Episode 123 VR Workforce Studio

The Razor-Sharp Edge of Vocational Rehabilitation

National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials

  • Autism and Employment Curated List (NCRTM) – This curated list from the NCRTM focuses on resources related to Autism and competitive integrated employment (CIE). It includes a variety of resources for general audiences, individuals with disabilities and their families, vocational rehabilitation professionals. The list covers a wide range of topics including information on Autism, employment success stories, toolkits, guides, on-demand training, and webinars. Additionally, it includes many resources for businesses interested in supporting employees with Autism. There are more than 25 resources on this list!
  • Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) Resources for People with Disabilities and Their Families (ODEP) – This website is a comprehensive resource center for individuals with disabilities and their families, offering resources on various employment-related topics such as transition planning, mental health conditions, veterans’ employment, financial management, and job accommodations. Resources include fact sheets, guides, toolkits, and links to relevant organizations. With a focus on empowerment and informed decision-making, it serves as a valuable resource for individuals seeking employment opportunities and navigating the complexities of the workforce.

To keep up with new materials in the NCRTM library, subscribe for NCRTM library updates. Once a month you will receive an email with all of the new materials that have been added to the NCRTM library.

Transcript

VR Workforce Studio Singers:  Singing VR Workforce Studio.

Adrian Clark: SkillsI’ve learned a lot of things here and not just the immediately obvious ones either relating to MTT.

Jake Hart:  Four, three, two, one. VR Workforce Studio, podcasting the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation through the inspiring stories of people with disabilities who have gone to work.

Flora Frazier:  Working in a field that I understand.

Jake Hart:  As well as the professionals who have helped them.

James Hall:  A job and a career, you got to look at how life-changing this is.

Jake Hart:  And the businesses who have filled their talent pipelines with workers that happen to have disabilities.

Debby Hopkins:  To help expand registered apprenticeship.

Jake Hart:  These are their stories.

Megan Healy:  Because there’s such a great story to tell about people with disabilities.

Jake Hart:  Now, here are the hosts of the VR Workforce Studio, Rick Sizemore and Betsy Civilette.

Rick Sizemore:  Welcome to episode 123, the Razor-Sharp Edge of Vocational Rehabilitation, the story of Adrian Clark who works in an exciting career, making among other things, surgical blades in advanced manufacturing and we’re absolutely thrilled and delighted to welcome our new RSA Commissioner Dante Allen. He joins us later in today’s show from his office in Washington DC to share his vision for vocational rehabilitation. Let’s get started with Adrian, her career at Cadence, how she developed skills and obtained industry-recognized workforce credentials that helped jumpstart her career.

Betsy Civilette:  Adrian, welcome to the podcast today. Tell us about this exciting new job with Cadence.

Adrian Clark:   Well, I’ve been working there for about six months now. I ended up getting the job while I was still on the tail end of staying at Wilson Workforce and managed to stay on campus for a while, while I was getting myself a place to stay because I had a successful job offer and if I was working, that was considered a success.

Rick Sizemore: Well, we want to hear the whole story about manufacturing skills training, or MTT. What brought you to MTT and then what happened in your life as a result of getting your certification and completing the program? Tell us the whole story.

Adrian Clark:  I ended up going here for vocational evaluation and I was really lucky that I had the MTT recommendation and I’m really glad this happened because MTT has worked out really well for me.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, tell us about the certification, the MT1. What skills did you have to learn and what did you have to master in order to get that coveted Manufacturing Technician One certification

Adrian Clark:  For that, there was some class instruction in between the hands-on stuff to get us used to machines where it was mostly just taking care of math skills, science skills, making sure we were up to where we needed to be. It was a bit of a mix of everything, but I don’t think there was much outside of early high school science and making sure that you had the right spatial reasoning you needed for the various questions on the test really.

Rick Sizemore:  Many people struggle with that exam. It’s not for the faint of heart and you seem to breezed through all of the different phases of the testing. Tell us about that testing.

Adrian Clark:  David did a really good job of teaching us to learn machines. He didn’t just set us on a machine and focus on learning this machine. He was teaching us basics for how to pick up different ones. That’s why as soon as we got a rough handle on a machine, we would move to the next so we could keep developing that skill rather than developing a collection of machine skills of 3D printer, lathe, drill press, which really helped me out at Cadence because they have entirely proprietary machines, so there isn’t really a past experience helps option there.

