Making a Difference Discovery Day on Oct. 30th will include business tips on tax incentives, finding qualified people for the job, new technology and best practices to make it possible for more people with disabilities to join the work force...
Nationwide, over 75% of people with disabilities are unemployed; which translates to over 120,000 workers in Georgia alone. TheGovernor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities
(GCDD) and IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) are hosting a hands-on, information-packed, half-day executive briefing to encourage Georgia business leaders to consider diversity in their hiring practices and illustrate exactly how to tap into this reserve of dependable and highly motivated workers. The 8th AnnualMaking a Difference Discovery Day
takes place Thursday, Oct. 30th, 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM, at the Crowne Plaza Ravinia Hotel, 4355 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta and includes business tips on tax incentives, finding qualified people for the job, new technology and best practices to make it possible for more people with disabilities to join the work force.
The event opens eyes and smashes barriers so real people, like Quinn Ethridge, can be productive members of our society
. Ethridge, who plates cold foods for banquets at the Intercontinental Hotel restaurant, does not speak; however communications accommodations have been made so he can perform his job well. Christopher Fullagar, HR director at InterContinental Hotels, said, “The chef instructs Quinn by demonstrating how to put the food on the plates, then he will say, ‘Now you do it for me.’ And Quinn will demonstrate that he understands,” Fullagar said.
More employers are beginning to share IHG’s attitude toward this valuable labor pool, though not as quickly as Neil Romano, assistant secretary of the U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and keynote speaker at the upcoming Atlanta event, would like.
“The number of people with disabilities who are employed is abysmal,” he said. “AtDiscovery Day,
we’ll show employers the value of people with disabilities in the work place and how they improve the bottom line,” Romano said.
Over 100 business leaders from across Georgia are expected at the 8th Annual Making a Difference Discovery Day,
a unique opportunity for executives to see through first-person accounts, video highlights, project demonstrations, and panel discussions, the many benefits of hiring people with disabilities. Benefits include business tax incentives, improved productivity, and value added diversity. The event will be moderated by Richard Warner, CEO ofWhat’s Up Interactive
and host ofGeorgia’s Business
(GPB-TV) who has first-hand experience with disabilities through a loved one. Seventy-five percent of working age Americans with disabilities are overlooked for employment, yet they comprise a $3 trillion consumer market. Discovery Day corporate partners are Georgia Power, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), Southern Company and SunTrust Banks Inc.
“Thanks to the commitment of our sponsors, Georgia is blazing a trail to innovation to get people with developmental disabilities working,” said GCDD Executive Director Eric Jacobson. “Our most recent employment partnership, Project SEARCH, is rolling out in seven counties across Georgia including Hall, Walton, Coffee, Dougherty, Whitfield, Clarke and Chatham.”
Susie Rutkowski, co-founder of Project SEARCH which originated in Cincinnati, Ohio, will speak at Discovery Day and will outline the process for connecting real people with real jobs such as those offered at Walton Regional Medical Center.
“I make deliveries to other departments all by myself. I like meeting new people,” said Casey Craig, an intern at Walton Regional Medical Center. Through Project SEARCH, real people like Craig are making IV starter kits, stocking rooms, delivering specimens to the lab, filing, organizing supplies, delivering meal carts and much more.
Georgia first realized success with Project SEARCH at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta.
“One by one, people like Quinn Ethridge and Casey Craig are finding meaningful work. But we must do more to continue to collaborate and share information with corporations and members of the business community. Discovery Day offers the perfect venue for this robust exchange so people can realize their potential while communities and businesses in Georgia reap economic benefits,” added Jacobson.
Discovery Day participating companies and organizations also include Walgreen’s, Georgia Department of Human Resources, Marketing Solutions, Internal Revenue Service, Georgia Association of Professionals in Supportive Employment, Employment First of Georgia and the American Association of People With Disabilities.
GCDD is a Federally-funded state agency that promotes independence, inclusion, integration, self-determination and productivity for Georgians with developmental disabilities so they can live, learn, work, play and worship where and how they choose. A Developmental Disability is a chronic mental and/or physical disability that occurs before age 22 and is expected to last a lifetime. It may require supports in three or more of the following life activities: self-care, language, learning, mobility, self-direction, independent living and economic self-sufficiency. Visitwww.gcdd.org
for more information.