 Destinee Dunn, Dawn Ellison, Destinee's mother, and Jodi Skrovan, DPS audiologist (Photos: Jill Drury, Dayton Public Schools)
This fiscal year, OOD coordinated a unique transition
program with the eight Community Centers for the Deaf (CCDs). Twelve mentors
from the CCDs were trained on Map It, an on-line transition curriculum
developed specifically for deaf and hard of hearing youth. With support from
OOD and PepNet, the federally-funded organization that developed Map It, these
mentors connected with 74 deaf and hard of hearing youth in 20 schools around
the state. Over a three month period, mentors worked with students to help them
develop answers to the following questions:
Who Am I? What Do I Want? How Do I Get There? At the end of the program,
nearly 90% of the students were confident enough in their vocational direction
to create a video, explaining what they have learned about themselves and their
plan for their careers.
This is the first statewide coordinated effort to increase
the self-direction of deaf and hard of hearing high school students in Ohio,
and it has caught the attention of school districts, parents, and community
partners. One of the students, Destinee Dunn, was featured
on the Dayton Public Schools website. Her mentor, Maura Hartmann with
Family Services Association in Dayton, worked with the school’s educational
audiologist, Jodi Skrovan, to meet Destinee at her school weekly to work on her
career goals. As you will see in this article, Destinee has developed the
confidence, and a plan, to set herself up for success. Thank you to Maura and
Jodi for their hard work with this student, and good luck to Destinee on her
future endeavors.
To learn more about Map It visit the website: http://www.pepnet.org/training/mapit.
If you read Weekly Focus regularly, you’ll recall the recent celebration of Ohio Business Leadership Network (OHBLN) reaching 100 members (June 17 issue). Helping businesses create a culture of diversity and inclusion is just one of the benefits to members.
On June 21, OHBLN provided a webinar titled: Business Resource Groups: Advancing Disability Inclusion; Benefitting the Business. Maggie Roffee, US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) senior corporate relations manager, talked about how the USBLN and 27 corporate members established a subcommittee to outline the primary issues and needs to cultivate disability Business Resource Groups (BRG), including:
- Creating a culture where people with disabilities are comfortable self-identifying;
- Eliminating fears that disclosure will be used against them;
- Developing awareness of the benefits of disclosure;
- Engaging senior leaders or family members in the disclosure process;
- Compiling best disability BRG practices;
- Leveraging BRG’s to increase the company’s marketplace share; and
- Cultivating leaders and increasing the number of employees with disabilities actively involved.
Next, Sarah Elek and Karis Spence gave an overview of Huntington National Bank’s Adaptability Business Resource Group started in 2014. This group was responsible for establishing a Reasonable Accommodations Policy that appeared in the Huntington employee handbook, as well as actively working with managers to recruit candidates with disabilities. It’s no coincidence that over the last eight months, six OOD consumers have been hired by Huntington.
Procter & Gamble’s Mike Gartner discussed P&G’s three key global focus areas: Employment & Recruiting, Employee Engagement & Support, and Market Place & Partnerships. Among their success has been “Project Reach,” which has created 24 paid internships in Cincinnati and Turkey for high school students with disabilities; internships that help them gain meaningful employment skills and experiences.
As OOD’s Business Engagement Team meets with new employers throughout the state, we offer information on best practices such as these surrounding Business Resource Groups. We hope this will provide encouragement for businesses to undertake similar initiatives leading to increased career opportunities for people with disabilities now and into the future.
The Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities (GCPD)
annually recognizes businesses, groups and individuals who have significantly
contributed to employment opportunities and community involvement for people
with disabilities. It is anticipated that their example will inspire others in
both the public and private sectors to realize ability rather than
disability as the most important factor in employment and community inclusion.
GCPD would like to hear from you about the leaders in your
community. Please take a moment to review the awards on their website (http://gcpd.ohio.gov/Awards)
and nominate a community leader, organization or business for the appropriate
recognition. This year the awards will be presented in October at The Ohio
Statehouse.
GCPD Annual AWARDS
- Advocacy Award
- Best Practices Award
- Ohio Employer of the Year Award
- Maureen Fitzgerald Leadership Award
- Karla M Lortz Scholarship
- Accessible Parking Enforcement Award
- Accessible Medical Services
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS TO BE RECEIVED IS
AUGUST 5, 2016.
 Rep. Dever watches as Governor Kasich signs HB 158 on Wednesday
Governor Kasich signed House Bill 158, sponsored by
Representative Jonathan Dever (R-Madeira), on Wednesday at the St. Joseph Home
in Cincinnati. The bill strikes the term "mental retardation" from
the Ohio Revised Code and replaces such references with the term
"intellectual disability." The measure also specifies that an
intellectual disability is a form of developmental disability.
Representative Dever spoke about the impact of the
legislation at the bill signing on Wednesday: “Words do matter. The removal of
the ‘R-word’ will help treat our state’s most vulnerable individuals with the
dignity and respect they deserve. I was proud to stand by Governor Kasich and
members of the disability community today as he signed this important piece of
legislation.”
Vocational Rehabilitation
Current
FFY2016
Individuals in Job Ready
Status: 3,252 5,189
(For county level
information
& map visit our website)
Individuals Employed:
1,941 5,142
(Employed, not yet
successfully closed)
Successful Closures: 5,236
(Employed for over 90
days,
case closed
successfully)
Disability Determination
(FFY2016 as of 07/08/2016 – Week 41)
Applications Received:
154,866
Determinations:
156,506
Productivity Per Work
Year (PPWY) 372
(Total number of cases
processed divided
by the number of work
years funded)
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