National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) 2024
Emily Shuman, Director of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center in Colorado, gave two presentations in Sioux Falls to celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). On Monday, October 14, Emily spoke about “Accessible Recreation” to the Downtown Rotary Club. It was a meaningful topic to the Downtown Rotarians since they are sponsoring Rotary Way, an inclusive playground planned for Jacobson Plaza at Falls Park. Downtown Rotary members also helped establish the Frank L. Boyce Miracle Field for adaptive baseball in 2008 at the north end of Covell Lake/Terrace Park baseball complex.
On Tuesday, October 15, Emily spoke to the Sioux Empire Society for Human Resource Management about “Minimizing Implicit Bias”. Employment Disability Resources was the meeting sponsor, so Vicki Stewart, Executive Director, shared information about NDEAM and provided a table with resources for businesses.
Employment Disability Resources sponsored a billboard campaign for NDEAM featuring six businesses who have been Disability Inclusion Partners. They include: Nyberg’s ACE, Thunder Road, Kwik Trip/Kwik Star, Johnson Feed, Inc., RAS, and Five Star Call Centers. We appreciate the partnership with these businesses. Special thanks go to Mychelle Garrigan, Firelink Digital, and EDR board member, for designing the billboards, and to Book Your Billboard for their great work!
Thank you to the Empire Mall for offering us space to showcase our NDEAM display. We included adaptive devices and two employment success stories of people who have a vision disability. We are grateful to April Schulte, Vocational Rehabilitation Manager with Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired, and David Woodruff, Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired Vocational Rehabilitation Supervisor, for assisting with the success stories and display set up.
Special thanks go to our NDEAM Planning Committee: Co-Chair, Vicki Nelson, Division of Rehabilitation Services; Betsy Drew, SD Parent Connection; Kendra Gottsleben, Center for Disabilities; April Schulte, Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired; Pat Herman, Center for Disabilities; Chasity Colton, Goodwill of the Great Plains; Holly Wessels, Sanford; Ivy Cirillo, Sioux Empire United Way; Kendra Tift, Southeastern Behavioral HealthCare; Mychelle Garrigan, Firelink Digital; Shana Arcudi, Goodwill of the Great Plains; and David Woodruff, Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Thank you to the Board of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Statewide Independent Living Council, and the Board of Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired for funding these events.
Thrive Mentoring Day
Six mentees from Teachwell Solutions’ Thrive Program participated in a Mentoring Day hosted by Employment Disability Resources. Teachwell Thrive helps students with disabilities (ages 18-21) discover their potential. Thrive is a special education program that teaches independence through a blend of life skills lessons and on-the-job training. We are especially grateful for Teachwell special education teachers, Rebecca Thompson and Whitley Heubrock, for their collaboration on Mentoring Day!
The six students spent time with a mentor at a Downtown Sioux Falls business from 9:30 am -11:30 am. We are grateful to the following businesses that participated: Minervas, Lauriebelles, WP Cafe, Lloyd Companies, City of Sioux Falls, and EmBe. We had a wrap up meeting and lunch at CRAVE following the mentoring experiences.
One of the mentees shared, “I would be a little bit nervous, but I would like to apply for a job at clothing store. It is a perfect fit for me. It makes feel safe and comfortable.” One of the mentors shared her favorite aspect of being a mentor was, “Being able to provide the job shadowing so the mentee could determine if this is a field of work they would like to pursue. Everyone needs to have a mentoring experience at some time to determine if they would enjoy doing that type of work as their career.”
Sioux Falls Vocational Rehabilitation counselors were with the mentees at the businesses. Thank you to Vicki Nelson, Division of Rehabilitation Services supervisor, and counselors Sarah Jo Jorgensen, Deb Brinkman, Ashley Blauwet, Katie Dam, Melissa Dahl and Laura Schmidt for their time and dedication to Thrive Mentoring Day.
Employment Disability Resources is proud to offer the Disability Inclusion Partner program!
In partnership with the Sioux Falls Disability Awareness and Accessibility Review Board (DAARB), we give local businesses who employ one or more people with disabilities an award to acknowledge and celebrate their diverse, inclusive workplace culture. Watch for the “Disability Inclusion Partner” sticker on the doors of local businesses.
Businesses that recently received a Disability Inclusion Partner award:
The First National Bank in Sioux Falls
Sioux Council, BSA
For more information about employing individuals with disabilities, please contact:
Vicki Stewart, Executive Director
Employment Disability Resources
2900 W. 11th Street, Suite 101, Sioux Falls, SD 57104
605-215-1760 or [email protected]