Colorado company bolsters disability-inclusive workspaces in Roaring Fork Valley
Cassandra Ballard/Post Independent
Not everyone is excited to go to their job, and most people wouldn’t show up an hour early to be fully prepared for the day.
Teddy Stiller is not only excited to commute from Aspen to Glenwood Springs to work at Walmart, but he’ll also show up early to make sure he’s ready for anything — even just an AHA sparkling water and a little sun.
“I like that everyone’s so friendly,” he said. “My boss is nice. It’s good weather, as of now — let’s pray for more good weather. And it’s pretty chill pushing carts, and I get to meet a lot of people.”
He’s 16 years old and been working for Walmart for a month now. He got his job with the help of Kaleb Cook through Cook Inclusive Company, which works to pair students with the jobs to fit their skillset.
“Making sure that we provide that very affirming work environment and not only training the individual to be successful in the workplace, but also the employer because we know it’s super important that people understand what accommodations are and how to be affirming for people with disabilities,” Cook said.
“I wanted to work at Walmart because I was obsessed with the TV show ‘Superstore,'” Stiller said. “And I really thought working at Walmart would be really fun, interesting, and entertaining.”
He started watching the show and thought, “Yeah, I can really do that,” he said.
Stiller said he was drawn to the TV show and the idea of working in an environment like Walmart because it seemed like a fun group of people to work with. When he did land the job, he wasn’t disappointed.
He has a great boss, Renee Fowler, whom he wants to work hard for and a team he cares about.
Stiller has more of what can be described as an invisible disability. He’s quick-witted, thoughtful, and has a great sense of humor, which keeps people laughing. He’s in no way incapable of working; he just needs occasional accommodations and genuine understanding from his bosses.
That’s where Cook Inclusive Company comes in.
There are many employers in the Roaring Fork Valley that know how to work with people with different kinds of disabilities, like Safeway, Walmart, and Iron Mountain Hot Springs. But Cook is working to make all companies in the valley able and willing to hire people with disabilities.
When everyone else is talking about worker shortages, he is pointing out that he has a lot of workers looking for jobs.
One adult in four has some type of disability whether visible or invisible, according to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nearly half of workplace accommodations made for people with disabilities can be implemented at no cost to employers, and of those that do incur a one-time cost, the median expenditure is about $300, according to the US Department of Labor Office.
A 2018 study from Accenture revealed that after one year, the retention rate for employees with disabilities is 85%. Only 30% of the Americans with disabilities participate in the in the labor force, relative to 77% of people without disabilities, according to the CDC.
There are many different kinds of disabilities that can affect people’s ability to find and maintain work without a little help and understanding.
Some examples of different disabilities include:
- Physical — like cerebral palsy, paralysis, an amputation, a spinal cord injury.
- Sensory — like visual and hearing impairments.
- Intellectual — like cognitive functioning, which might mean difficulties with reasoning, learning everyday skills, and problem solving.
- Developmental — which might include autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, or conditions that affect a person’s physical, cognitive, or emotional development.
- Invisible — can include mental health disorders and chronic health conditions or even autism.
Why is the talent being left untapped?
Some employers can have misconceptions about different disabilities; there can be stigmas or biases, fear of accommodation costs or accessibility issues, cultural conditions, and more, according to the panelists at the Equity Speaker Series: building a more disability-inclusive workforce from Sept. 17, for National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
The event was hosted by Cook Inclusive Company, Manaus, and Arc of the Central Mountains, and the panelists included Frost Forrester, a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the State of Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. All of these groups can assist in pairing people who want to work with people who are looking for staff.
What Cook has been doing is building more awareness and challenging businesses to take a chance, and from the sounds of it, it continues to be a success. Companies like the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, Aspen Skiing Company, and the Bluebird Cafe have all hired his students and are pleased with the decision.
There, he spoke about when he convinced the Aspen airport to hire one of his students because the young person loved planes and aviation.
When they finally agreed to hire him, they found that his passion for aviation made him a great employee. This helped fuel him to go to college for aviation, and he still comes home to work at the airport during the summers.
Owner of the Bluebird Cafe, Justin Bishop, said he hired two of Cook’s students after having some of the students come in and work for a day.
Stiller also had such a passion to work in a “Superstore”-type of environment that he has now created a family-like relationship with a job he loves to go to.
Employment is a vehicle for change and can shape other forms of self-care, independence, and excitement to engage in the local community, according to both Forrester and Cook.
Cook works to pair the students with jobs they will love, and then he makes sure they are set up for success.
“We spend a lot of time in the front end of everything, really making sure they have all the skills to be successful once they start their job,” he said. “It’s not like I’m here telling them what to do. I call myself a forcefield — I’m just there to help mitigate any conflicts.”
He will help by riding the bus with his students to help them gain independence and understand the bus system on their own. He said he’ll help and make sure his students have what they need and are ready for a good shift, while also helping employers.
“Making sure that we provide that very affirming work environment and not only training the individual to be successful in the workplace, but also the employer because we know it’s super important that people understand what accommodations are and how to be affirming for people with disabilities,” Cook said.
Aaron McCallister, general manager of Iron Mountain Hot Springs. was also a panelist at the disability-inclusive workplace discussion on Sept. 27, and he talked about how simple accommodations can help his employees in big ways.
He has managed a couple businesses in Glenwood Springs, and many of the people with disabilities he’s hired still work at the places he hired them.
Making accommodation for different employees can vary but always has a great payoff.
For example, he said that he used to give a longer to-do list for one employee, and he noticed they would struggle with it.
When he started giving that employee a couple things to mark off at a time, they handled their work much better with less stress.
There is obviously no single environment that works best for everyone, but there are a lot of people in the valley who are willing to help and set everyone up for success – both employers and employees.
For Stiller, he just wanted a fun place to work with nice people who make him happy to be there.
Cook said he likes to meet his students where they’re at, and he hopes more businesses looking for employees are willing to do more of the same.
This story is from Postindependent.com.
