Latest / The Scene Projects / Vicki Stewart on Inclusivity, Hiring Practices, and Community Engagement

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Vicki Stewart on Inclusivity, Hiring Practices, and Community Engagement · The Scene Projects

• 0:23
  Welcome in to Real Biz.
• 0:25
  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and with me today from employment disability resources, Vicky
• 0:30
  Stewart.
• 0:30
  Vicky, welcome to the show.
• 0:32
  Thank you so much.
• 0:33
  Thanks for having me.
• 0:35
  I it is absolutely my pleasure to have you on today.
• 0:38
  We're gonna talk a lot about the foundation and everything that you're doing to help employers
• 0:44
  and those who are are disabled to come together and to really change our community, especially
• 0:50
  here in South Dakota where your foundation is based.
• 0:53
  Before we get into all that, though, I wanna get a little bit of your backstory, and then
• 0:57
  we'll get a little bit of the backstory of the foundation as well.
• 1:00
  Sure.
• 1:00
  Sounds good.
• 1:01
  I was born with the disease osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as OI or brittle
• 1:07
  bone disease.
• 1:09
  So I probably had about forty five broken bones throughout my lifetime.
• 1:12
  I've used a wheelchair all of my life.
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  I am the youngest of six kids.
• 1:17
  No one else has this disability, so basically it was a genetic fluke.
• 1:21
  I was fortunate enough to be able to attend public school from kindergarten through high
• 1:27
  school and had a lot of support from family and friends in my small town.
• 1:32
  I then went on to college at Augustana University, where I lived on campus all four
• 1:38
  years.
• 1:39
  A bit of a challenging time for me being away from my family and friends and just navigating
• 1:46
  independent living and being on campus, but it worked out great, and I am so glad that I
• 1:52
  attended college and really got to meet a wonderful group of people, professors, fellow
• 1:59
  students, all of that.
• 2:01
  So my passion all of my life really has been to make things more inclusive for people with
• 2:08
  disabilities, whether that be an independent living, employment, transportation,
• 2:15
  volunteering, just being involved in our community as much as possible, because I think
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  the more that we isolate ourselves, the more we start to add things like depression and things
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  like that.
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  So if we can get out in our community and interact with others, I think it's really
• 2:33
  positive for everyone.
• 2:36
  Yes.
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  So you're obviously very invested personally having the lived experience of being someone
• 2:41
  who's lived with a disability their entire lives and having to do this.
• 2:46
  So I think it's really I think it's really incredible what you're doing for others.
• 2:50
  And and not just for the disabled, but really what you're doing to help the able-bodied and
• 2:55
  the able-minded to understand a little bit of the challenges that you face because and and
• 3:02
  even from speaking from my own personal experiences, that I don't know your struggles.
• 3:06
  I don't know everything that you're going for, which means that I also don't know how to be
• 3:11
  more inclusive and how to address those challenges if I'm not aware of them at all.
• 3:17
  Correct.
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  We don't know what we don't know.
• 3:19
  Right?
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  So that's a big part of what I do at employment disability resources is just to raise awareness
• 3:25
  and provide education.
• 3:28
  Yeah.
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  I think that's where it all starts.
• 3:32
  Right.
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  Right.
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  We have to start from somewhere.
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  So, Vicky, what is it inside of the foundation?
• 3:39
  And kinda let's get a little bit of the, you know, the inception, I guess, and we'll kinda
• 3:43
  start from there of the foundation and what, you know, what kind of spurned this on and what
• 3:51
  keeps it going?
• 3:52
  Sure.
• 3:53
  Well, we are a nonprofit organization, and we were established in 2010.
• 3:58
  I became executive director in 2016, And really, it was established because a group of
• 4:05
  businesses realized that there was an untapped pool of people who could be employed, who could
• 4:13
  fill those empty spots in their businesses.
• 4:16
  And so they came together to form the board, and eventually our nonprofit was established.
• 4:22
  So we work directly with employers to provide education, awareness, and resources to promote
• 4:29
  the employment of people with disabilities.
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  The unemployment rate for people with disabilities is almost double that of people
• 4:37
  without disabilities.
