“We are very proud that Columbus Industries has employed us, and we appreciate the opportunity to be given the chance to prove that all people are employable with hearing impairments,” Duffey and Craft wrote to The Defender. “We both appreciate having jobs!”

Duffy explained that he is deaf, wears one hearing aid and can hear high-pitched noises. Craft explained that he is hard of hearing and also wears one hearing aid. The men were unable to get jobs by themselves.

“We were not accepted because of our hearing impairments,” Duffy and Craft wrote. “Most employers would accept our applications, and when we would come in for a job interview, if called, they would never hire. They would tell us that you have to hear and be able to communicate.”

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The two men were assisted in finding their jobs by Julie Cadwallader, senior vocational specialist at the Adams County Clinic of SMHC.

“Julie Cadwallader worked very hard to help us meet our goal of employment,” wrote Duffey and Craft. “Through the job placement services, she was able to meet with Columbus Industries Plant Manager Virgil West and discuss that we were interested in a job and could meet the employment requirements. Without the job placement services, we would not have been employed. Julie kept talking with Columbus Industries until positions became available. The on going follow-up she was able to do was a great part of our becoming employed.”

In 2003, SMHC was awarded a grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati to help their clients with severe mental illness obtain and maintain employment. Now the center is branching out and offering their vocational services to other people with disabilities.

“Although SMHC provides mental health services to people in Adams, Lawrence and Scioto Counties, we are now providing our vocational services also to people in Brown, Highland and Clermont counties and to those who have other disabilities that can interfere with employment, such as visual problems or hearing impairments,” sad Jim Haas, the center’s vocational program director. “People with disabilities in these counties have limited access to vocational placement specialists.

Although originally grant funded, the vocational program at SMHC is now self supporting and has plans to continue to expand to be able to serve more people with severe mental illness and other disabilities. The services offered include job placement, job coaching, community-based assessments and follow-up support.

“We help people find a job that they want to do and help them go through the interview process,” said Cadwallader. “Once the person gets the job, then we do whatever it takes to help them keep it. We can even go to the job site and coach them so that they know how to perform the duties of the position.”

Since start-up, the Adams County vocational team has facilitated placement of 85 people with psychiatric illness or other type of disability into jobs and has helped them retain their employment. Jaime Ward, who was added to the team in November of 2005, is now receiving referrals and beginning to work with residents of Adams County with psychiatric illness who want to become employed. Because of Cadwallader’s success, with over 40 job placements last year, the Ohio Coordinating Center of Excellence for Supported Employment has asked her to provide consultation for other rural mental health centers that are pursuing supported employment programs at their facilities.

“Rural job development involves some unique challenges and opportunities,” said Sarah Swanson of the coordinating center. “Julie (Cadwallader) has an impressive talent for finding jobs in a very rural area.”

The employment of Duffy and Craft at Columbus Industries can be chalked up as a success story for vocational services in Adams County.

“I would like to have two more just like them,” said Larry Leeth, supervisor of Duffy and Craft at Columbus Industries. “They work together as a team, which is something we are emphasizing with our employees at Columbus Industries. They are dependable and enthusiastic, and they’re getting stronger everyday.”

Duffy and Craft wrote, “Columbus Industries management and all employees have welcomed us and are always willing to help us with anything that can make our jobs easier or to help us understand, even though no one can interpret to us very well. They all go that extra mile without getting too frustrated with us when we have to be explained things in a detailed way for us to understand. This company is a great employer.

“The best thing about our jobs is the opportunity to have a position at Columbus Industries and to work in the community we live in,” Duffy and Craft concluded.

According to a release from SMHC, the center is committed to ensuring that those with disabilities, whether it be psychiatric, visual, hearing or other physical disability have the same opportunity to work and fulfill their vocational dreams as those without these types of obstacles. For more information about the vocational program, please contact Jim Haas at (937) 544-3400.

By Carleta Weyrich
http://www.peoplesdefender.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=83&ArticleID=123313&TM=33980.69