so he can go to the movies,
he never takes off so he can go on vacation. He's always here on time. He's
just a great worker. Just great.
Narrator:
Rob has been working for Blockbuster three evenings a week for almost 3 years.
In fact, there is only one employee who's been there longer than he has. Rob
shelves almost 400 movies a night.
Rob:
These are the categories of movies: Art, Adventure, Comedies, Drama, Horror,
Sci-Fi, Westerns, Drama Classics, Kids, Family, Family Disney.
Narrator:
Rob's dad, Robert Boyer, says that Rob loves his job, and doesn't want to stay
home from work.
Robert (Rob's father):
And if you ever interrupt Rob's schedule, it's about an hour-long ordeal to
explain to him why he doesn't have to go to work. And if he doesn't go to work,
which is equally surprising, Blockbuster calls and wants to know where he is.
They've come to count on him, and Rob has certainly grown to count on them.
Narrator:
But there have been other times when Blockbuster has called the Boyer's home.
Rob's dad remembers very well one evening when things went wrong at work.
Robert (Rob's father):
Because he's so structured, he takes his break at 6:00. When he takes his break,
he listens to a tape. One day he went for his break, and there was no tape.
You would have thought it was the end of the world. Rob simply could not understand
why there was not video, and he got quite upset. And so the manager called me
and said, "Rob wants his video, and it‘s not here. I'm sorry. I'm not sure I
know how to . . ." and I said "No problem. I'll come get him." So I came and
got him, and he was upset and he was acting inappropriately and yelling "Where's
the tape? No, no, I have to have the tape." So I just took him home. I said,
"If we're going to act inappropriately, we can't work." And I took him home.
And he was shattered that he couldn't stay at work. Since that incident, there
hasn't been any more, because Rob will do whatever he has to do in order to
continue to work because he loves working at Blockbuster.
Narrator:
Job counselor Carolyn Ebler recommends that both the school job counselor and
the parents introduce themselves to the student's employer when the student
starts work. They need to make it clear that they are there and willing to listen
and help if and when the need should arise.
Carolyn (employment specialist):
Especially with students with more severe disabilities, having those supports,
having a manager know that family is willing to come in if there's a problem,
having the manager know that the school system is ready to come in if there's
a problem, really relieves a lot of pressure from that manager and just knowing
that there are the supports helps an employer a great deal.
Narrator:
Rob's mother has brought literature on autism to Rob's boss, Sandra Wilson.
In fact Wilson asked Julie Boyer for it. And they've talked about the ways in
Rob processes information and requests. Wilson has been receptive and interested.
Sandra (Rob's boss):
I think from what I've seen Rob has trouble with reasoning. Like when people
come up and they ask him a question, he's confused and doesn't know what to
say. I wouldn't feel as easy if I didn't have his mother to contact or have
somebody else to contact. Because like I said, there's a lot about his disorder
that I don't understand. And I really need to learn about it if I have to work
with him, or it's not that I have to work but I like to work with him. It makes
my job easier, and I feel like I can be more of a help to Rob if I understand
what can happen, what might happen. I know now that Rob doesn't like change
at all. If you ask him to clean the shelves, Rob is cleaning the shelves. Don't
stop him in the middles of cleaning the shelves and ask him to run the tapes,
because he really doesn't like to do it.
Rob:
Clean drama. Clean Disney favorites. Clean Kids. Clean Disney. I put up the
movies away, new releases, comedies, drama, adventure. I took a break at 6:30.
I come home at 9:30. I go to work at 4:30. (Interviewer: And do you know how
many movies you put away a day? Do you have any idea how many?) Sixteen.
Narrator:
Because Rob shelves hundreds of movies a night, this Blockbuster runs a little
bit smoother. From a business standpoint, Rob's disabilities are not a big hindrance.
In fact, Rob has received a raise. But if Rob's parents hadn't found a balance,
a sense of when to intervene and offer help and when to let go, things wouldn't
be working so well.
Julie (Rob's mom):
Carolyn Ebler came to me and said, "Julie, you've got to stop looking at what
happens to Rob as a mother. You've got to back off, because if he were a normal
20 year old, you wouldn't be going into the store and saying, "Nobody said goodbye
to Rob when he left tonight." She said, "You've got to back off and let us handle
these things." I had to adjust and sort of let him go and make his own way and
try to remember that, indeed, if he were normal, I wouldn't be, well, I wouldn't
be taking him to work because he was 20 years old, but I also wouldn't be watching
to make sure everybody treated him like I thought he should be treated.
