I never thought I'll get a table like the counter welcome to net the box when I got the job like I was nervous like to do well well that so always think I'll get fired so so I try my best at everything that comes from like making a lot of mistakes when I get nervous when I do do start working my nervous goes away and I just worked what I think that crew but I need to grow more I'm a people person and joy being around people I'm the one that's in the background because for
everybody the guest is doing good they told my mom I wasn't awkward to do work I won't remember wherever the work rat bike and all that and I do all that I was so determined to get something going sacre couer tribute back to society and help people and that gave me confidence more confidence on that if you hire a person with a disability the retention rate is really high and it's not just for people with developmental disabilities I think culture needs to change in many companies working around diverse groups [Music] [Music] there's many different types
of disability there's physical disabilities and there's I guess intellectual disabilities as well but this because someone has to say we don't mean you should talk down to them we can't descend into them and make them feel like it's something wrong with them I got my first job when I was living in New Jersey I started working for the high school that I was born in which is Monmouth Medical Center and I worked in the kitchen I started off going to pick up the trays at the nurses and doctors and stuff like all over the place
the hospital and then I end up behind the kinda cooking so I was a short-order cook which was three generations my grandmother did shorter cook and said to my mother I went to the store I triangle sports and I worked there for like eight years and I watched them build what they don't know when I saw them building it and the story I was working at was going to be closing I told my boss I was going to be working there everybody to know I have had difficulty finding work at times but when I did
when I do find a job I lose you I hold on to it for a while my mom have a very big part of that as well because she fought for me she's she stayed by my side and made sure that I achieved some of those goals by giving me faith and myself do it my mother is my mother and father he takes care of me like a mother and father helped me to learn to cook she me wash dishes so when I go to the job I can wash the dishes because when you finish
you have to watch this my first job was Federal Reserve from high school I volunteered at a nursing home franklin nursing home in Queens where the Mets players play I did a doctor's office in 1999 it took me a while to get a job so when I got that job I was happy the biggest issue around a person with an intellectual and developmental disability finding employment is the opportunity I think a lot of times employers are you know they're just not aware of what they need to do to help a person become employed [Music] this
is a vulnerable population so in the past I think employers if they were paying a person with a disability sub minimum wage it was because they could get away with it we have thousands of people in our program but at this point in time we're still sort of pounding the pavement educating employers about the benefits of hiring a person with a disability [Music] the Barclays Center has hired over 75 people each person there has the opportunity to grow we have the majority of people who started there when it first opened still employed and they've all
been promoted the people that we have there are assets to the Barclays center do they see at the time said there's going to send me to my hand cut at that time that's why I'm living it I went there often I told them well don't I decide where I want to be it I didn't want go to Manhattan I went all that helped me get the broccolis and that's just what they did I started off as an usher so I used to stand the tickets as people come in and I used to be there when
the help started in the season and that and that's when I got my first and poor year the month when I was Russia and then I moved up to guest services representative I sort of guess - this week is that's what I'm doing that day oh I do wheelchair escort and that means I meant to front door with a wheelchair and then somebody comes in with a disability or they were walking with a cane that's not my dad I accidentally with your escort tool a section because I know how their approaches situation and take care
of it I don't shy away I do what I'm supposed to do but we ever everybody you know that they VIPs and that's what my job is I'm not right now I have to bring the food food out I do the car I do like the popcorn and they're not chose that I tell people where to go what places to get the food I want to say like my coworker his name is Miguel true he said I'll never forget this is keep keep working that place the kitchen place because if you keep doing it you'll
get better at it you won't get nervous anymore so keep trying and also the other cooks and stop standing like a log and made me feel like I'm already nervous I don't want them to like like make me more nervous but I understand they're trying to help me but the the way they said it was the wrong way to say because duh they'll put everybody down you gotta treat people with respect that's what my mother taught me I love helping people I love preparing myself if I have to get another job I love learning the
names of the food I love the people that cooks that help me when you go downstairs at the locker room they make jokes I like when people joke around people with disabilities they have so many so many you know skills to bring to the table and I think if we could just be a bit more open as a society we'd create a number of opportunities for different types of people I enjoy it and I enjoy going to work and meet new people and my co-workers and stuff like that because my co-workers we are like family
I like it my second family I spend this much on it and I do with my family and I enjoy helping people feel as if they belong there and I want them to be there you know