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  So we know we have a lot of work to do.
• 4:42
  Well, no doubt, I I think that a lot of employers are I don't know that they're against
• 4:50
  hiring someone with a disability.
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  Right?
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  But it poses certain challenges that they may not want to take on.
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  And without the education and some of the resources behind it, which is really where your
• 5:03
  your foundation is serving in that space, it can be very difficult for some of these people
• 5:08
  to understand these owners and, you know, the the CEOs and these people that are are running
• 5:15
  a business that don't necessarily want to take on more that they have no idea about.
• 5:21
  Correct.
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  Correct.
• 5:23
  Yeah.
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  I think there's a lot of misconceptions out there.
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  A lot of times people are fearful or uncomfortable.
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  They're afraid that they might say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing.
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  So that's a lot of what we try to promote is disability etiquette.
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  How do you talk to someone who looks different than you, thinks differently than you?
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  We really just want employers to see the skills and the abilities of people with disabilities
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  because I think a lot of times we tend to focus on a person's disability because a lot of times
• 5:56
  it's very visible.
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  Sometimes the disability is not visible at all, but if we can really look at a person's talents
• 6:04
  and skills, that really means a lot.
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  And I think one of those myths that is out there is that providing accommodations to an
• 6:14
  employee with a disability is gonna cost a lot for that business, and statistics show that's
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  just not true.
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  Most accommodations cost nothing, and if there is a cost, it's typically $300 or less.
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  And once you hire someone with a disability, we hear all the time that they're very faithful,
• 6:35
  loyal, dependable employees.
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  So you're going to have that employee for a long time if you simply provide those
• 6:43
  accommodations.
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  And we all know that the cost of turnover can be very high.
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  So it's really important to learn about the accommodations that are available.
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  And one of the most highly requested accommodations is actually the same for people
• 7:00
  with disabilities and people without disabilities, and that's having a flexible
• 7:05
  schedule.
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  So, again, that's no cost to the employer, and we all appreciate having that flexibility.
• 7:12
  No doubt.
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  It's a big reason why I left the workforce and started my own company was to have the
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  flexibility that wasn't being afforded to me, you know, working full time in a factory.
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  So where does a business who is interested in employing someone with disabilities, where
• 7:31
  would you start with them?
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  As someone who knows nothing and coming to you fresh, where what's really the point of entry
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  for for EDR?
• 7:41
  Yes.
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  If they just reach out to me and we'll have that conversation, communication is a huge,
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  huge piece of this.
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  Just to have that open, honest communication.
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  I would probably ask where they're at.
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  Have they ever employed someone with a disability?
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  And if not, what can I provide to them?
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  Do they want kind of an overall picture of some of those statistics about accommodations?
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  Can I provide disability etiquette training to them and their staff?
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  And then I'm able to connect them to resources in our community, like vocational
• 8:16
  rehabilitation, service to the blind and visually impaired, and they work directly with
• 8:22
  people with disabilities who are seeking employment.
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  So then I can help make those connections and to make sure it's a good fit.
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  Of course, not every person with a disability is going to fit into every job, but that's the
• 8:36
  way it is with people without disabilities too.
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  So we really try to work on that and make those good fits.
• 8:43
  So as someone who's obviously overcome a a great many challenges in your personal life, do
• 8:49
  you feel that, you know, being in this position as the executive director of of the foundation
• 8:55
  that it gives you a little bit of, I guess, an advantage into being able to look at the bigger
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  picture, not just with the employers, but you're dealing with people with a very wide
• 9:07
  range of disabilities as well.
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  It can be quite overwhelming, I'm sure, at times when you're trying to solve these
• 9:15
  problems, but you seem to me like someone who kind of relishes in that problem solving space.
• 9:20
  Yeah.
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  You're right.
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  You're right.
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  I think my lived experience is very important in this position, and I hope to be an example
• 9:28
  for other people with disabilities who are seeking employment.
• 9:32
  I think it's important to see that representation, that there are people with
• 9:36
  disabilities out there in leadership positions, and that's not beyond their reach.