Narrator:
Rob's parents have decided that Rob's job at Blockbuster will probably be one
step to an ultimate goal.
Robert (Rob's father):
I think Rob is one of the few children in the world who knows the Dewey decimal
system in the library. Alphabetizing and filing and his absolutely tremendous
memory. He is autistic like in that if I were to ask him what day of the week
was February 5, 1979, he could tell me. Now I know that we haven't quite figured
out where to use that skill yet, but there's got to be a place, you know, because
he does have a fantastic memory if he was involved in that particular process.
The other potential to take those same skills is to put him into some kind of
ADP information technology forum. Rob likes the computer. He likes to type on
the computer. He likes data because he can see it, and it is very structured.
So I think the next development for Rob now that he is interfacing and working
in the general population kind of thing is possibly in some kind of ADP arena.
Narrator:
The potential for Rob in ADP, or automatic data processing, has lead his parents
and school to the Mitre Corporation, a computer firm. In addition to his job
at Blockbuster, Rob is working there part time during the school year. He's
filing and learning how to do data entry.
Robert (Rob's father):
I think parents need to be optimistic with regard to what their kids can contribute
to the business environment. And there is such a demand for good workers, that
you can take a child who has a disability who is willing to work, and his willingness
to work in the long run will outweigh the disability to the employer when you
find the right employer. So I think you need to be optimistic with regard to
that. I know we are.
Narrator:
But while they are dedicated to preparing Rob for some sort of job in the computer
field, Rob's parents feel strongly that Rob should be wanted where he works,
and they're willing to help Rob find another job if his employer doesn't have
a good attitude.
Julie (Rob's mother):
There are too many other places. There's too many other opportunities where
he could be successful and people would want him, and he would be happy. H's
not going to be happy if people are going to begrudgingly give him a job.
Narrator:
Rob Boyer is lucky. He has innovative, persistent, and loving parents, parents
who are willing to hear what others are saying about their son, evaluate it
fairly on its merits, and act. And he's got a boss who seems to be genuinely
concerned, even fond of him. And his boss believes he is good for business.
Sandra (Rob's boss):
I believe Rob is good for business because we have customers and sometimes Rob
will be talking to himself and they'll look at him, you know, and one of the
kids will say, well, he has a problem, he has what his disease is, and they
tell him and they're like "Oh well Blockbuster is great for hiring people like
that." And I just turn around and look at them and say, "What do you mean? He
can outwork any of the kids in the store." And their eyes get really big and
they look at me like I'm crazy. They really do, but it's the truth. That boy
can run circles around 4 of them in that store. Either he has more energy or
the rest of them are really lazy. But that boy can run circles around them.
He really can. Cause when we have bad video nights, I really am grateful that
he's here. Because it would take me 4 hours to do what he does in 15 minutes.
Cause Rob just has built-up energy in him, like I can't explain. I wish I could
bottle it and keep some of it.
Narrator:
But what do you do if you don't live near a large computer firm, or there isn't
a big government agency like the United States Geological Survey nearby? To
find out, please fast-forward this tape to the end of this side and start listening
again on Side Two.
Side Two of Audiotape
But what do you do if you don't live near a large computer firm like the Mitre
Corporation, or there isn't a big government agency like the United States Geological
Survey nearby?
Cary Griffin (rural employment specialist):
We've worked with a lot of people who were considered unemployable who work.
Narrator:
Cary Griffin heads up the Rural Employment Center at Montana University in Missoula,
an organization that specializes in finding people with disabilities jobs in
rural areas. He says that every parent, no matter how remote their home, already
has a written record of where to start looking for a job for their son or daughter.
Cary:
Pull out your checkbook, and I want you to count up the last twenty checks you
wrote, and you tell me how many of them were for manufacturing, for buying a
product, and how many of them were for service-related. And almost all of them
were for service related stuff, because that is the stuff we buy. That's where
the market is.
Narrator:
Often when Griffin and his staff help someone find a job, they start by going
downtown and hitting the streets with a pad and pencil in hand.
Cary:
We had people go out and walk around a four-square block area and write down
everything that people could possibly do in that four-square block area that
needs to be done. And we came up with all these little city things: painting
the curbs, painting the fire hydrants, mowing grass, all of these things, and
then we went to public works and we created a job that afternoon for a guy who
wanted to do those kinds of things. It is only a couple of hours a day, but
it is twelve months out of the year, and it was a first job. This is somebody
who had multiple disabilities, who'd been institutionalized most of their life,
who people thought could never work, but kept saying "I want to work and I'd
especially like a government job."
