Eastman Kodak (Rochester, NY) finds workers with disabilities through its involvement with a New York State-funded program, Information Technology Training (IT²). The IT² certificate program retrains those who can no longer do their previous jobs because of disability. Since 1985, the program has placed thirty-two interns at Kodak; eight remain as full-time employees. Others have used their internships to find IT jobs with other companies.

Jim Georger.

“It’s not the recruitment and hiring efforts that make these initiatives work,” says Jim Georger, manger of university relations and staffing, “it’s the commitment of line-level managers passionate about diversity and including those with disabilities in the workplace.”

Joe Spurrier.

One manager, Joe Spurrier, is a big fan of the IT² internships. “We use simple assistive devices like a roller ball rather than a traditional mouse or a certain kind of chair; we’ve also used interpreters,” he says. “IT² reminds everyone in the workplace that all you need to succeed in technology is a brain. Transportation, mobility or communication issues can be handled as long as a person can think logically and creatively.”

D/C