A TV show as unique as the people it’s about.

Tune in Thursday, January 24th at 9pm to see the premiere of Episode 3! (Episode 4 Thursday, February 21 at 9p.m)

In the third episode of Able Lives: Incorporated, we continue to introduce
you to a wide array of people with disabilities in the workforce. Small
business and big corporations; employers and employees; public
institutions and private entities that have one commonality: people.
People who make up our workforce.

In West Hartford is Stephen Mendelsohn's story of similarity and
difference, fate and diligence. Stephen keeps strict kosher and is a
vegan, but he was working at a job in direct conflict with his Jewish observance.
In a chance encounter that can only be described as fate he met his
current boss and received an immediate job offer at Conn and Conn
Mortgage. In his position at this small lending company the things
that make him different like his attention to detail and focus add to his value as an employee.

Four wheeling Charlie Collins says there's nothing like hitting the gas
pedal on his ATV and sliding around the trails at his house. This
maverick saw a need and decided to open his own business to fill it. We
visit his store in Cheshire called Vision Dynamics, which sells a wide
array of products for people with low vision and employs people with
disabilites. Who better to sell the product than people who use it.

A father's personal experience
can influence a big corporation. Randy Lewis has a son with autism and he
used his role as an executive at Walgreens to increase the number of
people with disabilities they hire. He did this with concrete numbers
and showed the benefit to the bottom line. Now after opening on
successful distribution plant in South Carolina, Walgreens is working
to open a second in Windsor CT, with a goal of 30% workers with
disabilities. Randy says this is not a charity and "has to stand on it's own."

A hidden disability has it's own set of challenges which can be very different from
a visible disability. In this segment we meet two women who have
different jobs, different disabilities, and different lives but share
the experience of hidden disability. Janice Palmer working in Public
Relations at the University of Connecticut didn't reveal her disability
to her coworkers until now. Dr. Mary Siegel author of the book Sick and
Tired of Being Sick and Tired was a ballerina who knew her body well,
and still had trouble getting doctors to listen to her invisible but
painful symptoms.

These four stories show us that hiring people with disabilities can
work in big business and small enterprise equally and positively impact the bottom line. In fact you may
already work with someone who has a disability that you aren't aware
of.