Narrator:
Basically Cary Griffin has one message: You are not out of luck because you
don't live in a big city. In fact, being in a small community or a rural area
may actually work in your favor, because often there is more of a sense of old-fashioned
community there and people know each other. Griffin advises parents and teachers
to work the system. This includes talking to people about disability issues
and putting the young adult who's looking for a job out in the public eye.
[American Indian music]
Narrator:
That's what Martin's mother Marilyn Johnson did. She lives in one of the most
remote areas of the United States, on an Indian reservation in New Mexico in
Acama pueblo.
Marilyn (Martin's mother):
I think that if Martin truly decided to choose what he wanted to do, I think
he would choose to be a cowboy. Martin's preference of how he wants to dress
is in Levi's, cowboy boots. That's, I guess his persona. That is how he defines
himself.
Narrator:
The reservation Martin lives on spreads out over 400 square miles over desert
grasslands, 65 miles west of Albuquerque. The Acama tribe numbers barely 2600.
Here the unemployment rate for the general population is 34%. On first glance
it might seem to be a dismal spot to find a job for anybody, let alone a young
person with a severe disability.
Marilyn (Martin's mother):
Martin has Down's Syndrome. He has limited language. We tried for years to get
him to learn how to write, but by the time he finished high school we were at
the same point. So you begin to focus on other aspects such as work development
skills and so forth.
Narrator:
As she looked at what Martin does, well, he likes to clean up around the house.
Martin's mother also noticed that he was paying attention to her daily routines
and using her schedule as the definition of when one does activities called
"chores" and when one performs tasks called "work."
Marilyn:
I think work to him means that you go outside of the home, and it's with a situation
in the community.
Narrator:
So Martin's mother set about trying to find a job for her son outside the sheltered
workshop setting he had tried in high school. Realizing that Martin had been
cut off from people because he had been busy with school and other things, she
began to take him along when she went places.
Marilyn:
In my own way I needed for the community to be reacquainted with Martin, and
that's the way we were doing that. It came to the point, for example, that he
knew the lieutenant governor quite well for the tribe, and whenever we would
stop off at the tribal office, he would peek into the lieutenant governor's
office. His first name was Brian. Martin's name for him was Bri, and he would
greet him, and the people there shook hands with Martin. He responded appropriately.
So, in our own way that, to me, was important to keep Martin within that realm
of social interaction.
Narrator:
And Marilyn Johnson thought of other ways to provide opportunities for her son.
When she found out that the tribal planner was going to be sending out a large
batch of newsletters, she suggested that Martin could help.
Marilyn:
So at one point when I was there talking with her we had Martin labeling the
newsletters for her.
Cary (rural employment specialist):
Do real stuff in real environments. It's the one thing we know that works.
Narrator:
Job specialist Cary Griffin.
Cary:
Whether it's church, whether it's Kiwanis, whether it's Rotary, whether it's
the chamber of commerce, there are affiliations that we have that are common
in most communities. Get kids memberships in local health clubs where the rest
of us go, so that they are around other people who are employers, who are friends
and neighbors.
Narrator:
Martin and his mother's excursions eventually led them to a very logical job
choice–the state police department. Now he cleans the station several times
a week, sweeping up, just a he does at home, doing a job for a group of people
he often sees around town. And he's worked there for over a year.
Marilyn (Martin's mother):
He feels like he is making a positive contribution to keeping the place clean.
Narrator:
Finding that balance between the kid's interests and the needs of the community
is exactly what Carty Griffin recommends. Look at each place on your list as
a business that hires people and then ask this question:
Cary:
What makes it hard for you to be in business? Well yeah and if you had more
of it, could you do more in business?
Narrator:
Griffin asked that question to a rancher he was hoping would hire a big strong
teen he was helping who had cognitive disabilities, and the rancher answered:
Cary:
"You know, I always need a good ranch hand, because they don't stay very long
and I need stud animals. And if I had stud animals, man, I could sell that out
for stud fees and that's a great thing."
Narrator:
Griffin already knew he had a young person who had some ranch hand experience,
and he offered to help train him on the job with the rancher. But then he threw
out the carrot: Using of the teen's SSI money and donations from the community,
he asked the rancher if the fact that the young man could also bring along some
stud animals might sweeten the deal.
