By Emma Lee

Will Smith, general manager of the Trenton Thunder, knew it was time for changes when a group of people with disabilities showed up for a game–and had tickets for inaccessible seats.

Arrangements were quickly made, but by the end of the day, Smith was convinced his staff needed a disability awareness course. “It opened our eyes a little bit,” said Smith. “People think they’re aware, but they’re not.”

For help, the team joined the increasing number of Mercer County businesses turning to the Progressive Center for Independent Living (PCIL) in Hamilton for training and awareness courses.

PCIL, which has been making a difference in the lives of people with disabilities for more than 15 years, received accreditation from Cornell University in 2009 to offer courses based on nine essential training programs developed by the Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) at Cornell. Offerings meet a range of business needs, including courses on increasing your customer base, serving customers with disabilities, making web pages accessible and complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Businesses should understand that nearly 20 percent of Americans are people with disabilities, a number that will increase as the population ages,” said Scott Elliott, PCIL director. This group has $220 billion in discretionary spending power, he added.

Elliott, who points out that October was National Disability Employment Awareness Month, said the training and awareness courses are a “multifaceted positive gain” for all involved. “Businesses see an increase and we see an increase in comfort for people with disabilities.”

In addition to the Trenton Thunder, PCIL clients include the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, the Trenton Marriott Downtown, Johnson & Johnson, Sam’s Club and Rider University.

For the Thunder, PCIL presented a two-hour disability awareness and sensitivity course to the Thunder’s full-time staff of 25, and Smith would like to arrange a presentation for the seasonal staff as well. “It’s a great partnership we have with PCIL. They’re very supportive and they appreciate our willingness to learn,” said Smith.

As general manager of the 197-room Trenton Marriott Downtown, Jeffrey Zeiger hired PCIL after he noticed hesitancy in his staff when approaching people with disabilities. PCIL presented a course in general disability awareness and he saw improvement across the board. “I think that it enhances the service we’re able to give to all our customers,” said Zeiger. “It’s more careful, more direct, more sensitive.”

Located on West Lafayette Street just a few blocks from the state capital, the Trenton Marriott does a lot of business with the state and with agencies and groups that address disability issues, he said. “We have a lot of interaction with people who have disabilities who are members of those groups,” said Zeiger. He has seen an improvement in his staff’s confidence, and their ability to read the individual more quickly.

“They understand how to assist people without making them uncomfortable, how to interact with them and to make their experience a good one,” said Zeiger. “We want any guest to have a positive experience.”

PCIL presented a general disability course to the staff of 40 at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton that addresses effective and respectful communication as well as customer service practices. “The presentations are fantastic,” said Bonnie R. Brown, director of operations. “They are usually given by folks that have a disability, so it’s from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. They go a long way to breaking down the uncomfortable barriers that may be there when dealing with someone who has a disability.”

The Grounds for Sculpture is a 42-acre public park whose mission is to make sculpture accessible to all people. To that end, the park offers a range of workshops, exhibits, and tours, including a touch tour for the blind and golf cart tours for those with limited mobility.

“I don’t think we would be giving full and adequate training if we didn’t offer these courses,” added Brown. “We have over 100,000 visitors a year and a high volume of our patrons have disabilities.”

At first it seems counter-intuitive to try to address all disabilities under one heading. The needs of people who are blind seem very different from the needs of those who use wheelchairs.

But Meredith Neubeck, who works in admissions and membership at the Grounds for Sculpture, found this strategy enlightening. “When you put all disabilities under one big umbrella, you realize that each person needs something different,” she said. “You begin to think ‘this person has a need’ and not ‘this disability has a need.’ You learn to pay attention to what they want, what they ask for.”

PCIL fellow presenters Scott Ellis and Jerry Carbone are both wheelchair users, but they bring different perspectives to their work. Carbone, 29, was born with cerebral palsy. A graduate of Rider University, he found his first job at PCIL. Ellis, 44, was 21 years old when he broke his neck in a swimming pool accident. He was working as a firefighter in Hightstown at the time and had enlisted in the Air Force.

Both are excellent communicators and use their personal experiences to get people to relax and open up in the classroom setting. “They become more comfortable interacting with us, and they become more comfortable interacting with people with disabilities in general,” said Carbone.

Person-first language is a very important part of the training, according to Ellis. “You don’t describe people by their disability,” said Ellis. “A cancer patient wouldn’t be described as cancerous.”

For more information about the training and awareness courses contact the Progressive Center for Independent Living at 609 581-4500.