Don Nelson, Vice President of Government Facilities Services for PRIDE Industries, was interviewed on ABC-7 in El Paso by Mark Ross to call attention to National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
People with Disabilities
Jobs for people who are deaf can be hard to come by. But at Fort Bliss, where PRIDE Industries has provided a broad range of facilities management services since 2007, it’s different.
“From the very start, we hired at least one deaf individual,” said Cynthia Baca, Recruiting Manager for Talent Acquisition at PRIDE Industries. “By the end of the year, several deaf employees were working here at Fort Bliss.”
Today 41 deaf people work at Fort Bliss, thriving in positions that run the gambit from general maintenance work to supervisory roles.
People of All Abilities Deserve Access to Employment
Envisioning an inclusive world where people of all abilities have equal access to achieve their employment goals, PRIDE Industries knows that abilities come in all kinds of packages. And, every day, the Fort Bliss team puts this vision to work.
PRIDE Industries’ late CEO Michael Ziegler said it this way: “The magic that happens when someone who typically cannot get a job finally gets a job—it’s incredible. Their lives change.”
Barriers to Jobs for People Who are Deaf
Unfortunately, many employers maintain a bias that is a barrier to jobs for people who are deaf. According to the Yang-Tan Institute at Cornell University’s 2016 analysis, fewer than 40 percent of those with significant hearing loss work full-time. A 2019 study by the National Deaf Center found that only 53 percent of deaf people were employed overall. Even more troubling—this marks a steep decrease since the 1970s despite deaf individuals earning degrees at four times the rate they did then. Experts in the field attribute this to continuing discriminatory hiring practices, employer misconceptions, and unwillingness to provide basic accommodations.
After experiencing these barriers with his former employers, Jesus Rosales, Facilities Supervisor for the carpentry shop at Fort Bliss, found the opposite at PRIDE Industries.
“From the start, I’ve had access to interpreters and training that I didn’t have anywhere else,” he signed through an interpreter. “I saw that deaf people could be promoted to higher positions. There is no limit here.”
Work Control Specialist Christina Turon concurs.
“With my previous employer, there were a lot of barriers to accessibility. No interpreters. No alarms. During meetings, I’d try to watch my coworkers’ lips at the same time I was watching out for forklifts and back trailers. It was all very obstructing to my abilities.”
Christina contrasts that with her experience with PRIDE Industries at Fort Bliss.
“Here, it’s amazing,” signed Christina. “I feel supported. They provide interpreters. They understand Deaf culture. There’s more accessibility and learning opportunities. Everyone here communicates the way I do.”
They Speak My Language
It’s important to note that many in the Deaf community don’t view deafness as a disability but, rather, as a culture—a vibrant one with its own language: sign.
“That’s a big part of why I feel so motivated to come to work every day,” signed Jesus. “The people here speak my language and understand me.”
“They speak my language” is a refrain among deaf employees on the PRIDE Industries team. That’s because, in addition to the Deaf community using it, the Fort Bliss job coaches are all trained in sign language.
While Deaf culture includes an emphasis on sign language, it doesn’t stop there. According to the World Federation of the Deaf, it includes “beliefs, attitudes, history, norms, values, literary traditions, and art shared by those who are deaf.”
That culture is alive and well at Fort Bliss.
“During Deaf Awareness week, the team organized and attended a number of local events,” said Cynthia. “They reached out to the community as well—to include interpreters, members of the sign club, and college students.”
A Work Ethic That Generates Results
The team’s work ethic is also on point, as is its capacity to generate excellent results.
So notes Tim Young, PRIDE Industries Vice President of Talent Management, who has spent the bulk of his career working in customer service environments.
“There’s a misconception out there—that the level of execution, performance, operations, and customer service would be different with an organization like PRIDE Industries,” said Tim. “And it’s not. All our employees provide a very high level of service.”
Specifically, at Fort Bliss, PRIDE Industries management received 1,764 positive customer evaluations in the last 12 months alone. Moreover, the team’s OSHA incident rating (number of safety incidents) clocks in at half the industry’s average.
When People of All Abilities Are Given a Chance
Growing from one deaf employee in 2007 to 41 in 2023, building a vibrant work culture, and demonstrating business excellence, the team at Fort Bliss is a great example of the “magic” that can happen for organizations when barriers to employment are eliminated.
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PRIDE Industries’ VP of Workforce Inclusion talks about the upcoming I AM ABLE Disability Job Fair and the challenges and opportunities facing employers and job seekers the disabilities during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
People who stutter often face challenges finding employment. After graduating summa cum laude from Sacramento State University, Alex Naumann should have had no trouble getting a job. But despite being bright, professional, and having a great work ethic, he struggled.
