Contract Services give people with disabilities confidence they can excel at many tasks and instill a sense of pride in having done a job well. (Photo by Paige Connors, ATI.)
A letter to the editor found in the August 13 edition of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reminds us of the importance role service centers can play in making life matter for people with disabilities.
Ken, Sue, and Kris Kleinmeyer all signed the letter expressing concern over potential cuts in funding to prevocational programs in Linn County where they reside. Without the local support, write Ken and Sue, the only alternative for their daughter would be through Medicaid, which carries the Catch-22 restriction where making too much or not enough progress limits eligibility. They just want Kris to continue having the opportunity to live her life with a level of independence she has carved out for herself through working in contract services:
Our daughter has worked for Goodwill for 14 years and loves to go to work. We want the best for her, to see her come home off the LIFTS bus with her ticket in hand, her pop that she has earned from a job well done is what you call priceless.
Programs such as the one in Linn County sometimes struggle for credibility, as we’ve noted before. But contract service organizations are rarely without career training, job placement, and additional services that provide opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve greater independence and inclusion in their communities. An article in last Friday’s Tampa Bay Times by Lennie Bennett about the MacDonald Training Center says nearly all contracts the organization engages in for light assembly, packaging, and shipping “must offer a training opportunity.”
The impetus behind Bennett’s article is the advent of the Republican National Convention at the end of the month. Workers at MacDonald were hired to assemble 14,000 gift bags for attendees, which requires more than just putting a certain number of items in each bag, as Bennett explains:
A lot of planning was needed before the assembly line stuffing began because there are three categories of bags and not all items go into all bags. Delegates get the fattest ones with 12 out of a possible 15 items. Media will have eight in their bags, including a tin of breath mints and a sun kit with sunglasses, sunscreen and handheld fan.
That level of nuance within a repetitive task is often what gets overlooked when discussing contract services for people with disabilities. But the experience they have focusing on the details of assembly and fulfillment tasks, such as the RNC project, enable these individuals to achieve superior results in the work they do. If there’s any doubt that they take pride in their work, MacDonald’s community outreach coordinator Rita Hattab sets the record straight:
The RNC bags are filled quickly by the clients who return to the beginning of the line and repeat the process for about two hours before lunch break. Hattab said they don’t find the work boring; instead, the repetition and ability to work with few mistakes give the clients confidence. ‘They’re good at what they do, and they know it,’ she said.
Comments?
This article highlights the importance of vocational programs in fostering independence and self-worth for people with disabilities. Well it was said!