Hyatt Regency Atlanta, International Ballroom

Dr. Frank Giles, President of Giles & Associates

Dr. Giles is a consultant working in the area of assisting minority students with disabilities in their career search and working with employers to assist them in hiring of people with disabilities. He was a former Vocational Rehabilitation counselor and is currently a professor at Jackson State University. His presentation focused on the differences in recruiting and hiring minorities with disabilities. Some of those differences included cultural, socioeconomic and educational. Another area of concern is the availability of public transportation from disadvantaged areas to work. He also mentioned a lack of mentors and job coaching for minority candidates with disabilities. He then discussed several statistics indicating the low employment rates of people with disabilities from many minority categories. Dr. Giles also discussed two models he uses to more successfully assist people with disabilities no matter what race they may be. These models were the Community Based Pre-Vocational Intervention Model and the Mentoring Model. Dr. Giles’ presentation in Power Point and in transcript forms is available upon request by e mail.

Dr. Richard Luecking, President of TransCen Inc.

Dr. Luecking discussed how messaging is so important when forming partnerships to assist people with disabilities to become employed. Part of the difficulty in effective messaging about disability is defining what disability really is, as it manifests itself in different ways in different people but also in people within the same disability category. He presented the “not top10” slogans that are used today to promote the employment of people with disabilities that do not reach the need of the employer looking to hire a talented person for their company or agency. As a counterpoint, Dr. Luecking mentioned the five primary characteristics of a good partnership and also suggested five strategies for building successful partnerships. He then presented the “real top 10 list” that more effectively communicates what we all do when promoting the hiring or actually hiring people with disabilities. Dr. Luecking’s Power Point presentation and his transcripted address are available upon request by e mail.

Deidre Davis, Director of ADA Services for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Ms. Davis talked about Wal-Mart and the company’s efforts in becoming more diverse in its workforce. She talked about her background and her education, both formally and in the area of race and disability. Despite being fully accepted as a successful black female attorney, she still struggled with the fact that her disability continued to make her different. She learned how to turn that into an advantage by working with others who were in the same struggle. Her career is a testament to her determination and willingness to listen to and learn from everyone around her. Deidre then talked about her role at Wal-Mart and their desire to do more than what was legally mandated for them to do. She anticipates having Wal-Mart be in the DiversityInc top 10 list for disability in two years. She talked about Wal-Mart being much more aggressive in diversity hiring, especially in the area of disability. She then answered questions from the audience. Deidre Davis’ presentation is in transcript format and is available upon request by e mail.

The Conference was adjourned by Alan Muir, Executive Director of COSD.