Winder Inclusive Community Services (WICS) wanted to give local politicians the opportunity to experience a hands-on perspective of the importance of hiring people who live with disabilities.
Strathcona County’s Mayor, Rod Frank, spent a day job shadowing Roman Lozowy to help bring awareness to Disability Employment Awareness Month (DEAM).
Roman Lozowy works at Home Depot and completes a variety of tasks including taking out the garbage, restocking candy, pop and chips. He also makes sure the front end of the store is ready for customers.
Lozowy has worked at Home Depot for nine years.
Tim Strauss, the Home Depot store manager, says Lozowy is a very reliable and great member of the team.
“Roman is, first of all, he’s consistent and on time,” said Strauss. “I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience where he hasn’t showed up for the shifts that he’s expected to.
“He’s just an incredible, encouraging person to have around. He’s a lot of fun. He’s got a great sense of humour, and he knows what to do.”
Strauss stressed the importance of people with disabilities on his team.
“They’re as valuable to us as any other associate that works here. And they have the ability to offer and contribute to the success of an organization in their own way, in what they are capable of doing. And we will find a way to include them in everything that we do,” he said.
Buddy Winder, the co-owner of WICS, said events like this are important to show that people with disabilities have similar goals to most people.
“(People with disabilities) want the same things that we want. They want to work. They want girlfriends, boyfriends … They want a life. They want to contribute.” he told Global News.
“It makes a huge difference. They see that the people that we’re supporting can do the same types of jobs that you and I do. So, they just see that it’s normalized, that it’s a regular kind of thing that anybody does and the contributions that they can make.”
WICS supports 48 people with disabilities in their employment.
Winder discussed how challenging it can be to find employment as a person with a disability.
“People see the person with the disability first instead of the person that they are. And so as soon as they think that someone or see someone has a disability, they automatically think that they don’t have the skills, the ability or the attention span to do the job, which is very untrue.
“The more that everyone in the community sees this kind of stuff, they just begin to recognize and break down some of the barriers for people with disabilities.”
This DEAM initiative started in Sherwood Park and this year expanded to communities like Leduc and Beaumont.
“I’d just like to encourage all employers, all municipalities, to get behind the DEAM program and make sure that those opportunities open up,” said Mayor Rod Frank.
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