VR in Action

We are VR: Meet Colin Boyle

Transcript of video:

Transcript – “We Are VR: Meet Colin”

(COLIN BOYLE) Hello. My name is Colin Boyle, and I’m from Salem, New Hampshire. I am 20 years old. I am currently going to the University of New Hampshire online program. I will begin going to an in-person program.

(MARGORIE BOYLE) My name is Margorie Boyle, and I’m Colin Boyle’s mother. Colin was diagnosed around two years old. My husband and I started realizing, well, he wasn’t verbal. He really liked spinning objects. We didn’t know much about autism. So when we got the diagnosis, we were kind of floored. He went into this kindergarten and there were all these geography pictures up on the wall, and different words. And obviously in kindergarten, you learn your letters. And Colin went in, and he had a limited vocabulary, but he started pointing out the different words. And then we all looked at him and realized, “Oh, he can read.” And they tested him, and they realized he was reading at a 5th grade level in kindergarten. We realized socially, though, and emotionally, that he is below his peers. So, in school, even though he’s gifted academically, he was lagging behind in a lot of those really crucial skills. Before we found VR, we were really lost with my son. We were having trouble finding a college for Colin. We didn’t know about jobs that he might be appropriate for. And then I found Vocational Rehab. For probably about two years now, we’ve been working with Rebecca Sargent, who is really a life saver.

(REBECCA SARGENT) Hi. My name is Rebecca Sargent. I’m a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor with VR New Hampshire. VR New Hampshire works with individuals with any type of disability. We can work with anyone from age 14 to 114. We can help them with their employment goal. And if they don’t know what their goal is, we can help them figure out what that goal is through career exploration. So, Colin came to us when he was in 11th grade in high school. He applied to VR, and we teamed him up with a job coach and got him a job, and he’s excelling, building his work tolerance and his work skills. Then the next steps will be to get him experiences in other jobs that he may like for a career. 

(MARGORIE BOYLE) He has a lot of interests that he’s passionate and excels at. He became passionate about horse racing. 

(COLIN BOYLE) So, I’m very good at handicapping. I’m very good at handicapping Thoroughbred races, for example, Flightline, the best horse in the entire world.  

(MARGORIE BOYLE) Vocational Rehab has helped my son with social skills. They helped us find a social group for him to join. He loves it, and it’s really helping him interact with his peers and work on his social skills for all facets of his life. They helped us find a college for him. We didn’t even know it was going to be possible. And we got in touch with Rebecca, and she found the Bridges program for us. She found UNH-4U. She supported us the whole time through that program. Colin is so excited to say that he goes to UNH. He can’t wait to live on campus. It’s really a dream for him.

(COLIN BOYLE) Right into high school, she helped me find college. She was very helpful in orchestrating getting me work. She also helped me find a job coach.

(MARJORIE BOYLE) Colin works at a local restaurant. He works in the kitchen, and he has a job coach. He’s been with this employer for over a year now. They really make him feel welcome. And we’re hoping to possibly expand his role, because we realize now with the skills he’s learned through VR and his social group, that he has so much more to offer. That he actually likes talking to people now, and he likes to engage. Our goal is for Colin to go to college and find a job where he enjoys it and he can support himself. With Vocational Rehab we’re going to reach those goals, because eventually we’d like him to be a member of a community where he is sustainable—he’s an individual living on his own.

(COLIN BOYLE) It’s important to have a job because I want money, and I also want a life. Like, I’d like to get some sort of career. I hope to have something in the marketing industry…somewhere like an arena for a sports team or a horseracing track.

(REBECCA SARGENT) Colin has so many skills and so many abilities to play off of. I know he’s going to do great things.
 
(MARJORIE BOYLE) If we didn’t have Vocational Rehab in our life, Colin would not be in college right now. We can count on them. They are really like family to us. They’re just a huge asset to have and you don’t need to do it alone. You don’t need to be isolated in your family thinking that your son or daughter after they graduate high school doesn’t have a bright future. There are people out there and they can make a difference. I don’t really know where we’d be without VR.

(COLIN BOYLE) I feel I can do anything.

