At an event a few weeks ago I ran into one of the many satisfied customers of our employment division. This particular customer is a senior executive with a major retailing chain who oversees more than 250 stores in the United States and Canada including a dozen or so in the Puget Sound region. “I can’t get over it,” he told me. “In every store where we have hired people from your employment agency, in-store sales have improved, productivity has improved, morale has improved, and absenteeism has gone down. What’s going on here?”
We have shared many stories in this column about the inherent human value that people with developmental conditions bring to the classroom, the workplace and the community. And we have especially celebrated the wonders of inclusion — the way everyone’s best qualities seem to emerge when people of all abilities engage by learning and working together.
We recently had the opportunity to visit Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center in Woodinville. They had visited our early learning center to see and hear about our work of inclusion in the classroom. Now it was our turn to see their work. The Little Bit website describes therapeutic riding as a place “where miracles happen every day.” The day we visited was no exception.
The organization I work for serves people with developmental conditions like autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and so on. We aspire to “serve” people rather than to “help” or to “fix” them.
As we try to work off that Thanksgiving feast by putting up the Christmas lights and (too often already) shoveling snow, it might be a good time also to reflect on the lessons of the past year and the opportunities that await us in 2011.
As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday the idea of food as a metaphor for inclusion seems more appropriate than ever….
I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with celebrated chef John Sundstrom, who visited Northwest Center’s early learning and childcare program and offered an interesting take on inclusion.
On a recent Monday afternoon, the rhythm of my day was broken by an excited call from my friend, Dean. He asked if I had seen 60 Minutes the night before and, upon learning that I hadn’t, broke into a vivid description of a segment about a phenomenal young man. Derek Paravicini is a musical savant — with a book, a CD, and sold-out performances around the globe.
What does it take to ensure that people we too often label as “disabled” are successful at work? As it turns out, it takes the same thing that all great companies use to ensure every employee is successful at work: smart business strategy.
I often talk about how human beings — regardless of their developmental diagnosis or condition — can learn and grow. But it isn’t often that I get to sit down and witness this type of growth as it’s happening. I did this recently with a five-year-old named Nora at our Child Development Program in Seattle, and came away with some extraordinary lessons.
emember when you applied for your first job? Many of us had the experience of filling out an application and shakily handing it to the manager of abusiness, hoping to get called for an interview.
The story of Joaquin is a powerful one.
He was born in October of 2007, a healthy and well-developed baby who went home without complication. Just four weeks later, however, Joaquin went into sudden cardiac arrest while he and his mother were at the store. For a short period of time, he was actually dead.
Got sports? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you do. In recent weeks, we’ve been watching the college elite battle for the championship in the NCAA basketball tournaments. Prior to tourney season, we also celebrated an incredible showing by the United States team at the Olympics in Vancouver.