“That was largely because I’m a person who stutters,” said Alex.
Finding employment can be challenging for anyone, but for people with disabilities, it’s doubly so. Data published by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics bear this out: People with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed as those without disabilities.
Employment Helpline Leads to Internship
Alex decided to reach out for help. “I signed up with the California Department of Rehabilitation, and my counselor gave me a list of vendors that included PRIDE Industries. That company was familiar to me, so I contacted their I AM ABLE® Employment Helpline.”
“I’m incredibly excited to help with the Employee Giving Campaign this year,” said Alex. “I get to prove myself as a hard worker while helping to fund future interns in the same circumstance I was in.”
On calling the Helpline, Alex was referred to Employment Specialist Sara Robinson, who made him aware of an internship opportunity with The Michael Ziegler PRIDE Industries Foundation.
“Sara and I both thought it would be a good opportunity,” said Alex, “because it would allow me to gain knowledge, learn skills, and demonstrate my current abilities while building experience that I could take with me to my next job.”
With that, Alex arrived for his first day of work at PRIDE Industries this August, where he was surprised, in a good way, by his welcome.
A Welcoming Work Environment for People Who Stutter
“From the start, I was greeted with exceptional acceptance,” Alex said. “Something I’m not used to in the world.”
For Alex and many people who stutter, this kind of welcoming environment isn’t typical. Elsewhere, when introducing himself, he has been laughed at or asked if he had forgotten his own name.
“Nothing like that happened here,” he said. “I was met with patience and understanding.”
Freed up from some of the barriers he has typically faced, Alex has been working hard as a member of the Foundation team. In fact, the initiative he’s working on is the very one that helps fund both the I AM ABLE Employment Helpline and PRIDE Industries internships: the Employee Giving Campaign.
“I’m incredibly excited to help with the Employee Giving Campaign this year,” said Alex. “I get to prove myself as a hard worker while helping to fund future interns in the same circumstance I was in.”
A Chance to Put Skills to Use and Learn New Ones
In his internship, Alex is developing many professional skills that he didn’t previously have.
“I’m getting exposed to life in a professional office setting, including all of the protocols that go along with that,” said Alex. “I’m also getting the opportunity to hone my writing skills.”
“Alex’s written communication skills are at a high level,” said Michele Bennyhoff, Director of The Michael Ziegler PRIDE Industries Foundation. “His ability to be genuine with donors comes naturally as he produces letters of gratitude and other communications—all while learning new software.”
Alex has learned to use a variety of software platforms, including Microsoft Office 365 and Monday.com—with Salesforce next up.
He’s also learning about teamwork in the professional world.
“My experience working with others here is much different from when I was in school,” he said. “Here, the concept of teamwork has been strong—with multiple people collaborating on the same project. I will take that value to my next job.”
Alex has also had the opportunity to put his degree to use, assisting PRIDE Industries Videographer Christian Naranjo.
“I really enjoyed helping Christian,” said Alex. “I got insight into how a one-man video crew, with proper knowledge and gear, can do the work of many people.”
Christian enjoyed the collaboration as well.
“Alex was excited to help out and see what goes into a PRIDE Industries production,” he said. “It had been a while since he’d worked on a video project, so he was getting back into the rhythm of things and asking questions along the way. You can see that he has a passion for the craft.”
Accommodations for People with Disabilities Are Inexpensive
According to the National Stuttering Association, stuttering affects the speech of one out of every 100 people—over 70 million, worldwide. This means if a company has 500 employees, five of them likely stutter.
Some organizations fear that accommodations—for people who stutter or for any employee with a disability—are costly. They aren’t. Over 49 percent of companies surveyed said accommodations cost nothing, while the rest of the companies reported spending no more than $300 per employee with a disability over the span of their employment. What’s more, employers report that these measures usually pay for themselves.
Acceptance: A Basic Human Need That’s Also Good for Business
Sometimes an accommodation is simply an attitude.
“Beyond my friends and family, I’m not used to the level of acceptance I’ve received here at PRIDE Industries,” said Alex. “I’ve never experienced that in the work world.”
Closely linked to belonging, acceptance in the workplace is vital—and not just at a personal level. Employees who feel accepted perform better.
Since 1966, PRIDE Industries has understood that this level of inclusivity isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also good for business.
Need employment placement support?
Wherever you are in your career journey, PRIDE Industries’ employment program for people with disabilities can help you land that first job or move ahead in your industry.
In this HR Morning article, PRIDE Industries’ Darelyn Pazdel writes about how, amid a frontline labor shortage, companies are turning to employees with disabilities to tackle hard-to-fill roles, and finding a hard-working, loyal, reliable talent pool.