(REBECCA BOYLE) We are VR.

(MARJORIE BOYLE) We are VR.

(COLIN BOYLE) We are VR.

(NARRATOR) At VR New Hampshire, we transform the lives of people with disabilities by helping them prepare for, obtain, and succeed in meaningful careers. To learn how we can help you meet your employment or workforce goals, call 603-271-3471 or visit education.nh.gov/vr.
 

We are VR: Meet Kelley Snyder

Transcript of video:

Transcript – “We Are VR: Meet Kelley”

(KELLEY SNYDER) My name is Kelley Snyder, and I live in Farmington, New Hampshire. I'm a student at SNHU for my bachelor's degree in communication with a focus on professional writing. My vision impairment is called photophobia, which is an extreme acute sensitivity to light combined with a convergence insufficiency. So I have trouble with blurred vision and my eyes fatiguing easily. So, VRNH has helped me start to get back to work and get my life back together again, first by helping me enroll in school for my communications degree, and second by helping me get connected with SBVI.  

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) My name is Lisa Hinson-Hatz, and I'm the Vocational Rehabilitation director at VR New Hampshire. Vocational Rehabilitation is a state and federal partnership that helps individuals with disabilities obtain and maintain employment. Individuals with disabilities benefit from our services by working with a really talented counselor that can help pull out, what are their skills? What are their strengths? What is their background? What is their work experience? To help them really define what they want to do in their future. 

(KELLEY SNYDER) They paid for tutoring, the technology so I could continue school, and they've helped me with support groups and finding other resources as well. So, the CVS internship that I just did this last summer was amazing because I have not worked in a corporate environment in 20 years. So, it gave me the ability to work out the kinks and the nervousness and also set up my accessibility reader in a corporate setting. I worked on the Strategic Diversity Management Team through Workforce Initiatives.

(JONATHAN DASILVA) My name is Jonathan DaSilva. I'm the senior workforce initiatives manager for CVS Health. With VR New Hampshire, we created the first ever remote administrative assistant training program. This program was to address the needs not just at CVS Health, but across the New Hampshire area for positions that were work from home. We wanted to build a program that would train individuals and allow them to explore, kind of like an immersion, and explore, “is this the right career field for me?” We worked very closely with our IT and Accommodations Team to make sure that Kelley had everything that she needed, whether it was a large 27-inch screen, whether it was Fusion, whether it was color inversion, whether it was specific times of the day in which she would work—all to accommodate so that she could be successful during the training and so that we can learn how to accommodate her and other individuals who might have the same visual impairment, who could seek employment with us in the future.

(KELLEY SNYDER) My favorite thing was that it was a supportive environment. A common misconception for people that are blind or visually impaired is that it is absolute. It is either you see or you don't see, or you can do something or you can't do something. And that's not true. It's a spectrum. Your vision journey is your own, and it's unique. And I would encourage people to ask questions and be curious instead of making judgments ahead of time.

(JONATHAN DASILVA) All of those assumptions are pigeonholing and putting people into a box, right? It's really just sitting back and having a conversation. “What do you want to do?” I remember when I first met Kelley, I asked her that question, just like I ask anybody that goes through my program, “What do you want to do?” And she actually said, “In 15 years, nobody's ever asked me, ‘What do I want to do?’ They just told me, ‘This is what you can do.’” And I found that to be very powerful.

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) Work is important to all of us. All of us need something to focus our time on, focus our passions on. And individuals with disabilities are no different. We are all looking for that career that give us that blue light, or gives us that spark that helps us feel really successful and reach our goals. VR can be an answer to all of that.  

(KELLEY SNYDER) VR has impacted my life in a way that, it's been a catalyst for change for me to grow as a person and to look to more of what I can do and not what I can't do, and find opportunities. Advice I would give another person with a vision impairment is don’t sell yourself short or limit yourself, because VRNH and SBVI is there to support you and help you grow and make your dreams a reality if getting back to work is something that you really want to do. 

(JONATHAN DASILVA) We are VR.

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) We are VR.

(KELLEY SNYDER) We are VR.

