Doing What Works

At Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. in Laguna Hills, Dewy Johnson lords over the mailroom in good humor and fine fashion, wearing navy pinstripe trousers, a white shirt, a yellow tie and shiny black half-boots, which, he announces proudly, cost $46.

Johnson, 55, was hired a year ago after the branch contacted a job training center for people with developmental disabilities. Dean Witter needed temporary help during the tax crunch, operations manager Diane Burk said, but by the time the workload had lightened, Johnson had become part of the team.

“He’s an excellent worker,” Burk said. “We like him so much, we’re keeping him, period.”

Johnson and Dean Witter are just two beneficiaries of what businesses and vocational groups say is a growing workplace trend. Nudged by a hearty economy, a shrinking unemployment rate and a growing awareness that disabled people can make solid employees, businesses are increasingly hiring individuals with serious impairments such as autism, Down syndrome and mental retardation.

Nationwide, the number of severely disabled workers who have snagged mainstream jobs shot to nearly 140,000 in 1995-the latest year for which figures are available-from about 20,000 in 1987. A recent California survey shows that almost twice as many developmentally disabled workers now hold community jobs as did seven years ago.

The trend seems likely to continue, as vocational groups step up their efforts to find jobs for disabled workers, and as federal and state governments pour more funds into training programs.

“What has changed over time is that people with developmental disabilities have shown they can be a critical resource in the work force,” said Kent Yamashiro, program specialist for Harbor Regional Center, a Torrance vocational agency. “Now, we’re at the point where a number of large corporations have made commitments to hire people with disabilities.”

In Los Angeles County, Nissan Motor Corp. USA, American Honda Motor Co., Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. and Mattel Inc. now employ dozens of developmentally disabled workers.

Over the last decade, Pizza Hut has hired about 17,000 workers with mental or physical disabilities, most in part-time jobs.

“We’ve already had a lot of success,” said Tim Cate, tax credit manager for Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., which owns the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC chains. “Ideally, we would like to expand it beyond Pizza Hut to the other Tricon companies.”

Now, a growing number of corporate leaders have become activists in this effort, forming business advisory committees to encourage more companies to hire disabled workers. Linkages, a group formed by Jim Click Jr., co-owner of the Tuttle Click Automotive Group, which has dealerships in Orange County and Tucson, has helped 100 disabled people land jobs in the Tucson area over the last year.

“Our goal is to eventually take this to every community in the country,” Click said. “These people do a fantastic job.”

Not all advocates, however, are pleased with the progress. Some say that too many disabled workers are barely clinging to the bottom rung of the corporate ladder.

“Unfortunately, people with disabilities have only been considered for the four ‘F’ jobs: food, filth, flowers and factories,” said Rick Berkobien, a programs director for the Arc, a national volunteer organization formed to helped mentally disabled people and their families. “We want to see people ... promoted up the ladder.”

And despite the healthy economy, advocates say, a large percentage of disabled workers who would like to have jobs remain unemployed or can only land part-time positions that often have no benefits. Further, the families of some seriously disabled people worry about their loved ones’ possibly losing government benefits, even if they take a low-paying job.

Vocational agencies say they are working hard to find decent jobs for their clients. But some businesses remain leery about hiring them, and some disabled workers are hesitant to step into the general work force.

Even when the job connection is made, there may still be obstacles to overcome as some disabled workers learn slowly, have difficulty juggling tasks and may require much repetition to stay on track.

But the success stories have begun to mount, an encouraging sign for those who say this movement will ultimately benefit both business and society.

Starring in one such story is Dewy Johnson, who tends to the small mail room at Dean Witter. The Mission Viejo resident sorts and weighs letters, keeps the shelves stocked--and banters with other employees when they stop by to drop off their mail.

Johnson, who is planning to be married next year, said he intends to remain at Dean Witter indefinitely and that he saves most of his paycheck. “I’m staying here,” he said. “All my money goes to Orange National Bank.”

Employers can reap several benefits from hiring workers with disabilities. These employees generally are enthusiastic, and their turnover rates are low.

At Pizza Hut, for example, the annual turnover rate among disabled workers is 30%, compared with a turnover rate of up to 150% for other workers in the same job, Cate said. “At a cost of $300 to recruit and hire and train a new employee, that’s obviously a substantial savings for us,” he added.

And business leaders say these workers are usually conscientious, cheerful and hard-working.

“They’re more focused, their attendance is almost perfect, they come to work on time,” Jim McManners, a account manager at Toyota’s headquarters, says of the company’s developmentally disabled employees. “They get the work out.” Amy Parr, 25, a Trabuco Canyon resident, is another success story. The movie buff, who has Down syndrome, landed her dream job in June 1996, a ticket taker at Edwards’ Trabuco Hills theaters.

“She was thrilled,” said her mother, Cheri Parr. “We bought a roll of tickets, and she practiced tearing tickets so she would do a good job when she got there.”

Parr’s parents drive her to work each day so she won’t have to worry about whether the bus will arrive on time. “She stresses if she thinks she’s going to be a minute late,” Cheri Parr said.

“All the customers love her,” assistant manager Mike Coats said. “She’s a great, great employee.”

People with serious disabilities have not always had such opportunities to prove themselves.

In previous decades, they were generally limited to taking jobs in workshops operated by non-profit agencies. But in 1986, the federal government added a new option for these workers, funding programs to help them get and keep mainstream jobs.

Margaret Lamb, a deputy director at the state Department of Rehabilitation, was the project leader when the “supported employment” program began that year. Initially, she said, everyone wondered if many jobs would be available for these workers and whether they could hold mainstream positions. “Now it’s just a given,” Lamb said. “The assumption is, for most people, they will be able to work.”

