| NEIGHBORS NW DECEMBER 16, 1999 |
Disabled get help in job search
New program offers chance at some work
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BY SANDRA MARQUEZ GARCIA Emilia Anne Simmon remembers the day in 1985 when she tried to apply for a job at Jackson Memorial Hospital but was turned away, she said, because she has cerebral palsy. On Tuesday, Simmon 38, and her friend, Josue Villa, 30, a television and radio technician who also has cerebral palsy, met with a professional job counselor to help them get in the door with potential employers. The Spinal Cord Living- Assistance Development, 240 E. First Ave., Suite 122 in Hialeah, has an |
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established track record for helping the disabled live independent lives. In March 1998, the organization's president Pedro Rodriguez unveiled an affordable apartment complex in downtown Hialeah built with special features for people who rely on wheelchairs. Now that he has overcome that challenge, Rodriguez, a civil engineer born in Cuba and raised in Puerto Rico, wants to help people with disabilities find employment. NEED IS GREAT Nationwide, people with disabilities face a 75 percent unemployment rate, compared with 4.6 percent for the general population, federal labor statistics show.
Using federal funds, Rodriguez converted his Hialeah office space into a career center serving the needs of the disabled. There, job-seekers receive personalized attention from a rehabilitation counselor who helps them identify their employment interests. In some cases, an aptitude test is given and funding sources are located for training.
Tips on how to get - and keep - a job also are provided. The center uses a video camera to tape job-seekers during mock interviews. Counselors advise applicants on how to maintain good relations with bosses and co-workers
"We are not looking for pity. We are not looking for charity," said Alvin Ventura, the center's rehabilitation counselor. "We are asking employers to give people a chance to do what they can do."
SUCCESS STORIES
The effort seems to be working. Since SCLAD began offering job placement services two months ago, it has had some success stories, including that of a paraplegic man who was hired at Miami International Airport checking baggage tags of arriving passengers for American Airlines. A deaf woman with a degree in business got an administrative job with Burdines.
Rodriguez, who raised $3.2 million in local, state and federal funding to build the 34 one and two-bedroom apartments at Park Place, 250 E. Second Ave., for the disabled, said he knows first-hand the impact of his efforts.
In 1979, as he walked home from a boxing match, Rodriguez was struck by a car and was paralyzed. The experience has made him realize what a difference a job can make.
"I think employers should look at our capabilities, not our disabilities," Simmon said. |
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