(NARRATOR) At VR New Hampshire, we transform the lives of people with disabilities by helping them prepare for, obtain, and succeed in meaningful careers. To learn how we can help you meet your employment or workforce goals, call 603-271-3471 or visit education.nh.gov/vr.
 

We are VR: Meet Suzanne Foley

Transcript of video:

Transcript – “We Are VR: Meet Suzanne”

(SUZANNE FOLEY) My name is Suzanne Foley, and I am the founder of Port City Pretzels here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. So, the original idea came about 30 years ago. I had these pretzels at a family function, and we always had them. I thought they were delicious. So, fast forward to being unemployed at 55 and in an unemployment office. And I got the idea to make these pretzels. So, we do a seasoned hard pretzel, and we manufacture them here in this facility, package them up, and send them out. So, we have just under 25 employees right now, and they do everything from answer the phone to pack pretzels to manage my whole facility. Partnering with VR has helped me to meet the needs of employment within my facility. I've cultivated that relationship with VR, and it's worked very well for us. We have some of the same employees that I've had since I started, and it's been a wonderful relationship.

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) My name is Lisa Hinson-Hatz, and I'm the Vocational Rehabilitation director at VR New Hampshire.

(TRACEY FRYE) My name is Tracey Frye, and I am a program manager with the business engagement unit at VR New Hampshire.

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) Vocational Rehabilitation is a state and federal partnership that helps individuals with disabilities obtain and maintain employment. It also helps businesses hire individuals with disabilities to meet their workforce needs.  

(TRACEY FRYE) The business engagement unit at VR New Hampshire works with businesses to help them recruit, hire, and retain individuals with disabilities. Our team is really unique in a sense that we can meet with a business and find out exactly what they're looking for. We can find out what they're recruiting for, what is their workplace culture like, what are their hiring practices? And we can learn about them and find out what their needs are in order to help match people in our program with jobs they have open. Another thing that we really do for business is learn where they're at. What are they ready for? Some businesses have never really purposefully hired individuals with disabilities yet, so we kind of talk to them and find out, what are you ready for? Are you ready to have a tour at your business? Are you ready to work with students with disabilities? Are you ready to mock interview some of our participants? Do you want to attend a job fair? What are you ready for?  

(SUZANNE FOLEY) In terms of working with VR, there's no barriers. If anything, they're there to be supportive to me and they'll contact me or we'll talk about…I'll let them know if positions open up, and they'll be able to send some employees my way. There's no cost to it. It's a very easy process, and it's behind the scenes. And I don't really think about it as being something that's anything other than an enormous help to my business. You know, it's not that the employee has a disability, it’s “do they have the ability to help me do the job?” And, so, there's an unlimited amount of resources through VR that we've been able to use within my facility. For example, one of our employees is blind, and he has a job coach that's with him to be able to just make sure that he's doing the task at hand. These workers are just like me, and we work together. I don't see anything different than just these guys and gals coming in every day and accomplishing tasks that need to get done. And we all work hard; they work hard. There's a sense of independence here that they have. We want people to feel good when they walk through the door every day and do a good job, and we work hard and then come back the next day and do it all over again.

(TRACEY FRYE) We work with everyone from all walks of life, and that's why we add so much value to the businesses in New Hampshire is because disability doesn't have a face. It doesn't have a thing you think of in your head when you think of disability. You will be blown away if you work with us to see these people in our program, their skills, their unique pizzazz and just what they bring to a place of employment.

(SUZANNE FOLEY) I would absolutely encourage everybody to work and partner with VR. It seems to me to be the mini-secret. And I can't imagine why other employers wouldn't want to do what I've done. These employees have been with me almost since the beginning, and it feels pretty good. And to have employees come in every day, be thankful for their jobs, that's something I can be very thankful to VR about.

(TRACEY FRYE) We are VR.

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) We are VR.

(SUZANNE FOLEY) We are VR.

(NARRATOR) At VR New Hampshire, we transform the lives of people with disabilities by helping them prepare for, obtain, and succeed in meaningful careers. To learn how we can help you meet your employment or workforce goals, call 603-271-3471 or visit education.nh.gov/vr.