Cary:
What do you think? Oh sure. We'd love to do that. Let's draw up the papers for
a limited partnership.
Narrator:
Cary Griffin's plan for this teen with disabilities worked because he knew what
he was selling—in this case a ranch hand and stud animals to a rancher needed
both. In other words, like any good sales person, know your product and your
consumer.
That's Roz Slovik's job. She's an employment specialist for people with disabilities
at the University of Oregon. Slovik's an expert at what she calls "person-centered
planning"—the zeroing in on what people already do well even before they get
a job.
Roz:
Imagine if you were sitting in a room and you had just a couple of other people
helping you think about what you are good at. And you say "the sky's the limit."
Narrator:
What you'd probably think of are a whole lot of good memories—of time when you'd
pleased someone with a batch of really good cookies, fixed a bike well, or helped
change the oil in Uncle Earl's car, or something like that. Well, Roz Slovik
took this idea of wondering what your friends and relatives would say that's
good about you and actually set up a meeting to make it happen.
Roz:
The beauty of person-centered planning is that the student and his family determine
who they want to participate. It is very different from a formal planning meeting,
it's very different from an IEP meeting, and yet it should help to drive the
IEP meeting and in fact the voc rehab planning, the IWRP.
Narrator:
Slovik remembers a person-centered planning meeting she facilitated for a 17
year old boy names Nick, who had mental retardation. He wasn't very successful
in school, but he did do a great job every morning at 5:00am. That's when he
helped out the school janitor Steve. And when it came time for Nick to invite
people to his person-centered planning meeting, he asked his parents, a couple
of friends, and Steve to come.
Roz:
Steve had a whole lot of information about Nick, about what he did well. That
he could drive the equipment that they used to clean the school building, that
he was able to fix some of the things in the school building. We used this information
then to say, "What are the kinds of jobs that people who do these things well,
what are the kinds of jobs that they might pursue?"
Narrator:
Slovik doesn't stop there. Once the student's strengths and interests have been
identified, she often suggests that the student go on past high school to get
some specialized training.
Roz:
We're looking at community college programs who award them many certificates
for completion of portions of courses. Some kids that I know, some students
with disabilities, are now taking as a one-day course at a community college
to learn how to drive these small forklifts. Small little trucks that you drive
around in a big grocery store, for example. So they spend a day doing that,
they have somebody who goes with them to teach them how to do that. It's like
a food-handler's license, only this is a forklift driver's license. They can
get better jobs doing that.
Jim (Christian's father):
When he went to technical college for cooking... Christian has very low reading
skills so at first they didn't think they could accept him.
Narrator:
Meet Jim Schoeller, whose son Christian has mental retardation and epilepsy.
He says Christian was able to take college cooking courses with the help of
his fellow students who volunteered to read for him and with the help of his
teachers who compensated in other ways.
Jim (Christian's father):
The chefs themselves would take special time to demonstrate rather than have
him read certain assignments. And then he would have examinations where they'd
read the questions to him, and he'd answer verbally, and he did very well. He
passed like any other student and got his two-year certificate in food prep
and then started his job search.
Christian:
My name is Christian Schoeller. I am 24 years old. I work at Lido's restaurant.
Been there for 3 ½ years.
Narrator:
Christian is a thin, serious-looking young man, good-looking and seemingly shy.
For years Christian has just loved to cook. Now, after getting his degree, Lido's
restaurant, a nice place with cozy booths and a steady crowd, pays him to work
in the kitchen, three days a week, eight hours a day.
Christian:
I'm a prep cook assistant there. I do most of the lasagna work there. I get
all the stuff ready for the lasagnas as far as just preparing them, dating them,
sticking it in the freezer, refrigerator, where it goes.
Narrator:
But even though Christian has advanced training for a job he now does well,
his employer has set up a system to keep more motivated and on-task. Christian's
dad, Jim Schoeller:
Jim:
They put together a program where, if he can achieve certain levels of performance,
he's got an incentive program where he gets a raise, I think it's 25 cents an
hour. I think he's gotten two or three of those.
Narrator:
Having an employer who is willing to creatively address Christian's job performance
and help him improve has been critical to his success. Ignoring a problem because
an employee has a disability is a mistake, says Mike Beyer, a manager who has
hired several people with mental retardation.
Mike (Kathy's boss):
If there is a problem with job performance, we'll approach them the way we would
any other employee, except maybe be a little more clear or gentle in explaining
it to them. But no, we'll approach them the way we would any other employee.
