Speech presented at IndependenceFirst, Milwaukee, WI on October 4, 2010
Good morning. I am Dan Lococo and I’d like to talk with you about a program I have been developing called Mainstreaming on Main Street and how it relates to disability Mentoring Day. The focus of Mainstreaming on Main Street is perceptual challenges faced by disabled persons working in skilled or professional settings.
Mainstreaming on Main Street was developed in response to a number of closely related factors:
- The nation faces a declining work force due to an aging population.
- The biggest barriers to the hiring and advancement of persons with disabilities are perceptions regarding the ability of persons to perform the work and perceptions of prohibitive costs of accommodations.
- For almost 70% of companies employing persons with disabilities the cost of accommodations are $500 or less.
It’s especially meaningful for me to be sharing this podium today with Lee Schulz: One of the first people I talked with about Mainstreaming on Main Street was Lee Schulz. I consider IndependenceFirst to be a great ally in the work I’m doing with Mainstreaming on Main Street.
Mainstreaming on Main Street was inspired by my experience as a Coach in the Milwaukee Mosaic Partnership program. As Mosaic Coaches we facilitated diverse groups of people in sharing our hopes, fears and concerns with the goal of gaining a much more personal understanding of our shared experiences.
When we come to IndependenceFirst we get a chance to learn about the many resources available to ensure disabled people can fully utilize the gifts and talents we bring to the table. We also learn about the barriers which make it challenging for us to be fully engaged in the community. The discussion often involves services, tools and attitudes towards disabled persons.
When disabled persons move into the employment arena they are faced with processes and practices designed to be most efficient for the majority of employees. A common phrase we often hear is “The hiring process”. The hiring process is frequently long and involves many people who must reach a consensus before a candidate is hired or promoted.
When a person with a disability comes to an organization the processes and practices standard to the organization can suddenly come grinding to a halt. Why? Because sometimes disabled people need to do things slightly different in order to achieve the same results. They are frequently simple but critical variations to the usual way of doing business. The problem is they can also be show stopping if they are not addressed.
Here’s a simple example from the Lococo household: One of the chores we share is doing the laundry. The washer and dryer are not accessible to me. I cannot do the laundry unless the washer and dryer are made accessible to me.
We have customized our washing machine to accommodate a blind operator. Sounds impressive, and expensive, doesn’t it? Well, here’s what we did. We took some of these very special adhesive pads, which can be found at any hardware store, and stuck them on the controls of the washing machine. All I have to do is line up two dots and the washer is accessible to a blind operator. This accommodation cost almost nothing and took less than a minute to accomplish.
Everything was fine with the washing machine solution until one day when one of the dots fell off of the washing machine controls. I realized the machine was no longer accessible. I would not be doing any more laundry until the dot was replaced on the controls. This was not negotiable. In fact, no one wanted me to operate the washing machine without accessible controls. The fix? Another dot, another minute of assistance from a sighted person and we’re good for another few years.
In that example, the cost of materials was almost nothing and the time required to implement the solution was insignificant. The steps to solve the problem were known and the required resources were readily available.
A work environment is far more complex than the example I just gave. There are many more situations and many more people involved. The distance between an obstacle and solution can be very long.
The risk a disabled person faces each time they enter into an employment situation is that someone in the hiring or promotion process will not know how to or even if it is possible to overcome the challenges of including a well qualified disabled person into their work setting. Not surprisingly, qualified disabled persons can be overlooked and money is left on the table.
In the work I’m doing with Mainstreaming on Main Street I invite people to examine how they approach the inclusion of disabled people into their work environments. Not in terms of institutional policies or Americans with Disabilities Act legislation. Instead, I ask people to engage in meaningful conversations about their hopes, fears and concerns regarding the physical and perceptual challenges associated with issues of inclusion.
As we look forward to Disability Mentoring Day on October 20th I encourage you to think about how you will engage the men and women who come to learn about your organization and their vocational interests. I encourage you to leverage this opportunity to have conversations about the processes and practices which they would encounter if you included them as a part of your organization.
Also, please remember October 20 is Disability Mentoring Day not Mentor a Disabled Individual Day. Please use the time you have with these women and men to have a conversation. Compare notes on how challenges can be met, obstacles can be overcome, fears can be dealt with. You may be surprised to find your biggest concerns are very different from, or the same as, those of the person who you welcome into your organization.
At the end of Disability Mentoring Day I hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to assess the experience with the individuals who come to your organization and also to assess your organization’s readiness to include a disabled person as part of your workforce. What was easy? What was hard? What was uncomfortable and when did everything go just right?
As I come to conclusion here I’d like to paraphrase a scene from a favorite movie of mine and illustrate another reason why Disability Mentoring Day is a great opportunity for your organization.
In the original scene from the movie “The Three Days of the Condor” Joubert, the assassin, explains to Joe Turner, played by Robert Redford, how he is likely to die. In my rewrite of the scene Joubert explains:
“It will happen like this. One morning you will be in the equipment room at your office. Perhaps it will be a quiet Friday before a long weekend. A person quietly comes into the room. It is someone you are familiar with, possibly someone who you have looked up to and has helped your career. With great hesitation they approach you with a small card in their hand. They look at you and say “I’m hoping you can help me. I’m having trouble making out the buttons on the copy machine and I’m hoping you could put one of these dots on the “Start” button for me’. As you look from their face to the card and back to their face you realize how much of a humbling experience it must be to have to ask for help like this. You reach out your hand to take the card and say ‘Of course.’”
It isn’t the charitable act of saying “Of course.” To a person with special needs it is the conversation that comes afterward which defines the dignity and mutuality of the future of the relationship.
Disability Mentoring Day is an opportunity for some fine young people to explore the world of work and for organizations to explore their ability to be inclusive of persons with disabilities. Above all it is an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations. I sincerely hope you will.
I thank you for this opportunity to speak with you this morning. I would be happy to talk further with anyone after the program concludes.
Mainstreaming on Main Street 
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