• 9:42
  If that's what they want, we can work together to make that come about.
• 9:47
  Now we talked a little bit about, you know, helping businesses in that, you know, that
• 9:52
  first in that hiring process.
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  What are you doing to help businesses that are facing challenges even after they've hired
• 9:59
  someone on and now they're facing maybe some difficulties that have maybe worsened a little
• 10:04
  bit because of the disability?
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  Because, obviously, some disabilities are degenerative over time and that situation can
• 10:11
  change.
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  But that doesn't necessarily mean that someone should lose their job over it either, and you
• 10:16
  start to get into some pretty sticky, you know, employment, you know, equality conversations
• 10:21
  inside of that.
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  So what are some of the challenge that you've seen and that you've helped businesses
• 10:25
  overcome?
• 10:27
  Well, you know, a lot of times I work pretty closely with HR professionals because they're
• 10:32
  usually the front end people who work with accommodation requests and those kind of
• 10:37
  things.
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  So I try to provide a lot of education to HR professionals, but a business can contact me at
• 10:45
  any point.
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  If there are struggles or barriers that come up, we can visit about that.
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  I'm happy to come into your business and to even have an open discussion with the employee
• 10:57
  with the disability and brainstorm and see what we need to do to make that person successful.
• 11:03
  Because, again, the business doesn't want to lose an employee and have to start over again.
• 11:09
  So if we can brainstorm and think about maybe more accommodations that might be needed or
• 11:14
  that flexible schedule, there are a lot of things.
• 11:18
  With assistive technology, I mean, assistive technology has come a long way over the years.
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  And maybe it's just a matter of finding the right assistive technology to help that person
• 11:29
  be successful.
• 11:31
  Yeah.
• 11:32
  Really incredible, the console that you can provide to the businesses and to the disabled
• 11:38
  person as well and being able to bring them together and to have that conversation because
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  often it can be very hard for an able-bodied and able-minded to even broach that
• 11:50
  conversation because they're not able to do that.
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  So it really is.
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  Communication is the foundation of not just, you know, your conversations and and what you
• 11:58
  are, you know, doing in this space, but, I mean, really, as human beings, period.
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  Correct.
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  Yeah.
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  It no matter what line of work you're in, I think communication is always a huge part.
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  So, Vicky, what are you doing to connect with businesses?
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  Obviously, you're on the podcast today, and we're promoting the foundation and what you're
• 12:19
  doing.
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  But what else are you doing in the community to connect with businesses and to make yourself
• 12:24
  more visible to them?
• 12:26
  Sure.
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  Well, we in every October, we have National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
• 12:33
  So we provide a lot of activities, educational conferences to businesses.
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  We are doing a billboard campaign this year where we're featuring different employees in
• 12:43
  our community with disabilities, and so we wanna shine the light on them and their
• 12:48
  employer just to get the word out that, you know, we're here to provide support.
• 12:54
  We're also going to be a part of the win in workforce summit That will be held in October,
• 13:02
  and we will be shining a light on our new video that shows what employment disability resources
• 13:10
  does and how we can be a resource to your business.
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  We also recently started a West meets East virtual training.
• 13:21
  So it's once a month for half an hour, and my colleague in Western South Dakota joins me, and
• 13:29
  we have a guest.
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  So last month, we were talking about post traumatic stress disorder and how maybe the
• 13:37
  signs or symptoms, what accommodations people with PTSD need in the workplace.
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  So it's very conversational, but a good way to, again, provide education at no cost to our
• 13:49
  businesses.
• 13:52
  Right.
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  And what that ends up doing is also creating a community of the businesses themselves and the
• 13:57
  owners and HR people where they can begin to use each other as a resource without
• 14:02
  necessarily having to come directly to you.
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  They're able to look at other businesses, whether they're in the same industry or not,
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  maybe looking at a a similar situation and learning how really boots on the ground that
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  they've they've solved the problem.
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  Because what you're offering is mostly in the consultation department, but it's ultimately up
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  to the HR departments and the businesses themselves to provide the accommodations and to
• 14:27
  provide that environment where everything can get settled.