Narrator:
Beyer believes that employers should not be afraid to try to work with a person
with disabilities. But as the head of a car dealership that survives on its
profits, he is careful to hire people he thinks can do the job. After all, Beyer
says:
Mike:
We don't want to create positions for people, because business is still business.
You need to watch personnel expense and stay in business for the 80 families
we support.
Narrator:
There is a reason why Mike Beyer is as good as he is with people with mental
retardation and other disabilities. He's had personal experience with his sister
Kathy.
Mike:
Well, part of it growing up with a sister who's mentally retarded, I mean, to
us it was just a normal thing, a natural thing. I thought people with disabilities
and handicaps were a part of everyday life. Her IQ is lower that some of the
other individuals we've had here, so we've had to try her at different things.
It's trial by error basically.
Kathy:
A petite, trim redhead in her forties, dressed in a stylish woolen pink suit,
Kathy Beyer commands her office space with a light hearted manner and what seems
to be complete self-assurance. She works full-time and is busy. She has a desk,
several filing cabinets, full in and out boxes, and a computer.
Kathy:
I've worked at Don Beyer Volvo fourteen years, and now I am doing filing, doing
inventory, doing clerical work, doing the checking in, doing the paychecks,
and answering the telephones. And that's the jobs I do here at Don Beyer Volvo.
Narrator:
Like Christian who went to trade school, Kathy too has received advanced training
. . . in her case on the job.
Mike (Kathy's boss):
Over the years she's learned many, many different tasks. And do them very well.
All sorts of things that we never thought she was capable of doing.
Interviewer:
So it looks like you're using Windows 95 here?
Kathy: What?
Interviewer: It says Windows95. What are you using here?
Kathy:
I just type up the addresses and stuff like that. Like I type my name: Kathy
S. I can't spell Beyer. B-Y-E-R. I can't spell that. B-E-Y-E-R, Kathy Beyer...
Mike:
I think we raise the standard for her every year. When we sit down and do her
performance review, we ask her, "What do you want to learn next?"
Kathy:
It's not easy, but we talk about it. Michael comes in and talks to me and says,
"How do you like—What do you do?" I say "I like filing, I like working on the
computer, and I like doing the checks for the employees on Fridays.
Interviewer:
Does he ever say anything bad about how you're doing?
Kathy: Nope.
Narrator:
Over the years Kathy's brother and the other employees who have worked with
her at Don Beyer Volvo have taught her new skills when they think she is ready
and have taken away a few of the jobs she found too difficult to do.
Mike:
We don't want her to be bored. We want to keep her productive, just for her
own sake. She will probably spend her whole career here, and she needs to be
challenged.
Narrator:
Kathy has been challenged and she has the confidence that shows she feels appreciated
and useful. She knows she's good at what she does. She lives on her own, has
lots of activities, and is an active spokesperson for people with disabilities.
Kathy:
I belong to People's First, I belong to the Meet and Mingles, I belong to the
Fairfax Chapter, I go bowling with my house mates, and we have fun. And sometimes
we go out to the Government Center, and I get to speak in front of the Board
of Supervisors.
Narrator:
Kathy has strong opinions and she's not afraid to share them.
Kathy:
There are a whole bunch of people who are out in the world who need to get out
and get a job. And they need to go out and talk to their job coach and get out
and find a job and be just as independent as I am. And that is what those people
should do.
Narrator:
But nevertheless for people with cognitive disabilities, that opportunity—the
right opportunity—never seems to come. That's the problem that one business
has set out to address:
[Bakery sounds: walking sounds, wind chimes.]
Narrator:
Opening the front door at the Wild Flour Bread Mill is a fragrant and eye pleasing
experience. Ahead on the counters are rows of carrot cakes and lovely looking
breads. But before you even get there, you have to pass by the little knick-knacks:
dried flower arrangements, a few stuffed animals and note cards with poetry.
This one, written by one of the workers, is entitled "Chocolate Cake."
Chocolate Cake Poem (read by Jean Wood, owner of Wild Flour Bread Mill):
There it sits, so bold and grand, like a queen waiting for the court to bow.
While I seek to grab this air, and touch the hem that folds underneath. But
wait, is that a fork I spy, standing guard, not wanting to allow me past? What
invisible spell this lady cast, sliding silently into my heart. Come my darling,
your veil forces my smile. You belong to me.
Narrator:
It's enough to make your mouth water and when the workers take a break, they
often come to the front of the store to buy something.