We are VR: Meet Charles White

Transcript of video:

Transcript – “We Are VR: Meet Charles”

(CHARLES WHITE) My name is Charles White. I am here at Agility Manufacturing, Dover, New Hampshire. I started here at Agility Manufacturing about 18 months ago. I'm an IPC specialist. I build PC boards. I put components in them. I'm in the post wave department, in which I see all the boards after they're done. I do any work to them, any soldering that needs to be done, any that are backwards, I flip them around and send them down the road for testing. It's all good. I like the soldering, the moving about. I still have a lot of mobility with my hands so I can get into some places from being a past welder. I had some pain in my back, back in the 1990s. And back and forth to the doctor, MRIs. It's an apathy with my feet. When I went into the hospital to get a cyst repaired on my spine, actually, I came out in a wheelchair. For about, now, 25 years I've been in this wheelchair. Before this, I was a runner. I ran 3 miles in 12 minutes and 12 seconds. And to lose these dogs, here, I call them, was very hard. It hurts. I went to Vocational Rehab for assistance for work. I was tired of sitting on the couch. I did big interviews. They sent me to a few companies. When they told me to come here, it was like the next day. It was just what I wanted. My fingers were working, I was fusing things together and building—just building boards.

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) My name is Lisa Hinson-Hatz, and I'm the Vocational Rehabilitation director at VR New Hampshire. Vocational Rehabilitation is a state and federal partnership that helps individuals with disabilities obtain and maintain employment. It also helps businesses hire individuals with disabilities to meet their workforce needs. Individuals that are interested in services will call, set up an appointment, have an intake appointment where the counselor gets to learn all about them. 

(CHARLES WHITE) My counselor, he was great. He was really phenomenal. They got me to school, 18 weeks to get re-certified for soldering again, 5 days a week, 4 hours a day. It is very hard to find somebody you can get your credentials for, to learn how to solder again. So that was good. That was very good. I’m tickled pink!

(CAROL HORNE) My name is Carol Horne. I am the HR Manager here at Agility Manufacturing, located in Dover, New Hampshire.

(REGGIE MICHAUD) My name is Reggie Michaud. I'm General Manager of Agility Manufacturing in Dover, New Hampshire.

(CAROL HORNE) Chuck was our first candidate that came through the VR program. We work with the State of New Hampshire's on-the-job training fund. And when we have needs, we start with them. They connected with VR, who sent Chuck to us as a candidate. He went through our interview process, and then he went through the state’s on-the-job training process before he converted over to become a direct Agility employee.

(REGGIE MICHAUD) One of the great things about Chuck is that the program he came here through put a lot of effort into his upfront training. So, they trained him in some of the standards required for doing this type of business. So, he came in with a baseline that allowed us to push him further up in his evolution here quicker. I believe Chuck just had a desire to do something productive. He wanted to be productive. He wanted to be active. And whatever was going on with him, with his physical condition, he wasn't limited here. He was able to just come to work. We made some accommodations for him, but he was able to do everything that anybody else can do because he had the skill set.

(CHARLES WHITE) Work is very important to your brain, to yourself, to your mobility. You need to keep the muscles flowing. You need to keep the blood rolling. And you just can't sit there and sulk. It's a whole new ball game when somebody is out there trying to help a disabled person. This is what VR is. It's not about them. It's them helping you. 

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) Work is important to all of us. All of us need something to focus our time on, focus our passions on. And individuals with disabilities are no different.   

(CHARLES WHITE) Oh, I'm alive again. I am definitely alive. My mobility is like (pshh!). I just don't walk, but I do about everything else! Gracefully for VR, here I am, 18 months. This place is fabulous, it’s golden. It’s like home. It does take a little time, and patience is the second thing. Just have some patience and you'll succeed. To the moon!

(LISA HINSON-HATZ) We are VR.

(CAROL HORNE) We are VR.

(CHARLES WHITE) We are VR!

(NARRATOR) At VR New Hampshire, we transform the lives of people with disabilities by helping them prepare for, obtain, and succeed in meaningful careers. To learn how we can help you meet your employment or workforce goals, call 603-271-3471 or visit education.nh.gov/vr.