Disability or Diverse-Abilities, You Choose
As I begin my my journey to advocate for this unique population of amazing individuals some consider to be disabled or in other words, not-able. My brain begins to think and I always ask myself…what is this this measurement bar we call “able?” My goal is to integrate as many individuals with diverse-abilities into the typical workforce. Yes, I said “typical!” What I am trying to do is total integration, having individuals of special needs work among typicals and not in some fake business that was created to ONLY hire the special needs population. This is the modern day segregation, simply because they are different looking or seem socially awkward. But the real issue lies in the bottom line. Employers nowadays are simply looking to maximize profits. Yes, employers really are trying to find that “one-stop-shop” type of employee. In other words, work places are looking for employees that can do it all within the limits of minimum wage. Which leaves thousands of individuals with special needs without a job.
Let me be the first to tell you looking for a staff that does it all is not going to work! These individuals who I consider to have divers-abilities and some of their abilities even seem like super powers. Their attention to detail, and ability to give 100% is impeccable and cant be match by our fellow “typicals.” The only issue is that their skills are specific, their work duties may require a little customization and their ability to work for long periods of time is limited. Unfortunately, we are missing the mark in our society and overlooking this amazing workforce who cant wait to help our businesses, but we need to realize that they have diverse-abilities and not disabilities.
Take a look at Al. Al has extreme sensitivity to loud noises and would have an obsession toward putting things back to the way they needed to be. When sudden loud noises would happen, Al would begin to scream and even walk outside while screaming to leave an area that brought him discomfort. In addition, Al would get into trouble with employers as his obsessive compulsive behavior would create discomfort in retail stores when he would take clothing from people to immediately return it to the rack it belongs to. Lastly, when Al finishes his work he would get excited and jump while hand flapping which to many seemed very intimidating as he is now over 22 years of age.
I was blessed with the opportunity to work with Al and assess his diverse-abilities to find something that would tailor to his interest for getting messy, putting things where they belong, and avoiding noise, without the ability to escape the environment. After weeks of assessment, I found an amazing organization in San Juan Capistrano, CA called The Ecology Center, which provides an educational center for locals to come visit and get ideas and even materials to begin living a water/environmentally conscious lifestyle.
We customized a position and presented it to Al, by explaining to his the things that we felt where out of place and required his expertise. Al, was given the task of filling the “out-of-place” empty buckets with fresh compost soil, which where then past to his co-worker to be planted with a seed. Al, not only made the bucket look how they needed to look (with soil) but her currently holds a record with over 150 buckets filled in less then 35 minutes. We also, purchased a hip new set of noise cancelling Beats by Dre Headphones for him and attached it to an Apple IPod Shuffle with his favorite hits. Al, has found purpose in his life, as his circle of support has grown to be much bigger than just to those who are assigned to care for him. Al, now truly has genuine friends.
Al, is one of many cases in which I have assisted in providing a life of purpose for. Although Al found work, our goal is to help each individual find what it is that brings joy to their life by being an integrated member of society. A lack of purpose accounts for the 2.8 billion prescriptions written last year for individuals with disabilities.
Purpose can be found through work, friends and simply a feeling of belonging. Our goal is advocate to our local communities that this population is not disabled! We simply need to re-evaluate what we consider to be “able.” These amazing people deserve to feel what it is to belong, as a productive member of our society.