The Wild Flour Baker is based on the entrepreneurial model developed out of
the University of Oregon, a model that emphasizes the developing of small businesses
around the capabilities of the workers. The company employs both people with
and without disabilities.
[Music]
Most of the time everyone is busy in the back in a large cavernous room with
the radio cranked up, preparing all that food. We asked them to turn the music
down so we could talk on tape.
Interviewer:
Hi. Can you tell me your name?
James:
Jimmy Reader. James Reader.
Interviewer:
And what are you doing, James?
James:
Cutting apricots.
Interviewer:
That's a lot of apricots. How are you doing that?
James:
With scissors. Very carefully.
Narrator:
Jimmy Reader has been working at the Wild Flour Bread Mill for 3 years. He's
a small and pale young man, and he wears very thick glasses. Jimmy's boss, Jean
Wood, says he has cerebral palsy and is nearly blind. He also has mental retardation.
Jean Wood (James' boss):
But you know, he still sits there and grates the carrots and does grating zucchini
and he can cut up dried fruit. Came in, he has a tiny bit of vision so he can
tunnel vision right in front of him, And now he's using a sharp knife. We have
people here who are blind and deaf, and everybody here has a primary diagnosis
of mental retardation. But they have all these other things, too. And the bakery
is probably better than any other job that I can think of, because they immediately
see people using their products, someone going out in the front of the bakery
and buying their apple pies that they cut up the apples for or the carrot cakes
that they grated the carrots for. They're really very proud. I mean, they walk
taller. You say, "Come on roll man, it's time for you to do your job" and this
fella who never could hardly walk at all pulls himself up to full height and
walks over there and takes the rolls off the shelf. So, the bakery is very exciting
that way, because it's an immediate thing. They see what they're doing is immediate.
Narrator:
Sales are steady and business is increasing. Wood says the Wild Flour Bread
Mill is breaking even.
Jean:
This is not anything that couldn't happen anywhere. We got grant money to start
the bakery, and it took a little more money because we had to buy equipment.
An operation like this could start on a shoestring. It just takes somebody doing
it. Everything in here has been donated. All the furniture has been donated.
Refrigerator has been donated, everything. We have done nothing to put any money
into, except our supplies and that was a couple thousand dollars, so . . .
Narrator:
Jean Wood says she got the idea of starting this business while she was working
in the public schools.
Jean:
We do a fantastic job in the public schools in providing work experience for
people in special ed classes. But then when they graduated, there wasn't anything.
There wasn't anything for these people with more severe disabilities. And they
would end up in sheltered workshops or in developmental units where they just
strung beads or did things like that. I got so frustrated with this, and that's
how I ended up with Wild Flour and now Windflower.
Narrator:
If you didn't catch that, Wild Flour and Windflower are two separate businesses:
The bakery and a craft production shop.
Jean:
These are people who need constant support in their life, and the people who
can talk, even though we don't have a lot of people who can even talk at all,
will tell you, "This is so much nicer than working in a sheltered workshop.
We're doing stuff that is different." I mean, they're doing stuff that they
see somebody is going to buy, and they feel important about it.
Interviewer:
Do you want to give us a tour?
Jean:
Sure. This is our work space here, and every person here has a desk and we bring
the work to them or they get it somehow, and the person that sits at this desk
right here is a man who is in hi 50s. He's in a wheelchair, he's completely
deaf, he is blind in one eye, and he is an absolute work-aholic. I mean, if
we don't have work for him, in front of him, all of the time, he starts to pound
on the table. He wants more work there. And it is kind of hard to explain to
someone who doesn't hear and can only see out of one eye that we're trying to
find jobs that he can do. One of the things he's doing now are these note cards.
What he does is, we give him the paper and he tears around the edge of the poem,
then pastes it on the back, and then we put our logo on the back and he pastes
this on the back. Then we go through again, the second step is, he puts a little
piece of hand-made paper up here, a mulberry paper in two different colors,
and that's our finished product. So he really has a lot to do with it.
Narrator:
Two employees with disabilities, Ruden and Oren, write the poems that are pasted
on these note cards. That's where the chocolate cake poem at the bread mill
came from—the craft shop.
