Amie Seymour (left), an employee at UFA in Red Deer, nominated the company for a Community Inclusion award, which she presented to Store Manager Shawn Donaghy earlier this month, and showed off for rdnewsNOW on April 14. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"i probably would've given up hope"

Two local organizations earn awards from Inclusion Alberta

Apr 14, 2022 | 2:58 PM

Olds College and UFA are being lauded as recent recipients of Community Inclusion awards from Inclusion Alberta.

Inclusion Alberta is a non-profit advocating on behalf of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families.

Inclusion Alberta held a virtual awards ceremony last week, at which Shawn Donaghy, UFA Red Deer store manager, shared a special moment with employee Amie Seymour.

Seymour, who shares that she has Oppositional Defiant Disorder, a behavioural disability, has been employed at UFA’s Red Deer location for about a year, and presented her manager with the award.

Donaghy says the partnership with Inclusion Alberta, which helped facilitate her hire, is a very strong one.

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“As far as coworkers and Amie, it’s been really seamless. She’s a great personality, she comes in early every single day. She’s ready to work, she hits the sales floor, she’s really funny, witty, sometimes sarcastic, and she blends in and is part of the team like anybody else,” says Donaghy.

“What it means in the grander scheme of things is that it emphasizes to all who work with her that people with developmental disabilities are good at what they do, can be trusted to do jobs they’re given, and they can be task-oriented or sales-oriented.”

Donaghy adds that unfortunately, people with developmental disabilities are very much underemployed.

“If more people knew what kind of workers they can be, it’d be a lot easier to find positions for them. It doesn’t matter who you are, as long as you show up, you’re ready to work, and you have the ability and willingness to work. It’s important for everybody to learn this.”

Seymour, who is 27, tells rdnewsNOW that over the course of six years prior to her hire at UFA, she applied for close to 100 jobs, but couldn’t get past the interview stage.

“I would tell employers to be more willing to give that somebody the opportunity. Don’t look at them as just a person with a disability, but rather a person with an ability. Look at them as human and give give them the shot that they need,” says Seymour, her opinion being that she was passed over for many of the jobs simply because employers didn’t want to have to deal with her disability.

“If not for Inclusion Alberta and UFA working together, I would still be out there looking, or probably would’ve given up hope. UFA gave me a chance when I felt like nobody else wanted me.”

According to Inclusion Alberta, its estimated that people with developmental disabilities are unemployed at a rate of about 70-80 per cent.

Conversely, they say, about 80 per cent of students who take part in an inclusive education opportunity at any one of Inclusion Alberta’s partner-post-secondaries, do find employment in that field.

Olds College currently has three such students, one of which had their family nominate the institution for a Community Inclusion award.

Olds College signed a partnership agreement with Inclusion Alberta in January 2021, and currently has one student each in its Animal Science program, Agriculture Management program, and Horticulture program.

“They’re not enrolled in the full credential, but what we do is select courses for the programs they’re interested in that are a good fit for their particular abilities. They participate fully in those classes with support from a coordinator,” explains Sarah Ferguson, manager, student experience and educational design at Olds College.

“A student who is participating in the Inclusion Alberta partnership may be enrolled in two classes per term. The aim is for the end result to be employment in that industry. Even if they don’t leave us with the full credential, they are still leaving with experience that is relevant to work in that industry.”

Students only pay a nominal fee to participate, Ferguson shares, also noting that for each inclusion coordinator that can be provided, three students can be brought on. The current students will be at Olds College another year before they can take on more.

“When this became a possibility, it was important for us because part of my department’s work is ensuring accessibility to inclusive education, and we definitely wanted to say yes to that opportunity,” Ferguson says. “Now, our campus is more reflective of the wider community.”

According to Ready Willing & Able, a national partnership between Inclusion Canada, the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance and their member organizations, a report by the institute for corporate productivity found preconceived concerns about hiring workers with an intellectual disability averaged 42 per cent higher than challenges actually experienced employing them.