Betsy Civilette:  Tell us about your job at Cadence and what do you do there?

Adrian Clark:  I’m in the CNC sharpening cell, which means that I am operating one of the CNC machines. There’s some details I can’t go into because NDAs, medical customers and stuff, but essentially it’s the opposite of how a normal lathe works, which takes a bit of getting used to.

Rick Sizemore:  Describe the products you’re making. What’s the end result of all this work?

Adrian Clark:  It depends on which sharpening machine I’m on. People aren’t just assigned to this machine and stay there. You’ll get moved around the shop floor to different machines as needed. I’ve been running medical blades recently. I again, can’t go into detail on what types, but…

Rick Sizemore:  But these are scalpels and different medical procedure-based blades?

Adrian Clark:  Some of them are, not the ones I’ve been running recently, but I know one of the ones that’s runs through in volume is one for carpal tunnel surgery, that has, and I can’t describe the details.

Rick Sizemore:  Right. We get it. We get it. This is fascinating.

Betsy Civilette:  What part of the job are you able to do though because of your MTI certification?

Adrian Clark:  Definitely helped with the interview. I didn’t need to get used to thou as a common term of measurement because in more precise machine shop jobs they won’t say, “Oh, three thousandths of an inch.” They’ll tell you, “Okay, we’ll need to move the machine three thou.” That was something that I didn’t need to take some time to get used to because, well, David already got us used to it.

Rick Sizemore:  Right. Well, as I understand it, there is a lot of emphasis on measurement in the MTT program. What’s that like, learning to measure things?

Adrian Clark:  I’m trying to figure out a good description. It was just learning how to use different tools to measure. It was really hands-on. It definitely helped because I knew how to use calipers, knew how to use micrometers, knew how to use all those measuring equipment before going in. Most people can see a caliper and go, “Okay, this is how you use it.” Not many people can go and know how to use the other side where the prong sticks out to measure depth or how to use the other side to measure the inside diameter of something.

Rick Sizemore:  Tell us just a little about your disability and what if any aspects of that have been part of this equation of you getting into the workforce.

Adrian Clark:  Well, there’s two aspects to that. First off, physical disability, fibromyalgia, arthritis, it means I’m a bit limited for terms of mobility, lifting things. I couldn’t really get a warehouse job if I didn’t want to burn out within a month and be bedridden for a week with the expected movement lifting and stuff. With Cadence, it’s operating the machines. There’s some amount of moving objects, but there is a really big focus on safety, economy of motion, because well, they manufacture blades. Safety has to be step zero or else they would have a huge issue.

On the other side of things, autism and ADHD, which primarily has been an issue with executive dysfunction. I mentioned earlier I breezed through tests, but homework and stuff was an issue because the second it wasn’t in front of me, it was not there. MTT helped a lot with that, mostly by way of giving me more means to make sure it was still in front of me. I could still keep locked onto it.

Rick Sizemore:  Awesome.

Adrian Clark:  And at Cadence, that helped a lot because, well, it meant that I wouldn’t set something down and all of a sudden I’m late on a measurement because I would know, “Okay, I’m not setting that down. I’m going to go measure now.”

Rick Sizemore:  You’ve been very successful and with success on a job comes wages. I want to know what it felt like to get that first paycheck and realize that you now have the capacity to fund your life, the life that you want. What did that feel like? The first check, do you remember it?

Adrian Clark:  It felt good. Before I was always feeling guilty because staying with family, relying on them, not really contributing monetarily and that changed once I got the job at Cadence.

Rick Sizemore:  Right, absolutely. Well, congratulations.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, Adrian, you mentioned how your instructor at MTT, David, he’d prepare you for different types of skills and jobs, and your supervisors say you’re a great problem solver. Can you give us an example of how you had to solve a problem at Cadence and how your training might’ve helped that?

Adrian Clark:  David didn’t focus so much on the actual machine skills of the machine. He focused on picking up the new machines and getting proficient with them and doing new and different projects so that it wasn’t just repeating what we’d learned on that machine. It was actually actively going through the process of learning over the program, which helped a lot because I was already used to picking up a new machine and having a week or two to get used to it and start using it, especially with the variety of the programming and designing side of 3D printing versus the top-down lathe, which gave a lot more of the applicable experience to Cadence, but there was a lot of stuff for the different machines that all added up. For the laser printer, to be clear, when I said laser printer, I mean it etches designs with a laser, not a laser jet printer.

