County students learn about opportunities for workers with disabilities

County students learn about opportunities for workers with disabilities


by leslie Richardson (staff writer lrichardson@republicanherald.com
 
http://republicanherald.com/news/county-students-learn-about-opportunities-for-workers-with-disabilities-1.1052880
 
Bret Gehres has known what he wants to do after he graduates from high school since he was 7 years old.




"I am going to enlist in the military, spend four or five years there, then go to college and get a degree in criminal justice. I want to go to the State Police Academy after that," Gehres, a junior at Pine Grove Area High School, said Friday.



Gehres was one of about 100 students from 11 school districts attending Empowering Employment, a daylong workforce diversity seminar held Friday at McCann School of Business & Technology.



Gehres, like all those attending, is a student with a disability.



"I am hoping I will learn more about college options today and that this will help me get the job I want," Gehres said.



Empowering Employment is sponsored by the Schuylkill County Local Transition Coordinating Council and paid for with funds from the Medicaid Infrastructure Grant funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through a grant to the state Department of Public Welfare. The program - in promoting the idea that post-secondary education may increase employment opportunities and economic independence for individuals with disabilities - was designed to give students information they need to begin planning for their futures.



"Students with disabilities need to be aware that post-secondary education or training is required for many employment opportunities in today's workforce and that they can be successful in post-secondary education with the right programs and adaptations," Melanie Wagner, Intermediate Unit 29 educational consultant, Transition Council member and seminar coordinator, said in a news release.



October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and Edward Butler, Minersville, executive director of the Governor's Cabinet and Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities, brought the governor's proclamation.



"Our wish is that all of these students will be gainfully employed," Butler said Friday. Butler said according to information from Cornell University and the U.S. Census Bureau, there is a 60 percent unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities, the largest of any minority group.



"Employment opportunities are very competitive for people with disabilities," Butler said.



Butler said because of action taken by President Barack Obama on the federal level and recommendations made by Gov. Ed Rendell's Advisory Committee at the state level, over the next five years, people with disabilities should have more job options.



On Friday, the students heard from Greg Selmer, rehabilitation supervisor from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Reading.



Selmer told the students about help the office can provide in workforce placement as well as attending college, including help with funding.



Joan Breslin, Schuylkill Transportation System, told the students STS buses are available to take students from around the county to McCann, Penn State and the Tamaqua campus of Lehigh Carbon Community College.



The students also had a two-hour session with Sam Iorio of the Dale Carnegie Leadership Institute.



"Self-consciousness is the enemy," Iorio said. "Self-consciousness is you thinking about yourself. Self-confidence is you thinking about everyone else. It's not about being sure of yourself, it's about doing it anyway, taking action in spite of self-doubt. We all have doubt. There's nothing wrong with doubt. The problem is what do you do when you have doubt."



Students also toured the McCann facility and were presented with information on school programs.



The Schuylkill County Local Transition Coordinating Council has sponsored similar events in the past and is planning a follow-up event to Friday's seminar.



The group plans to set up Empowering Employment: The Reality Tour.



Four or five students from each county high school will visit job sites around the county that employ workers with disabilities, where they will have the opportunity to see empowerment in action.



A follow-up luncheon with the students, workers and employers will enable the students to ask questions and receive advice through conversations with people in the workforce.