10/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/17/2024 13:20
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center employees took part in an engaging and educational event to observe National Disability Employment Awareness Month Oct. 9 in Battle Creek, Michigan.
"This is extremely interesting for the workplace," said Rob Howard, a Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services employee and culture team member. "I think this a great event, and it's important for supervisors and senior leaders to attend because that way they know more about the accessibility challenges their employees can face in the workplace. For instance, it takes a lot more effort for some people with disabilities to just come into this building than it does for me. I can choose to come into any door I want to use."
DLA Disposition Services Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity Office specialist and sign language interpreter Susan Boyer and her daughter, Valoree Boyer, a sign language interpreter for a local healthcare system, teamed up to provide an informational booth about deafness or being hard of hearing, and blindness or low vision.
"Growing up, we were surrounded by the deaf community," said Valoree Boyer. "I was already bilingual because of my mom. A lot of my caregivers were deaf, and I started babysitting deaf children. I just fell in love with education and working with deaf children. Now I help manage accessibility for patients and their families."
The mother-daughter duo also demonstrated tactile sign language, also known as the Helen Keller method of communicating, in which one person signs and another feels the sign with their hands and uses touch to help communicate.
DLA Logistics Operations employees Marvin "Skip" Morgan and Brad Messenger, who both use wheelchairs for mobility, hosted a wheelchair course and guided several employees through everyday tasks.
Messenger shared insights about challenges in his daily life and adjustments he makes like using a reacher to grab items, purchasing products in cans or plastic bottles instead of glass while grocery shopping, and how to balance and carry purchased items.
This disability awareness event, with the varied stations and resources, encouraged a better understanding of what people with disabilities go through every day and demonstrated that many people with disabilities are experts at improvising, adapting, and overcoming.