You Can Make a Difference

Summary:
Keynote Speech delivered at Employer Recognition Breakfasts of the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Rehabilitation Services, in Springfield, IL and Chicago, IL

I have a question for you. Think about a time when you felt good about yourself. What was the occasion?

Was it when you got that big promotion at work? How about when you made a donation to your favorite charity? Or how about the time you helped someone on the job?

Peter Drucker has said that most people are not satisfied with just giving money to a charity. Most of us also have a need to commit ourselves to do something constructive - to work on something worthwhile.

I'm here this morning to talk about one way to gain a sense of personal satisfaction - personal satisfaction you'll be able to recall throughout the remainder of your life. Here's how: by making a difference in the career of someone who has a disability.

You can make a difference.

Let me show you how you can make a difference by talking a little bit about my life. I'm using my story because six key people - people like you - helped me develop my career.

More than 60 years ago, I was born with cerebral palsy. Part of my brain was injured at birth. I walk and talk with difficulty. But the part of my brain that was not injured gives me average intelligence.

My mother taught me first grade at home because I flunked first grade in the regular school system back in Wisconsin. By second grade, I was in a special orthopedic school for kids with all kinds of disabilities. Then I went to a mainstream high school back home. In 1965, I graduated in journalism from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The first break in my career came from Dean, my mother's brother. Dean was chief engineer for a small dairy co-op in Wisconsin Dells country. Dean worked for Tom, the co-op's president. Tom was looking for someone to develop the company's publications, and Dean put in a good word for me. That was networking in the 1960s.

Tom gave me my second break. Tom took a chance and hired me to do his newsletter - and he stuck with me, even though I made all kinds of mistakes. But I got his newsletter in shape, and it eventually became a magazine.

My third break came from my supervisor, Bob. Bob was the co-op's marketing director. He had gone to college with a guy who had cerebral palsy. So my disability was not new to him. Within three years, Bob became president. Bob also stuck with me, even though I made all kinds of mistakes. The co-op grew rapidly through mergers and acquisitions. I saved Bob time by developing his speeches.

My fourth break came 10 years after that. Bob retired and Don, production director, became president. Don and I had worked together for 10 years. Don knew my photography could make his production plants look good. Don promoted me to Communication Director and then to Vice President of Communication as the co-op grew through mergers, consolidations and acquisitions to become a Fortune 500 company.

Then there is Jack. I met Jack while he was teaching at the University of Wisconsin in 1992. Jack had just retired as manager of succession planning for SC Johnson and Son in Racine. He was coaching Joe, a member of the Johnson family, as he went through college. Joe has cerebral palsy.

Jack also coached me during the next seven years as I decided to retire from the dairy co-op and start a new career.

And, then, I have to mention one last person: Lynn, my career counselor at Haldane Associates in Milwaukee. In more than 50 years of helping people get jobs, Haldane had never accepted a client with a disability before Lynn began to work with me. With her as my coach, I became the senior content developer for eSight Careers Network in New York City four years ago.

Dean, Tom, Bob, Don, Jack and Lynn all popped up in my life at the right time. They each gave me just the right boost I needed to take the next step in my career.

Like them, you can make a difference for one person with a disability. And here's how: by hiring that person or coaching that person along the way.

But the difference you can make is not for just that one person. There's another side of my story. During the last 40 years, I have hired at least 25 people. These 25 people became used to working with someone who is disabled.

For example, Bonnie from my staff of 20 years ago, is now president of her own advertising agency in Phoenix. Some of her clients have disabilities.

Here's a second example: Ted is a professor of communications at Marquette University in Milwaukee. I gave Ted his second job in 1982. He now invites business people who have disabilities to discuss communication issues with his students.

Diane is a third example. She's vice president of communication for the American Cancer Society. She recruits people with disabilities on campus. Diane served on my staff for 10 years.

Because of my disability, I changed the way Bonnie, Ted and Diane view the world. They know how to be inclusive. By working with me, they got rid of their fear of disability. And now they are showing others how to shed that fear. They're showing others how to be more inclusive in the workplace.

My hope is that some day employers will naturally include disability in their diversity programs.

My hope is that some day people with disabilities will naturally be expected - just like every one else - to manage their own careers.

My hope is that some day anyone with a disability will be able to find jobs in the mainstream workplace - and find opportunities for promotion.

We're not there yet. We have a long way to go.

Right now, only 25 percent of people like me - who can not speak clearly - have jobs.

In general, 35 percent of people with all kinds of disabilities are employed full or part time, according to this year's Harris survey. However, 78 percent of those who are not disabled have jobs.

Competitive jobs for people with disabilities: That's a relatively new concept. It dates back to the 1970s when people with disabilities started going to college. But the idea wasn't taken seriously until the 1990s.

Many of us who hire people have skipped over job candidates with disabilities. And I think the reason is because we have not had experience in working with people who are disabled.

The time has come to change that lack of experience by taking a direct, personal approach.

As a business leader, you can do four things that will directly affect how many people with disabilities have jobs.

First, you can make a difference by recruiting students with disabilities on college campuses. Why should you do that? Because those students are a resource of talent for your workforce that you have not fully tapped.

Second, you can make a difference by helping someone with a disability who is already working for your company. Why should you do that? Because he probably could use your guidance in taking the next step in his career. That's a great way to make your company stronger.

Third, you can make a difference by hiring someone with disability who already has a job at another firm. Why do that? Because that person is probably stuck in a "safe" job, a job with very few opportunities to make full use of his skills. He's another untapped resource for your company.

Fourth, you can make a difference by hiring someone over 50 who may have just become disabled. Why should you do that? Because he is probably learning to use adaptive technology for the first time and is eager to contribute to the success of your company.

In each of these cases, I urge you to seek the best qualified candidates.

Seek those who are prepared for the mainstream job market.

Seek those who know how to resolve their own accommodation issues.

Seek those who can help you beat the competition.

Seek those who have accepted their disabilities and don't take themselves too seriously.

You can become the Dean, the Tom, the Bob, the Don, the Jack or the Lynn that I have had during my 40-year career. By doing so, you'll make a difference.

In fact, by making a difference for just one person with a disability, you can affect how hundreds of people - people like Bonnie, Ted and Diane - view disability from a job standpoint.

That kind of action requires no government program. It needs no money. There's no time lag in getting things started. You can start the process for yourself this week. Search for a person with a disability who will, with your encouragement, help break the barriers to disability employment.

And, when you retire, you'll have one more reason for feeling good about yourself - because you did something on your own to increase the diversity of our workplaces - and make them stronger.

You can make a difference.

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