Once the corporate door was cracked, the 1991 Americans With Disabilities Act wedged it open by making it illegal to discriminate against applicants with disabilities.

Today, state and federal laws also require that schools begin discussing career possibilities with disabled youngsters and their parents by the time the students reach 14.

“We start very early on with a specific plan,” said Ronald Gray, principal of Esperanza Special Education School in Mission Viejo. “And that is a huge, huge change.”

By graduation day, many disabled students now have dreams that stretch beyond working in a sheltered workshop.

“Ten years ago, when kids with special needs were getting out of high school, we got a lot of referrals to the workshop,” said Joan McKinney, director of the non-profit California Elwyn Inc., which employs disabled workers in its Fountain Valley product-packaging plant. “We don’t see that anymore.”

Sometimes, advocates say, the workshops themselves became an obstacle, since their operators were reluctant to lose their best producers.

But many nonprofit corporations operating these workshops now also function as employment agencies, trying to line up mainstream jobs for their clients, advocates say. California Elwyn, for example, has opened a business development department that seeks to find more jobs for clients.

The state also has furthered the cause by funding “job coaches” who train and oversee the worker at the job site, then step aside as the employee begins to master the job. If the employee does not perform, the job coach can slip another worker into the slot.

“The most important aspect is keeping our business community pleased,” said Gray, Esperanza’s principal and founder of Vocational Visions, a nonprofit job rehabilitation center. “We realize we can’t ask an employer to simply be a charitable organization.”

Most disabled workers are hired individually and their employers pay them at least minimum wage. However, some are placed through a rehabilitation agency that provides on-site support and pays the workers’ salaries. Under these arrangements, disabled workers may sign waivers agreeing to be paid based on their ability to produce, which means they could receive less than the minimum wage. If the employee produces at half the rate of a person who is not disabled, his or her pay will be 50% lower, said Helane Schultz, an employment manager at Vocational Visions.

Four workers who keep the vehicles shiny at Tuttle Click Ford in Irvine have signed such waivers, said Pete MacEachern, a Vocational Visions job coach who works at the dealership. Their hourly pay ranges from $2.49 to $4.35, he said. (California’s minimum wage is $5.75.)

“They do time studies on these guys.” MacEachern said, “and they can get raises if their production is good.”

Vocational Visions receives payments from Tuttle Click to cover the pay and costs of workers’ compensation insurance. Job centers such as Vocational Visions also receive federal and state money to cover other costs.

Vocational rehabilitation agencies say they are laboring on many fronts to guide their clients into the wider work force.

Job specialists help them write resumes, home interview skills and resolve transportation problems. Sometimes the specialists will ride the bus with clients until they become familiar with the routes, or they will follow alongside in a car.

“Our clients are very much like an able person, but they need to be told over and over again,” said Joanna Ferre, Vocational Visions’ job development coordinator. “They’re well-trained before they get to the job site.”

The training, which is often ongoing, covers a wide range of practical skills. If, for example, a client holds a union job and the workers go on strike, the disabled employee might have to learn how to picket.

A direction at the Torrance-based Social Vocational Services job agency, which has 28 offices in Southern California, said virtually all disabled workers can function in mainstream jobs if they don’t have a serious secondary medical condition stopping them. “Anybody can be integrated into a community setting,” Barbara Haney said.

Others, however, still believe the workshop is an option for clients who prefer the security of a cloistered work space.

“You have to overcome a lot of fear” on the clients’ part “about being out in the environment,” Vocational Visions spokeswoman Michelle Anstadt said. “We have people who just won’t go out into jobs... They do feel more comfortable with their peers.”

Even disabled workers who do more otherwise successfully into the wider work force may encounter social problems, advocates say.

“The workers are not necessarily going to take them out to dinner after work or meet them for drinks,” Anstadt said. “So they’re missing the socialization they would have in a [sheltered] environment.”

To address this need, Vocational Visions has “job clubs” for clients in outside jobs so they can meet regularly to chat.

Haney calls such activities “antiquated,” and said these workers learn better by mingling in the wider world, which is where their futures lie.

In Haney’s vision, all segments of society will eventually welcome people with disabilities into the work force. And co-workers will become “mini-job coaches,” helping the disabled employee along.

“As I see the future, every major corporate site will buy into this,” she said. “Not for any other reason than it’s a good business decision for them.”

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How the System Works

The federal and state governments funnel money to vocational rehabilitation agencies, which in turn provide services that help disabled workers get and keep jobs.

Training: Clients receive six to 18 months of vocational training as well as instruction in seeking employment, interviewing and completing applications.

Job Match: Counselors find employment, matching client skills and abilities with employer needs. Some clients are placed individually; others are grouped at a job site with other disabled individuals.

On-the-job coaching: Once hired, clients are assigned job coaches. Coach and client are together 100% of the time on the job when employment begins. Coaches teach all job specifics from how to travel to and from work on public transportation to specific job tasks.

Coaching fade-out: Coach and client reduce time spent together as the client gains confidence and proficiency-a process called “fading.” When time spent together falls below 20%, coaches continue assistance at that level indefinitely, or if the client requests, on-the-job coaching is suspended.

For more information

California Department of Rehabilitation, Long Beach office, (562) 422-9653

Vocational Visions, Mission Viejo (714) 837-7280

Harbor Regional Center, Torrance (310) 540-1711

Sources: California Department of Rehabilitation, Times reports

Researched by JANICE JONES DODDS / Los Angeles Times