Disabilities Advocate Gives Guv Hiring Idea

Gov. Ned Lamont had just finished stating that Connecticut has tens of thousands of jobs it can’t fill.

Herb Kolodny responded with a pitch for how to fill some of them: hire more people with disabilities to fill the state’s labor shortage.

Lamont had finished his cheesecake and two of the three raspberries on the plate and mounted the stage at Hamden’s Whitney Center. He told the crowd that there are tens of thousands of jobs in Connecticut that employers can’t fill. Once he had finished his speech and the question and answer portion of the program had begun, a man sitting a few tables away from Lamont’s neglected raspberry stood up.

“I have a request more than a question,” Kolodny said.

Kolodny, who lives in Hamden, had a leg amputated. He became a statewide advocate for amputees and other people with disabilities, helping to get new legislation passed. 

“You talked about jobs. You talked about good jobs,” he told Lamont. ​“It would be great if the state focused more on hiring people with disabilities. Get them off of government benefits… to paying taxes and contributing to their community as far as buying goods and services.”

Lamont heard Kolodny’s pitch at a lunch hosted by the Hamden Regional Chamber of Commerce. The room was filled with local business leaders, community leaders, and advocates who sawed at slabs of grilled chicken and stabbed at salads smothered in pink raspberry vinaigrette. Perfectly round cheesecakes with cocoa powder sprinkled on top sat on small plates next to the main course, each with three raspberries arranged next to the cake’s sheer milky walls in a puddle of chocolate syrup.

Lamont told Kolodny that he should get in touch with Commissioner of Developmental Services Jordan Scheff: ​“He’s making a focused effort on making sure folks with disabilities … can live life to their fullest, especially folks with physical disabilities, making it easier for them to get to work, stay at work, and work.”

Given the strength of the economy, it would be a shame if the state cannot manage to get more individuals with disabilities hired, Lamont said. ​“If we can’t do it in this day and age, we can’t do it,” he said.

Lamont fielded a question about a topic he has spent the last year beating to death, until it died last week at the hands of an indecisive legislature, highway tolls. Then the question of employment for people with disabilities came back.

“Amen to the gentleman that was just speaking about individuals with disabilities,” said Jen Kostek of SARAH, Inc., which helps people with disabilities find jobs and give them other opportunities. She said 70 – 86 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed: ​“To hear you talking about the jobs and that there aren’t people to fill them pains me.”

She said two pieces of legislation in the works could make a difference. House Bill 5059 would provide a tax credit for businesses that hire workers with disabilities. The other would provide more funding for nonprofits in this year’s state budget amendment.

“Let me take a look at those tax credit opportunities, and somebody will get back to you on that,” Lamont replied. A few minutes later, one of his staffers approached Kostek and asked for his business card.

Training, Transit, And Stigma

As the event ended, Lamont made his way to the door, shaking hands in a gauntlet of tables as he walked. Kostek followed him to the door, and waited to talk to him as he made the rounds of acquaintances and business leaders in the lobby.

“Good question, we’re working on that,” he told Kostek after posing for a picture with her.

Kostek is the director of employment services for SARAH, Inc. in Westbrook. She helps people with intellectual disabilities find jobs and supports them once they enter the workforce.

People with disabilities face a number of challenges in finding work, she said. Business owners often wrongly stereotype people with disabilities and think they won’t be good workers, or they will cost more to employ. Sometimes people with disabilities lack the training they need to get jobs, and employers aren’t willing to invest the time to train them. Transportation can be an issue for many, and they struggle to get to work. In some cases, Kostek said, people’s families don’t want them to get a job because that would mean losing disability income.

The stereotypes are false, she said. She said the people she works with are thrilled to get jobs and get a paycheck, and they have stellar attendance records and go to work every day with enthusiasm. Having a job transforms their lives, giving them financial freedom and a sense of self-worth they sometimes didn’t have before.

Kostek and Kolodny had not met before. They exchanged business cards — it was a networking event after all.

As Kostek put it, ​“strength in numbers.”

Kolodny said that people with intellectual disabilities face stigmas in many parts of their lives. ​“They’re just as bright as everybody else, but you can’t see it,” he said. People with physical disabilities like him, he said, can also face stigma, and employers sometimes think they’re not up for a job they can, in fact, do.

“And oh, yeah, they’ll pay taxes. They’ll buy stuff” once they have jobs, he said.

Kostek said she plans to travel to Hartford on Thursday to testify at a hearing on H. B. 5059.