Businesses

Integrated Employment

Many companies are discovering the benefits of hiring people who are differently abled.  The national model for this effort is Walgreens, and they are happy to share their success stories.  At the June, 2012 APSE National Conference, Deb Russell, the program manager for Walgreens, spoke of how the initiative has been a benefit to the company as well.  In one example, Deb noted that from a safety perspective, employees who are differently abled have the same number of work-related safety incidents, but these employees return to work much faster than other employees.  Other companies have seen lower attrition and higher morale from the inclusion of people who are differently abled in their workforce.

MeetHear is a communication system that supports integrated employment of employees who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a cognitive disorder, and provides them with a tool enabling them to join in discussions and meetings.

·         Supports speech-to-text, endorsed by many academic studies

·         Brief training creates 95+% accuracy

·         Immediate availability of information

·         Text can be captured and saved, and emailed to any
number of recipients

·         Exclusive multi-tasking feature, avoids the extra cost of an additional computer

·         Multiple meeting rooms can be used in the same facility

·         Supports multiple users in meetings

·         Cost effective compared to other forms of accommodation

·         Immediate availability, no scheduling of outside resources

·         Inclusive, allows individuals to sit anywhere

·         Interactive for individuals who are unable to speak