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  So I think it's really awesome to be able to have, in the virtual world, and you talk about
• 14:35
  technology really changing the world around us, how awesome to have the technology to
• 14:41
  communicate.
• 14:42
  And especially in a state like South Dakota where your two major population centers are 400
• 14:48
  miles apart, and and and you don't often get the opportunity to meet in the middle.
• 14:53
  Now we have that opportunity, and for you to do it once a month, I think, is really incredible.
• 14:58
  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
• 14:59
  It's been a great platform, and we're open to questions during that.
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  We always save the last ten minutes for questions from our attendees.
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  So it's just just a really easy way to have those conversations about employing people with
• 15:13
  disabilities.
• 15:15
  Well and you face different challenges.
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  Having grown up in Deadwood, I I know the Black Hills area very well.
• 15:21
  The challenges that they face, mostly, I would say, or a lot of those can be just on the
• 15:27
  physical side of it.
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  Right?
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  There's elevation.
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  Everywhere you go in the in Western South Dakota has elevation.
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  So you're talking about accessibility.
• 15:35
  Right?
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  A lot of conversations, I'm sure, around that.
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  And then winter storms are a lot more prevalent in Western South Dakota.
• 15:43
  So accommodations on the flexibility of schedules and, you know, having, once again,
• 15:48
  accessibility because, you know, getting around for disabled people when there's snow on the
• 15:53
  ground and ice and and those kind of conditions, not that we don't get that here in
• 15:57
  Eastern South Dakota as well, it's much more prevalent.
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  And on the other side of the state, Sioux Falls is a much larger city, which makes some of
• 16:05
  these jobs much more competitive.
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  How are we able to, you know, address the issues of an already competitive market because
• 16:12
  of the population and now trying to lower that unemployment rate for our disabled people in
• 16:18
  that market.
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  So two very different problems on each side of the state, but a lot of challenges that can
• 16:25
  maybe overlap with one another.
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  Right.
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  And the Americans with Disabilities Act is so important, and I am happy to provide
• 16:33
  information to any business that wants more information.
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  Sometimes I get calls about what should I do to my parking lot to make it more ADA accessible.
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  You know, I have maybe one step into my business.
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  What would be an easy way that I could accommodate and maybe provide a short ramp to
• 16:53
  enter the building?
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  So I'm more than happy to provide information about that as well.
• 16:59
  This year is the thirty sixth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being
• 17:03
  signed.
• 17:04
  And while it's provided so much to people with disabilities, we still need to continue to work
• 17:13
  towards making our community as accessible as possible.
• 17:18
  And again, I tell people, if you see something, say something.
• 17:22
  If you see that something's not accessible, we need to bring that to the forefront so that we
• 17:27
  can have those discussions on how to make it more accessible.
• 17:31
  Well and, ultimately, you want to not just make it accessible, but to make it safe.
• 17:36
  The last thing we want for anyone is for someone to get hurt because the resources
• 17:41
  weren't directed to something that could have been problematic.
• 17:45
  And we see this a lot, you know, like I mentioned, growing up in Lee, Deadwood area, a
• 17:50
  lot of these buildings are historic buildings as well.
• 17:53
  So retrofitting them is is a very deep and can be a lengthy conversation to make sure that you
• 17:59
  are preserving the historic nature of that, but also making it accessible and bringing it into,
• 18:05
  you know, the current age.
• 18:07
  So it it it can be very deep conversations.
• 18:11
  Sometimes there can be costs associated with the accessibility, but I I have to imagine that
• 18:16
  there's a plethora of grants and things that are out there to help these businesses to
• 18:21
  offset some of those costs.
• 18:24
  There are definitely tax incentives available.
• 18:27
  So to provide a ramp, for instance, if you want to provide a ramp at your business, you can use
• 18:34
  deductions when you file your taxes to use that as a write off.
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  So there are definitely incentives available to make those accommodations.
• 18:43
  And what I always tell people is that accommodations and accessibility isn't just for
• 18:48
  people with disabilities.
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  Think of a curb cut.
• 18:52
  That benefits people who use wheelchairs, but it's also great for parents who might be
• 18:56
  pushing a stroller or an elderly person who might be using a walker.
