PORT TOWNSEND — Hiring people who have developmental disabilities can enhance a business while giving its owner the feeling he or she has done the right thing, speakers said at a breakfast event Thursday.
“It’s been an incredibly positive experience,” said Port Townsend Deputy Mayor Kris Nelson, who has hired people with developmental disabilities at Sirens, her downtown restaurant.
“They come in early every day with a great attitude and do everything you ask them to do.”
Nelson addressed about 60 people who had come to Fort Worden State Park for the inaugural Work With Me employer breakfast.
The event was sponsored by Skookum and the Community Connectors Group, both of which match developmentally disabled workers with local businesses.
Businesses recognized
Several local businesses that have hired developmentally disabled workers were recognized at the breakfast and presented with a decal bearing a logo designed by the Community Connectors Group.
The logo, which shows interlocking hands, will become a symbol of hope for the developmentally disabled, said Jefferson County Developmental Disabilities board member Carl Hanson.
“What helps to establish community is the feeling of a sense of belonging, but even beyond that is the experience of being a contributing member of the community,” Hanson said.
“When we can each feel that our individual abilities and skills are being recognized and put to use, a personal sense of value arises which makes for good business and a healthy community.”
Hanson said that adding people with disabilities creates a win-win situation for both the employer and the employee.
Nelson said she wasn’t sure employing a person with disabilities was going to work out.
“I worked with people with disabilities growing up, so this wasn’t a new thing for me,” she said.
“But as a business owner, I was concerned about making money, and my fear was that if it didn’t succeed that I wouldn’t have a way to get out of it.”
Once she hired a developmentally disabled worker, Nelson found that it immediately clarified her business processes because she had to explain each step.
Positive changes
The employee has now been in place for several years and has changed the work environment.
“He comes in each day and asks each one of us how we are,” she said, “which made us realize that we should be asking each other that question.”
It also has added stability to the business.
“In this business, the people who are doing the odd jobs that no one else wants to do are hard to retain,” she said.
“The great people in those jobs move up, and the not-so-great people never show up.”
Pane d’Amore Bakery owner Linda Yakush agreed, describing her developmentally disabled employee as reliable and steadfast.
“There are a lot of nitpicky tasks that are necessary that other employees don’t always have the time to do,” Yakush said.
“She gets them done with no drama and no nonsense,” Yakush said of her developmentally disabled employee.
Management agency
Skookum employment specialist Candy Kerr said her agency manages 40 to 50 developmentally disabled workers at a time.
Community Connectors Group has four workers in Jefferson County.
The breakfast, which will become an annual event, was not a fundraiser as the sponsors stopped soliciting money once the cost was covered.
For more information, contact Kerr at ckerr@skookum.com or 360-531-3545.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