Rick Sizemore:  Right, right. Thanks for the clarification.

Adrian Clark:  I realized that wasn’t clear in what I said and wanted to clear that up.

Rick Sizemore:  Oh, you’re awesome. Well, I’m going to jump ahead just a little bit. We are very fortunate to have here in the studio with us, Kevin WRay, who was your vocational rehabilitation counselor here. What was it like working with Kevin?

Adrian Clark:  I could see the face he just made. It was really good. He was a great counselor. He was there whenever I needed help. He kept making it clear that anytime there was any sort of issue, I should come to him. I may not have always done that when it would’ve been best to, but he was always there to help anytime I asked.

Rick Sizemore:  That’s awesome. Well, Kevin, we’re going to put you on the spot. How does it make you feel to hear this amazing success story to be here with Adrian as she reflects on her success?

Kevin Wray:  I’m really proud of Adrian. From day one, she came into her program and put 100% into it, and we saw her demonstrate leadership skills with her peers, was always there with a kind word, trying to help people out, encourage them, showed enthusiasm for the work, and when Adrian came to us and said, “Hey, I’d like to try to relocate and I want to pursue work here,” we steered her toward Cadence because she had demonstrated the skills that we knew would be applicable to them and they scooped her up right away, and we were excited, and we were excited to be able to help her make that transition. And it feels great to be here at the end of the road and hear her talking about how much she’s enjoying doing it and the change it’s making in her life.

Betsy Civilette:  Okay. Adrian, tell others who are listening that are maybe in a situation like you looking for work. How has your life been positively impacted, improved through vocational rehabilitation?

Adrian Clark:  First off, skills. I’ve learned a lot of things here and not just the immediately obvious ones either relating to MTT, more general things on campus that helped out a lot, and Ms. Gray helped with finance, budgeting, all those things that they don’t teach you in school, but really should.

Rick Sizemore:  Exactly.

Adrian Clark:  It actually got me to the point where I’ve moved out from parents. I am independent, self-sustaining, I have everything I need and I’m on track to keep going that way.

Rick Sizemore:  Right. Well, an amazing story.

Betsy Civilette:  That’s wonderful.

Rick Sizemore:  Amazing story. Thank you for joining us today. Adrian Clark works at Cadence in Verona, Virginia, is a highly successful vocational rehabilitation participant who has industry-recognized credentials and is on her way to a career with Cadence. Thank you for joining us.

Adrian Clark:  It was a pleasure.

Rick Sizemore:  The Razor-Sharp Edge of Vocational Rehabilitation continues as we welcome Dante Allen, the recently appointed commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S Department of Education, with a background deeply rooted in advocacy and communications, Dante brings a wealth of experience to his new role. Prior to joining the federal government, Dante served as the executive director for CalABLE, California’s ABLE Act savings program and held various leadership positions in both public and private sectors. As a full-time wheelchair user born with spina bifida, Dante is a passionate advocate for disability rights and equity. He joins us now to discuss his personal journey, his vision for individuals with disabilities and his plans to drive positive change in his new role at RSA. Welcome, Commissioner Allen.

Dante Allen:  Thank you for having me. Pleasure to be here.

Betsy Civilette:  Commissioner Allen, first, congratulations on your appointment and confirmation. We are of course delighted to have you on our podcast. First, tell us a little bit about yourself and your path to leadership at RSA.

Dante Allen:  Thank you. Very glad to be here. As you might know, it was quite a lengthy process get here, so very happy to be in place. And my path is a little bit of a circuitous, maybe sometimes meandering route to get here and that’s talking both personally and professionally.

As you said in my intro, I was born with a disability. Just to go a little bit into my family upbringing, I am the last of five children, the only person born with a physical disability, and it led into my mindset that I wanted to be able to do what everybody else was doing. Across my life I looked at disability as not something that would put me in a box, but was just one of those things that I had to do to get over, under, around whatever obstacle that was in my place. That’s a good thing from the perspective of being ready for the challenge.