• 19:03
  So those accommodations benefit everyone.
• 19:07
  Right.
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  And I I don't think that we often think of it that way, that, yes, it has been enacted for
• 19:12
  those who are disabled, but we all get to benefit from it.
• 19:15
  Who doesn't like walking up the ramp instead of taking the stairs or an elevator in a building
• 19:20
  that otherwise may not have it?
• 19:22
  Correct.
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  And those door openers.
• 19:24
  Right?
• 19:25
  I mean, if you have your hands full, it's really nice to just push a button and have the
• 19:29
  door open.
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  So
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  How incredible and nice to know that our country has continued to advance accessibility
• 19:39
  and is constantly renewing and becoming better.
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  And I know that we often focus on the negative things around, you know, in our country, but
• 19:49
  we've done so much good.
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  And so many, you know, whether it's a law or acts that have been enacted in our society, we
• 19:57
  have bettered the world as a whole because a lot of what starts here in The United States
• 20:03
  through our political system spreads out worldwide and really changes and makes
• 20:09
  everything more accessible around our entire planet.
• 20:12
  So really incredible.
• 20:13
  Thirty six years.
• 20:14
  Wow.
• 20:14
  It it it seems like it's flown by.
• 20:17
  That's most of my life, Vicky.
• 20:19
  Yeah.
• 20:19
  Yeah.
• 20:19
  Same.
• 20:20
  Yeah.
• 20:20
  I was in college when it was signed into law, so definitely have seen some improvements.
• 20:26
  That's for sure.
• 20:27
  And another thing that I think people don't realize is that one in four people have some
• 20:32
  type of disability.
• 20:34
  So we are the largest minority group in the world, actually.
• 20:38
  And I also think that people forget you don't necessarily have to be born with a disability.
• 20:45
  You can acquire a disability through aging or illness or accident.
• 20:50
  So you could join this minority group at any time.
• 20:55
  Well and what makes it so much different than than any other, you know, minority like that.
• 21:02
  Right?
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  You you're not born it.
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  You you can fall into it quite literally sometimes because of a work related injury, and
• 21:10
  now your entire life has been changed.
• 21:12
  And I think that's why we need to keep working together, why I love what your foundation is
• 21:18
  doing for not just the disabled people, but for the the businesses.
• 21:24
  So to bring that education side because as you stated off the beginning, we don't know what we
• 21:29
  don't know.
• 21:29
  And for me to be able to provide a platform to have this conversation is really quite a treat
• 21:36
  for me, and I I look forward to working with you in the future to continue to raise
• 21:40
  awareness, not just around your foundation, but around so many other issues that are affecting,
• 21:45
  like you said, the largest minority in the world.
• 21:49
  Great.
• 21:49
  Yes.
• 21:50
  And I so appreciate this because, you know, it's word-of-mouth.
• 21:53
  That really has an impact in the community here and at large.
• 21:59
  So we love to get the word out and have these conversations.
• 22:03
  It's important to talk about.
• 22:05
  Fantastic.
• 22:06
  Well, it sounds like you got a busy month of October.
• 22:09
  A lot of stuff going on there.
• 22:11
  Where can people find you and find out more about the resources that you're offering?
• 22:16
  We obviously have the website edrsd.org scrolling across the bottom here.
• 22:22
  But where else could they find you and get in touch with you, Vicky?
• 22:26
  You can also we're on Facebook.
• 22:28
  We're on LinkedIn.
• 22:30
  So please just type in employment disability resources.
• 22:34
  You'll find us.
• 22:35
  You can give me a call, (605) 215-1760.
• 22:40
  We also provide a monthly newsletter that's emailed out.
• 22:44
  So if you're interested in learning more, I'm happy to add you to our newsletter email list.
• 22:50
  Well, fantastic.
• 22:51
  I'm gonna go join the newsletter right now.
• 22:54
  Vicky, I'm so appreciative of your time.
• 22:56
  Thank you for coming on and sharing more about employment disability resources, and thank you
• 23:01
  for being part of the scene.
• 23:03
  Thank you.