Jean:
This is " A Little Voice" by Oren: "I cried one night, when it was all dark
outside, when no one heard and my mind played tag with the wind. Inside me is
a small little voice that only I can hear, or so I thought. Where are the words
that others speak that I so want my mouth to say? Then on my arm a feather fell,
and I heard a nearby bird. I lifted up my head, my heart joined his, and I was
not afraid." Now this is a fellow who doesn't talk at all. Oren's primary disability
is autism and mental retardation. (Interviewer: And how old is he?) Oren is
now 21.
And we've tried, at the bakery and here, to develop a product line that takes
into account what our workers can do. And we have a lot of stuffed animals,
because almost anybody can stuff a stuffed animal, whether it's with polyfill
or some kind of scent. We have those little owls over there, tiny little owls
filled with balsam, and people have learned how to measure out how much balsam
goes in the owl, and then Marie, who comes from the school, will hand sew them
up at the bottom, and somebody else ties the little ribbon around it. And all
of these products, everybody has some part of. We have bookmarks here made from
some of the our poetry, and even if it's as simple as punching a hole in it,
and we've punched a whole in the top just to tie a ribbon in it. The hand tags
we do. We have hand tags hanging all over everything, because that's a job for
several people. Somebody punches the hole, somebody ties the ribbon in, somebody
has to do the next step in it, putting it on the shelf.
Elliott:
My name is Elliott Bennam. (Interviewer: And what do you do here, Elliott?)
Work stuffing animals.
Narrator:
Hunched over his desk in a folding chair, Elliott works intently with his head
down. He's 35 and tall with balding hair and large hands that don't seem to
do things easily.
Jean (Elliott's boss):
Are you a good worker?
Elliott:
Yes!
Jean:
Why are you a good worker?
Elliott:
Want to make money. Want to save money to go on a trip.
Interviewer:
Where do you want to go, Elliott?
Elliott:
I want to go to Virginia Beach and Yonkers. And next year I'm going to New York!
Interviewer:
What do you have to do to be a good worker?
Elliott:
Work. Take a little time and don't make mistakes.
Narrator:
Like all employees here, Elliott has had to learn proper office decorum.
Elliottt:
When you work for other people, you have to ask something when you ask for more
work!
Jean:
When you need some more work, you ask for it. Right? Is that what you're saying?
Elliott:
Yes! Yes!
Jean:
Could you stop swinging your head and say that into the microphone?
Elliott:
It is to say that I have to ask for more work. When you ask something for more
work. If you run out of more work, you have to ask. That's what I mean. (Counting)
Jean:
Elliott has a rain man kind of number sense. This is a great story, I have to
tell you this one, too. When Elliott first came here, we didn't know what he
could do. We didn't know what anybody could do. So we gave him some raffi and
said, "Now could you cut this in half?" So he's cutting this raffi and he's
counting it. Now we didn't ask him to count it, but this is just his number
sense. And he's counting "two, four" and I could hear him saying this to himself,
"Cut six, eight." And then somebody said, "Elliott, sing a song." So Elliott
sang a song, and then while he's singing this song, 3 or 4 verses or whatever
it was, he's cutting all the while. He finishes the song, and he goes, "36,
38." Then he sings some more, 3 or 4 more songs. He finishes that batch and
he goes "78, 80, 82." Incredible. I mean, we have some great, great people here.
Narrator:
The point is that Elliott finishes cutting and counting his batch of raffi and
then keeps working. He may add a little vocal color when he does it, but he
gets the job done. Every employee, says manager Jean Wood, must pull his or
her own weight. Both those without disabilities and those disabilities do, usually
unaided.
Jean:
Well, you know it is just like any other job. They feel really important, and
this is the basis of what's important on the job is you feel needed, you feel
respected, you feel like whatever you're doing is important to somebody else.
Narrator:
And Wood says that importance has been recognized and supported by the local
community. Donations have continued, neighbors volunteer to come in and help
bake cookies with the workers, and Wild Flour Bread Mill and Windflower Craft
Shop are finding a niche.
Jean:
People want to support the bakery, because we're giving jobs and it's not just
a handout. They're earning their way there.
Narrator:
Wild Flour sends its workers with disabilities out on the pastry truck that
makes deliveries four days a week to offices and Jimmy Reader proudly enjoys
the chance to show off the products.
James:
I say, " I'm from the Wild Flour Bread Mill. Do you want baked goods?" (Jean:
Do you want some baked goods?) Yeah. (Jean: And then what do they say?) They
say yes or no.
Jean:
Remember that time when you first started going out and you told people that
we even do your tax returns if you buy bread?
Narrator:
What do you say now to make people want the bread?
James:
I say I'm a very innovative guy.
