With spring so much in the air this past weekend, it’s only appropriate we take some time to smell the flowers; not to mention the soil and the fertilizer that bring forth these beautifully blooming buds.
The photo gallery accompanying last week’s Tulsa World article on people with disabilities working and getting job training in horticulture allow us to do just that. Photographer Mike Simons’ vivid images provide splashes of color and depictions of the hands-on tasks these people perform in this thriving environment; while reporter Nour Habib digs down into the success people with disabilities are having there.
Mary Ogle, who leads A New Leaf, tells Habib how horticulture therapy improves both motor skills and cognitive function; but the workplace itself can provide the most dramatic benefits for both employees with disabilities and customers. Habib writes:
Improvement in social skills are also apparent in the changes clients undergo, Ogle said, recounting the story of a young man who spent two months hiding behind the ice machine in the facility’s break room when he first began work, before going on to become the organization’s best salesman three years later.
Ogle speculates that less than 5% of the 24,000 adults in Tulsa with disabilities are employed. Like ATI, this Oklahoma organization is looking to improve those numbers through contract labor services and training programs that give people with disabilities the skills to work and live independently.
The type of job and career opportunities provided by these programs may begin with manual labor tasks like planting, sorting, packing, and assembly, but can reach far beyond should that be an individual’s desire. We see Tim O’Neal in one of Simons’ photographs watering a section of the greenhouse, but he tells Habib his ultimate goal is to have a desk job and wear a suit and tie to work every day.
When an operation can provide work in warehouse, office and retail settings, it gives more people with disabilities the option to explore what type of work will make their life matter more; while at the same time gathering work experience and the soft skills important for career success, including attendance, appearance, punctuality, and working with others.
Share your experience with ATI’s Contract Services or StarWorks program in the comments below, or contact one of their reps to learn how you can make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities by giving them the opportunity to work.
Image by Andrea_44, used under its Creative Commons license.