ST. PAUL – In recognition of employers hiring people with disabilities in the community, EmployAbilities gave Sobeys a Disability Awareness Award on Oct. 17.
EmployAbilities is a non-profit organization that provides skills development, training, and employment services to Albertans facing “employment barriers,” which include disabilities, according to Connie Bigam, EmployAbilities employment facilitator.
“Anyone can be a productive member of society,” she said, including people that may be facing barriers that disallow them from obtaining and maintaining employment.
Carmen Kerr, assistant store manager, who received the award on behalf of Sobeys St. Paul, said the notion that people with disabilities cannot become productive members of society is false.
“They have an opportunity to provide us with new views,” she said, stating she believes it is an asset to any company who brings in someone with a disability. “Just the opportunity to give them a chance, more times than not – you’ll be surprised.”
She said she is humbled and excited to receive the award, which is an opportunity to say, “We hire everybody and anybody, and that everybody needs an opportunity.”
Lindsay Sutherland, employment coach for EmployAbilities’ virtual connections division said, “the problem is disability has such a stigma to it.”
“A lot of people think that disability is something that they can see – that’s not true in a lot of cases,” said Sutherland. “Sometimes there’s a disability that no one can see . . . and we help those individuals gain confidence to enter the workforce whatever their barrier is.”
“Disabilities doesn’t just mean that I’ve got one leg missing or I’ve had a stroke or something like that,” he said. “It could be a wide range of things that really stops somebody from gaining employment.
So, Sutherland said that they also provide support to people such as those with medical conditions or mental health challenges.
“It could be that they’re suffering from depression or anxiety,” he said, explaining their clients don’t necessarily need to have a certification from a doctor on their condition. But “they know that they are suffering through that process.”
Sutherland further explained EmployAbilities have been finding more clients with depression or a lot of anxiety issues “especially with the pandemic we’ve been going through.” Thus, he reiterated EmployAbilities support people “not necessarily based on the fact that they have a natural physical disability,” but anything that could deter people from gaining employment.
Sutherland said his role with EmployAbilities involves virtually teaching people who face employment barriers with skills like basic computer skills, life skills, budgeting, setting goals, interview and resume skills.
He said the program is free, and a computer is provided to clients to attend the program. Sutherland said they also offer further support.
“With my [virtual connections] program, we actually support them for the first three months usually within their probationary period,” he said. “If there’s any concerns, we can work with the employer and the employee.”
“It just doesn’t stop there per se – we’re always available no matter what,” he said. Meanwhile, Bigam added that as the Employment Facilitator, she said she follows up with clients for up to six months.
Bigam and Sutherland encourage people interested in getting support from EmployAbilities to check out their website for assistance, including writing cover letters, resumes, or learning skills.
“And our services are free,” said Sutherland.
