Posted on May 14, 2002 at 8:55 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Meet Your Neighbor, a program of the Civitan International Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is introducing Alabama’s business community to a group of employees — a writer, a computer technician, a social worker — who share many things in common with their peers and one slight difference — each has a disability. Their stories are the focus of a new video targeting businesses and other organizations in Alabama.
“They fit right in — at home, work, school and play,” says Ellen Dossett, Ph.D., program director with the Civitan Center. “By introducing these individuals to others, including potential employers, perhaps it will ease the discomfort some people feel when they meet a person who has a disability for the first time.”
Alabama Power, a partnering business of the Meet Your Neighbor program, will premiere the video during a reception for business and community leaders on May 16, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Alabama Power Headquarters building in Birmingham. Employees featured in the video and their employers, co-workers and families will be on hand for the video’s debut.
Carla Davis, a communications specialist with Alabama Power, is one employee featured in the video. Davis, who writes for the company’s internal publications, is blind. “When I started thinking about my job choices, I realized writing was something I could do on my own without much help,” says Davis. “You have to think, ‘What can I do by myself, independently?’”
Jimmy Tracy, owner of Tracy’s restaurant, also is featured in the video. “I have 10 employees; eight have disabilities,” says Tracy. “My message to other employers would be to give it a try ... Give them the freedom to find their niche in the workplace.”
The video is intended to serve as training and educational tool for human resource personnel, school children, members of civic groups and others. “By seeing how people with disabilities live — and how they would like to live — perhaps others will be more likely to include them in day-to-day activities,” says Dossett. “People with disabilities want to be and should be fully included in every aspect of Alabama life.”
The Meet Your Neighbor video was produced as part of a three-year disabilities awareness program funded by the Alabama Council for Developmental Disabilities. It is available free of charge to businesses, human resources organizations, school systems, libraries, policy makers, places of worship and others.
For more information about the business reception and video premiere at Alabama Power or to receive a free copy of the video, contact Vicki Coffey with the Civitan Center at (205) 934-2965.