For people with disabilities, finding work is not always easy
The labor shortage has helped some people with disabilities find jobs but many challenges remain.
That’s what Ann Heilbrunn tells me, and she would know: She has more than 30 years’ experience assisting people with disabilities who desperately want to work.
Heilbrunn specializes in employment services at the Center for Disability Empowerment (disabilityempowerment.net) a Columbus nonprofit that helps connect people to housing, jobs, transportation and other services.
(The center is holding an online auction fundraiser Sept. 9-13. For details, go to biddingowl.com/cde.)
When it all works out on the employment front, the impact can be powerful. Heilbrunn gave two recent examples.
Michael Uhle, a high school and collegiate pole-vaulter who suffered a traumatic brain injury at age 25 when he fell from a balcony, became part of the “Experience Team” for the Columbus Crew this season. He helps fans find their way on game days at Lower.com Field.
With severe speech and mobility issues, Uhle, 32, had been told by the State of Ohio that he was too disabled to be employed. So how did it feel to prove that judgment wrong?
“I was very happy that somebody was treating me like an actual human being,” he said.
Uhle makes $10 an hour but said the exhilaration of having a job is worth far more than that.
Likewise, Mary Cavendish, 55, of Grandview Heights, will be helping Ohio State University football fans find their way this season when she begins work as an Ohio Stadium Redcoat, the workers who operate elevators, scan tickets and assist fans in other ways.
It’s her first paying job ($8.50 an hour) since she was partially paralyzed in a fall at her home in 2002, when she was a busy mother with children ages 10, 7 and 5 . Despite the injury, she’s volunteered at high school plays, the Columbus Marathon, bicycle races and other events.
“I like to socialize,” said Cavendish. “So (the job) will be a great position for me. I don’t think I could have done it without Ann.”
Heilbrunn has found that some employers are indeed more open to hiring
the people she works with now that “help wanted” signs are popping up everywhere.
The big obstacle always has been fear — by all parties involved, she said. Would-be employees fear they’ll fail; companies fear the risk they perceive in hiring someone with disabilities.
But Uhle and Cavendish are examples of what can happen when those fears are overcome. People with disabilities have much to offer, Heilbrunn said.
“Just give them a chance. They want to be out of the house. They want to be appreciated. They want to give value to society.”
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist. joe.blundo@gmail.com @joeblundo