Linking Employers and Workers With Disabilities

It's Sandy Spoonemore's job to help connect employers with job seekers who have disabilities.

To Sandy Spoonemore of Dallas, getting people with disabilities into the workplace isn't just a good idea, it's her job.

Spoonemore is director of Choice Employment Internet Recruiting, a Web-based employment resource targeted at people with disabilities. The site, an undertaking of United Cerebral Palsy Dallas, links employers and job seekers.

Choice Employment has nine corporate partners — companies specifically seeking to hire people with disabilities — such as Federal Express, IBM and JCPenney — and each has a nationwide employment scope. The site, www.choiceemployment.com, also features career resources such as resume tips and information about assistive technology.

Spoonemore said that after only a year in existence, Choice Employment has more than 900 people in its database, and last year placed 17 people in new jobs.

"We're hoping for that placement number to go way high," said Spoonemore, who is 35. "What we need to do is get the word out to the disabled population that there is an opportunity for them."

This isn't the first job centered around disability for Spoonemore, who has spinal muscular atrophy and uses a power wheelchair.

Previously, she was the nationwide personnel manager of corporate resources for NationsBank, where she oversaw the bank's compliance with the ADA and its commitment to people with disabilities. There she ensured that all automatic teller machines were wheelchair-accessible and included Braille labeling.

Prior to taking that position, she worked as a systems engineer for EDS and Texas Instruments. Spoonemore received her degree in computer information systems from Baylor University in 1987.

Not working never seemed to be an option for her, Spoonemore said.

"It's never been an issue because I had parents who said, 'You are going to college. This sit-at-home stuff is not happening,'" she said. "It's just a matter of grabbing hold of what you can do, and striving to make it all happen."

That's not to say that her working experience has been without obstacles. Spoonemore said her biggest problem to solve has been toileting.

At her first job with Texas Instruments, she would go to a nursing area for assistance. At both EDS and NationsBank, the companies hired a nurse's aide who would come at specific times to assist her. At UCP, there's an adult day program on site and the people who work in that program assist Spoonemore.

"There are multiple ways of doing it, so it's just really a matter of sitting down with someone and saying, 'Look, here's what my needs are,' and the company saying, 'Here's what our needs are, how can we make them work together?'" Spoonemore said.

Her advice to job seekers is to take a realistic look at your skills and what you have to offer. Seek out training — including online options — to fill the holes in your resume.

"If we want to be treated like everyone else in society, then we need to behave like everyone else in society. That means we need to go out and find ways to market ourselves and we need to find and get the skill sets."

Scoring Behind the Scenes in the Sports World

Sports aren't just a game for Jimmy Valdes, who creates graphics and archives video for CBS Sports.

Jimmy Valdes is known for his hard work and dedication to his job as a graphics assistant and archive specialist with CBS Sports. But he says crucial credit goes to someone else: his father, Jose.

The elder Valdes drives his son from the Queens area to the bustling center of New York City and back again five days a week. His father also stops by to assist him with toileting or anything else he might need during the workday.

"I've been blessed with having such a tremendous dad," said Valdes, who has spinal muscular atrophy and uses a power wheelchair.

Even before Valdes, 33, began his career, his father also drove him to school at St. John's University in Queens. But it was Jimmy Valdes who took advantage of every opportunity he could while in college, and that was crucial in launching his career.

"One of the things I tried to do at St. John's, because I knew I'd be lacking work experience, I tried to be as active as possible in extracurricular activities," Valdes said. He got involved with the television club, which produced a weekly news program, and the campus newspaper, where he eventually became co-sports editor. Valdes graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in communication arts.

He was hired at CBS in 1991 as a weekend intern logging video from NFL games. In 1993 he started working five days a week, but his efforts began to backfire when he lost his Medicare coverage because he'd been working for seven years, Valdes said.

That forced him to approach CBS officials and explain his predicament. They decided to add Valdes to CBS staff, which meant he was entitled to company benefits, including a health insurance plan.

Otherwise, it's been mostly smooth sailing in Valdes' career.

"I'm fortunate as far as physical barriers, since there really aren't any. The building was accessible to begin with, and the people that I work for are conscientious if there is anything I need," Valdes said.

Valdes said he's beginning to investigate services such as accessible transportation and affordable home health care assistance should his father someday be unable to help him.

Meantime, he's able to focus on his job, which entails preparing on-screen graphics for any New York-based studio broadcast by CBS Sports. He's involved with CBS coverage of both the Super Bowl and the NCAA basketball tournament this year.

Valdes said working makes him feel complete and he relishes the opportunity to challenge himself. Plus, he is fortunate to get paid for working in the sports world.

"For me, on its best day, it doesn't feel like work," he said. "I'm doing something that I like and I'm getting paid for it."

THEY WANT YOU

A look at one of many employers seeking workers with disabilities Chuck Lamoreaux is looking for a few good men and women with disabilities. Make that quite a few — 3,000 over the next five years to be exact.

Lamoreaux is the diversity recruitment manager for the Social Security Administration, where his mission is to "reduce the underrepresentation of our minority populations and help create a work force which is truly reflective of the American public SSA serves."

In other words, Lamoreaux, who's based in Baltimore, seeks out and hires qualified people with disabilities to work at all levels of SSA, from entry-level to high-level managers.

Along with a garden variety of programs, internships and hiring schedules, SSA recruits prospective employees through colleges and universities, state vocational rehabilitation programs, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Welfare to Work to find qualified individuals. It even includes recruitment material with some of the program information given to SSA benefit recipients.

"We're looking for qualified people everywhere, from every sector," said Lamoreaux, who describes himself a C-6/7 tetraplegic as a result of an automobile accident, and uses a wheelchair.

SSA has impressive numbers to show for its hiring efforts: Over the last three years, SSA has hired nearly 1,500 new workers with 7disabilities. The federal program also spends $7 million to $8 million a year on reasonable accommodations for its employees with severe disabilities, Lamoreaux said.

"It only makes good business sense to tap into a population that has yet to be totally tapped," Lamoreaux said. "And once we bring them onboard, we know that as a rule, employees with disabilities tend to stay with an organization longer, so we consider it a very good investment."

Other points SSA can brag about: Its employees work in 1,340 field offices, 10 regional offices, 138 hearing offices and many program service and teleservice centers in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It was ranked second by Careers and the DisAbled magazine's listing of top public sector employers (behind the Department of Veterans Affairs). Also, SSA is taking many steps in anticipation of an increasing number of people with disabilities in its work force — training its management and making accommodations such as interpreters, Braille services, and providing scooters or wheelchairs in some large offices.

SSA isn't alone in its recruiting efforts targeting those with disabilities. Lamoreaux said he finds himself competing with the corporate world, too.

"We're finding that the private sector is also plugged into this now. They're seeing that people with disabilities are a very valuable resource," he said.

Other government agencies are mounting similar efforts as well, especially after an executive order issued by President Clinton in July 2000 at an ADA commemoration speech. The order requires federal agencies to hire 100,000 employees with disabilities over the next five years.

Lamoreaux, who himself once received Social Security benefits, points out that it's in taxpayers' best interests to get qualified people off public payrolls and into the work force: Our country spends $55 billion a year in disability benefits.

The challenge remains in getting the word out and finding qualified workers. Meantime, Lamoreaux says this to those looking to enter the work force:

"With the new Ticket to Work legislation coming down, what do you have to lose? What is your greatest fear now? Do you want more out of life?" he said. "If you have a belief in yourself, then step out and take the chance. The safety net is now there."