DLA - Defense Logistics Agency
10/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/17/2024 13:20
Employees learn about living with disabilities
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. -
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center employees took part in an engaging and educational event to observe National Disability Employment Awareness Month Oct. 9 in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Attendees were encouraged to visit the various stations to learn more about disabilities and resources available in the community. Each station allowed attendees to get a small sense of what it might be like to handle daily life while also navigating a challenge involving mental health, deafness or being hard of hearing, blindness or low vision, and wheelchair use.
Persons with Disabilities Event
The interactive event featured stations that offered insights into the experiences of individuals with disabilities. Outreach tables from local organizations provided resources to support people with disabilities.
Attendees were encouraged to visit the various stations to learn more about disabilities and resources available in the community. Each station allowed attendees to get a small sense of what it might be like to handle daily life while also navigating a challenge involving mental health, deafness or being hard of hearing, blindness or low vision, and wheelchair use.
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Battle Creek VA Medical Center provided tools for working with people with PTSD, and several mental health resources were provided by the Family Advocacy Program.
Persons with Disabilities Event
Battle Creek VA Medical Center provided tools for working with people with PTSD, and several mental health resources were provided by the Family Advocacy Program.
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"This is extremely interesting for the workplace," said Rob Howard, a Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services employee and culture team member. "I think this a great event, and it's important for supervisors and senior leaders to attend because that way they know more about the accessibility challenges their employees can face in the workplace. For instance, it takes a lot more effort for some people with disabilities to just come into this building than it does for me. I can choose to come into any door I want to use."
DLA Disposition Services Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity Office specialist and sign language interpreter Susan Boyer and her daughter, Valoree Boyer, a sign language interpreter for a local healthcare system, teamed up to provide an informational booth about deafness or being hard of hearing, and blindness or low vision.
"Growing up, we were surrounded by the deaf community," said Valoree Boyer. "I was already bilingual because of my mom. A lot of my caregivers were deaf, and I started babysitting deaf children. I just fell in love with education and working with deaf children. Now I help manage accessibility for patients and their families."
The mother-daughter duo also demonstrated tactile sign language, also known as the Helen Keller method of communicating, in which one person signs and another feels the sign with their hands and uses touch to help communicate.
Rebecca Canale from Paws with a Cause demonstrated how service dogs can help individuals who have limited range of motion. She also sat in a chair and had the dog remove her shoe and place it in her lap.
Persons with Disabilities
During a demonstration, attendees learned how service dogs can assist individuals with limited range of motion and discovered the training and support provided by Paws with a Cause, a Michigan-based nonprofit that trains custom assistance dogs.
Rebecca Canale from Paws with a Cause demonstrated how service dogs can help individuals who have limited range of motion. She also sat in a chair and had the dog remove her shoe and place it in her lap.
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DLA Logistics Operations employees Marvin "Skip" Morgan and Brad Messenger, who both use wheelchairs for mobility, hosted a wheelchair course and guided several employees through everyday tasks.
Messenger shared insights about challenges in his daily life and adjustments he makes like using a reacher to grab items, purchasing products in cans or plastic bottles instead of glass while grocery shopping, and how to balance and carry purchased items.
This disability awareness event, with the varied stations and resources, encouraged a better understanding of what people with disabilities go through every day and demonstrated that many people with disabilities are experts at improvising, adapting, and overcoming.