It is a challenge in and of itself in that it really made me try to place to the back burner real needs that I had as an individual with a disability. I can remember being well into my career and almost feeling from a bragging standpoint that I had never requested a reasonable accommodation as if that were a badge of honor, and it’s something that the older I got, the more aware I became of the additional obstacles that it put in front of me, and it also led me to see that I wasn’t doing anything to help the people behind me by placing disability into an afterthought. Meaning if you didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t either. As I worked through my career, I really moved from having the disability be something that was not a major portion of what I did to definitely bringing that to the forefront. I particularly sought out roles that would allow me to use my personal advocacy in a more public way, and it’s something that I’m really proud of over the course of my career

Rick Sizemore:  Well, I’ve had the privilege of knowing many great leaders who happen to have disabilities and there is a strength they bring to the role because those who are seeking services and getting services from us identify with your place in life. Our hats are off to you for all that you’ve done. We just concluded our conversation with Adrian Clark, and you’ve heard her story about how vocational rehabilitation led to an amazing career in advanced manufacturing, special thanks to her counselor here in Virginia General and the staff at Wilson Workforce for supporting her success. What is your reaction to her story, and as you reflect on it, could you talk about your vision for VR?

Dante Allen:  Yeah, I’m blown away number one, by the technical skill that is required when you’re talking about thousands of an inch, the level of precision that is required to do that work, and it’s a skill that you have to have training for, and even to get that training, you have to be aware that there are professions to pursue in that vein, there are opportunities that may exist, but as long as people aren’t aware of them or aren’t aware that they can fit into those opportunities because of their disability, then I think that we have additional work to do. That really leads into what I have identified as my priorities for rehabilitation services, knowing that I have not spent my entire career as a vocational rehab administrator or leader, my connection to vocational rehab really goes to the very beginning of my career, and it came at a time where I was looking for my first employment and I went to the California Department of Rehabilitation to seek some assistance where we’re getting to that job was going to be quite difficult for me.

And the department helped me identify transportation resources, and I’m a firm believer that had I not had that help and assistance, I certainly wouldn’t be here as commissioner and may not have had the career that I’ve had. The idea that I was aware of rehabilitation services is an assumption that I don’t think that we can always afford to make. My number one priority as commissioner is to ensure that individuals with disabilities have opportunities for competitive integrated employment. We work directly with vocational rehab agencies and in a lot of that capacity, we serve as an overseer. We’re not necessarily seen as the partner. We’re seen as the one who’s going to point out when those agencies are doing something wrong. I really want to help to redefine that, to say that we are exposed through RSA to some of the best and brightest things that are happening across vocational rehab. We have this capability because of the funding mechanism that we have. We have the privilege of sharing about $4 billion a year in resources. We can bring people together and we see things from more holistic viewpoint than most others who are either focused locally, or on the particular employment base, or whatever they’re looking at.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, thank you for sharing that. You have an extraordinary responsibility to lead our nation’s VR program, and you touched on some of the priorities. How would you use your experience, I guess in California and replicate that for the entire country?

Dante Allen:  That is a great thing, and it’s probably one of the biggest learning points that I’m still in the process of, is making my way through the country. I have spent all of my years prior to this role in California. I’ve worked very closely, especially in my last role with the ABLE Act, I worked very closely with other states, but I never had to take the perspective of what are the very needs and requirements of folks all across the nation. And I’m doing a lot of tours and going on site visits just to get a broader understanding of what everyone is facing. I think my experience has taught me, and especially the fact that I haven’t been in rehabilitative services my entire career, it gives me the ability to listen first and ask the questions of, “Just because we’ve always done it this way, why do we have to keep continuing to do it that way?”

One of the things that I’m learning is fewer people are coming to those traditional vocational rehab agencies to seek that help, and it could be because they aren’t aware that those services are available to them. And because vocational rehab for so long has operated from a point of scarcity that they think that, “Oh, maybe my disability isn’t severe enough, or maybe my need isn’t strong enough,” and we just so happen to be in a period where that scarcity is not what it once was. We actually have a level of abundance in vocational rehab that whether you’re starting your career or you want to move up in your career, there are opportunities where you can be helped. And I think a key element is knowing that those services exist.

And another of my priorities is to really celebrate the success stories that exist in this field, and I consider myself one of them, and it’s not that I want to go out and promote myself, but I want to give the real examples of the way the world is working and your previous guest is an example of… This is something that I had no previous knowledge of, and there is help to get someone to that point, especially if they have an interest or an aptitude to get there. It’s a fascinating thing to explore.

