The Vermont Governor’s Committee on the Employment of People With Disabilities recently presented its annual Spirit of the ADA awards to 14 state businesses and agencies whose employment practices reflect the spirit of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. Winning employers and their representatives are:
- Ace Hardware, St Albans — Kasey Fortin.
- Allis State Park — Leslie Porter.
- Andy’s Dandys — Andrew and Lucie Whiteford, Lesha Rascoe.
- City of Newport — Laura Dolgin.
- Department of Parks and Recreation, Waterbury — Nick Nadeau.
- Elmore State Park — Marc Edwards.
- Hannaford, St Albans — Jennifer Benoit.
- Homegrown Scales — Morgan Weiss.
- Killington Ski Resort — Judy Greiger.
- Main Street Graphics — Douglas Corey.
- Price Chopper, Morrisville — Ashley Young-Sheldon.
- Sodexo at Northern Vermont University — Douglas “Kip” Mayo.
- Springfield Medical Center — Lori Twombly.
- Vermont Fiber Mill — Deb and Ed Bratton.
Eligibility criteria included: recruitment outreach and equal accessibility in the application, interviewing and hiring procedures for people with disabilities; use of on-the-job accommodations, modifications, progressive employment methods and/or creative solutions for successful training and employment of people with disabilities; accessible physical structures, buildings, workstations and equipment, and servicesupport for the employment of a person(s) with a disability as an overall employment strategy.
“Congratulations to this year’s exemplary Vermont employers as well as past Spirit of the ADA award-winners for being outstanding role models for hiring, training and retaining people with disabilities," said committee chair Rose Lucenti.