Jean:
It's been very worthwhile doing this project. I don't want to stop with these
two businesses. I want to go on to do something else after this. I see the difference
it makes in these people who come here.
Narrator:
But while she's dreaming and planning her future expansions, Jean Wood also
has a more immediate goal: To cook something she and the employees at Wild Flour
made last year.
Jean:
We made the world's largest brownie. And all of our workers went and presented
this brownie and they had some national celebrity kind of people there too.
Why, people just about jumped out of their skin! They were so excited to be
a part of this and up there and in front of everybody and everybody taking their
picture and because they were important and they had made this great big, thirty-foot
long brownie. And we're going to do it again this year and make it bigger!
Narrator:
After hearing these stories, Cory at the enclave at USGS, Joe at CVS, Rob at
Blockbuster and the Mitre Corporation, Martin at the police station near Acama
Pueblo, Christian at Lido's Restaurant, Kathy at the car dealership, and Jimmy,
Elliott and the others at the Wild Flour Bread Mill and Windflower Craft Shop,
we'd like to leave you with one final thought:
It was suggested by Roz Slovik of Oregon, not in a Pollyanna way, but with serious
intent. Perhaps it's a place to start, or a way to look at something differently,
or an exercise that may help to get conversations going.
Roz:
One of the things that is so important to emphasize is providing opportunities
for people to dream, kids and families, and to build on their dreams. No to
shatter dreams. What is it that you want? What is it that you want for your
son or daughter? And let's think about some ways we can help you to get there.
I think it is important to prioritize dreams and to talk to about those things
that are non-negotiable, perhaps. Let's talk about what you're good at. Let's
talk about the kinds of things that work for you. Let's develop some action
plans, some strategies to build on your dreams. But start off by saying, "What's
your dream?" I don't think that's a question that is very often asked.
Credits
This tape was made by NICHCY, the National Information Center for Children and
Youth with Disabilities, with funding from the Office of Special Education Programs,
U.S. Department of Education. So is the booklet that goes along with this tape.
NICHCY is located in Washington, D.C. The toll-free number to reach NICHCY is
1-800-695-0285.
You can also write to NICHCY at: NICHCY (spelled N-I-C-H-C-Y), PO Box 1492,
Washington, D.C. 20013.
If you didn't get all that, you'll find both the telephone number and the address
of NICHCY printed on the booklet that comes with this tape.
NICHCY would like to recognize the people who were involved in producing this
audio tape. First, we thank our Project Officer, Dr. Peggy Cvach, at the Office
of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education, for her commitment
to the Clearinghouse.
Alyne Ellis wrote, narrated, and produced this audio tape. Our editors were
Sara Escowitz and Lisa Küpper. Studio engineering by Preston Brown. Thank you
to Canyon Records, Warner's Special Products, Inc., Blockbuster Video and composer
Tom Lofgren for use of their music.
It is Suzanne Ripley, Director of NICHCY, whose vision made this tape possible.
We send out special thanks and appreciation to the many people whose experiences
and insights are heard on this tape. We enjoyed talking to each of you and wish
you the very best of luck in the future.
Production of this audiotape and its accompanying booklet is made possible through
the Cooperative Agreement #H030A300003 between the Academy for Educational Development
and the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education.
The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views or policies
of the Department of Education, nor does mention of trade, names, commercial
products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
We encourage you to copy and share these materials, but please credit the National
Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities--NICHCY.
(Note: If you are interested in reading the booklets that accompany this audioprogram,
access the text online: A Student's Guide to Jobs
or Technical Assistance Guide to Helping Students with
Cognitive Disabilities Find and Keep Jobs.)
[The text of the student booklet is then read on
this audiotape.]
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This information is copyright free.
Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit the National
Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY).
|
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This script represents the audiotape piece of a set that also includes
a student booklet and a technical
assistance guide for parents, teachers, and others. NICHCY also disseminates
other materials and can respond to individual requests for information.
We encourage you to share your ideas
and feedback with us!
Project Director: Suzanne Ripley
Editor: Lisa Küpper
Writer/Producer: Alyne Ellis
|
| Publication of
this document is made possible through Cooperative Agreement #H326N980002
between the Academy for Educational Development and the Office of Special
Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education. The contents of
this document do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department
of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations
imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. |
NICHCY
P.O. Box 1492
Washington, DC 20013
(800) 695-0285 · v/tty
(202) 884-8441 · fax
nichcy@aed.org
www.nichcy.org |
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