Rick Sizemore:  One of the reasons this podcast has resonated with so many listeners is the fundamental thing that you’ve identified, and that is reaching out to people with the message of vocational rehabilitation. Given that you are a success story, you’re in our wheelhouse right now as we reach out, speak to that person. Please, right now, speak to that person who’s thinking about trying vocational rehabilitation. Give them your message of inspiration and why voc rehab is potentially the thing that’s going to kickstart their career.

Dante Allen:  Work is so much more than receiving a paycheck, right?

Rick Sizemore: Right.

Dante Allen:  We all look at employment as part of how we define ourselves and our purpose in life. And to open yourself up to the possibility of additional purpose, connection to be able to afford the things in life that you want and need, including earning a family sustaining wage is an incredible thing to consider. And vocational rehabilitation can help you on your path whether you know that you have marketable skills or not. And I really want to encourage the folks that may be challenged with this idea of, “Well, what can I do that someone would pay me to do?” The possibilities are limitless and really assistive technology to allow folks to do things that they may not have ever believed were possible, and I’m including in assistive technology, that next horizon of artificial intelligence.

There may be jobs that an individual with a disability may never have considered, or someone may never have considered hiring someone with a disability that artificial intelligence can help open a brand new door into a career field that many of us never believed possible. And I really want to find those opportunities. I want to promote those. I want that to be a major part of our lives and really encourage you, an individual with a disability to get out there and make the absolute most of your opportunities.

Betsy Civilette:  Thank you. What you’ve said is extremely inspirational. I look forward to everything you’re going to do.

Rick Sizemore:  Dante Allen leads the Rehabilitation Services Administration. We’re so delighted to have had you on the podcast today. Thank you for joining us.

Dante Allen:  Thank you so much for having me. I look forward to listening to future episodes. I really am impressed with all you’re doing, so thank you.

Rick Sizemore:  Thank you. Well, it’s time for our National Clearinghouse report with the always entertaining and informative Heather Servais. Welcome, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Hi, Rick. Happy episode 123. Thinking about Adrian’s story, I wanted to share with you a resource from the NCRTM and that’s our curated list on autism and employment. This curated list has resources that are related to autism and competitive integrated employment, and it includes resources for a wide variety of audiences, individuals with disabilities and their family members, VR counselors and professionals, even businesses. And this list has more than 25 resources on it, and it covers a range of everything from employment success stories, toolkits, there’s even some on-demand training and webinars. This is a really great starting point. If you’re starting to think about working with people with autism or maybe you’re an individual with autism and you’re thinking about employment, this list is a great starting point for you.

Rick Sizemore:  Awesome. Thanks so much for that. I’m sure counselors in our audience love to say that to their favorites so they can get right to those resources at the click of a button.

Heather Servais:  Absolutely. And then I just want to remind folks that we continually update the NCRTM library, so we’re always adding new things to it. We just recently added a new piece from ODEP, or the Office of Disability Employment Policy, and it’s a resource for individuals with disabilities and their family members all related to competitive integrated employment. This website is really like a one-stop shop that has employment-related topics. Everything from transition planning, it goes over employment and financial management, job accommodations, and there’s a wide variety of resources on there, like fact sheets, toolkits, and then links to partner agencies. With this focus on empowerment informed decision-making, it’s a really valuable resource for individuals that are seeking employment opportunities and that are trying to navigate the complexities of entering the workforce. We highly recommend you check out that link.

And if you’re interested in just keeping up with what comes into NCRTM, we encourage you to subscribe for library updates. I’m going to have the link directly in the show notes for you. We’ll send you once a month an email that’ll go over all of the new materials that have been added, so you can stay up to date and see what’s out there for you.

Rick Sizemore:  Heather’s Servais directs RSA’s National Clearing House of Rehabilitation training materials, and joins us each month for the Clearing House report. Links and resources from the NCRTM are included in the show notes at vrworkforcestudio.com. Thanks, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Rick.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, thank you for getting involved in today’s show. If you or someone has a disability and wants to get into the workforce, vocational rehabilitation may just be the answer to kickstart your career. Visit us at vrworkforcestudio.com to find links and resources as well as our contact information. On behalf of my co-host, Betsy Civilette, I’m Rick Sizemore inviting you to join us as we podcast the sparks that ignite Vocational Rehabilitation.

Announcer:  The VR Workforce Studio Podcast is owned and operated by Vocational Rehabilitations Partners in Podcasting. Audio content for the podcast is provided to VR Partners in podcasting by the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative services in exchange for promotional considerations.