October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). This yearly event evolved from a week-long celebration that began in 1945 to recognize the contributions of members of the workforce with disabilities. As the nation commemorates NDEAM’s 80th anniversary this year, we acknowledge the contributions that people with mental and physical disabilities have made to supply chain operations. Today, they fill many roles, including front-line jobs in warehouses and distribution centers. But to make that happen, someone first has to believe in them and their abilities, and then offer them training and job opportunities.
That’s where organizations like Aspire have an important role to play. Since 1960, the Chicago-based nonprofit has been providing opportunities for people with disabilities. Now, armed with a grant from the Department of Education that’s geared to the warehouse sector, Aspire has launched a job training program to prepare people specifically for work in distribution and supply chain roles, and then help them find paid internships.
Amanda Hedberg is vice president, strategic initiatives and partnerships with Aspire. Coming from a background in digital marketing, project management, and nonprofit business design, she works to bring together employers and eager workers in partnerships that benefit all parties. She recently appeared as a guest on DC Velocity’s “Logistics Matters” podcast, where she talked with Group Editorial Director David Maloney about the work of Aspire and the many gifts workers with disabilities bring to the supply chain workplace.
Q: To begin, would you tell us a bit about Aspire and your work as an organization?
A: Absolutely. Aspire is located in the Chicagoland area, and our vision is to build an inclusive future for everyone. Our mission at Aspire is to connect people with disabilities to ever-greater possibilities for learning jobs and safe places to call home..
Q: Aspire recently received a job training grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Could you tell us about that grant and how those funds are being applied?
A: Yes. As I mentioned, a huge part of our mission is connecting people with disabilities to job opportunities. We are incredibly thankful to the Disability Innovation Fund, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Education. It is fully funding Aspire’s employment training program. It has funded our pilot, the first five years of this program, and everything from our team members’ salaries to developing the curriculum for the job training.
What’s really exciting is that once trainees progress through the training at Aspire, they are matched with an internship, and Aspire is able to pay for that internship as a result of this grant. So as our trainees go out to their intern sites, it’s actually a risk-free try-out for the employees and essentially trial labor for the employers.
We were awarded the grant in October of 2024, so we’re now entering year two of the program. The first class came through our doors last January, and we are just about to start our third round of classes.
Q: That’s terrific. This program is designed to train people to work in a warehouse environment. What types of warehouse work are best suited to persons with disabilities?
A: As with any population, there are a variety of different roles that can be suitable for people with disabilities. But at Aspire’s employment training programs specifically, we are training people for roles like distribution specialists and warehouse associates—really those high-turnover, routine, repetitive types of roles. For example, we have found that people who really enjoy gaming have been quite successful in jobs that involve filling orders. It’s almost as if they’re trying to beat their high score with the number of orders they can fill in an hour.
Q: Are there particular roles in the warehouse that are not suited for someone with disabilities? For example, someone with a sight impairment might not make a good forklift operator.
A: That’s a fair question. We primarily work with folks who have developmental disabilities and who are neurodivergent, but we don’t believe in looking at peoples’ limitations. We look at the things that people **ital{can} do. So we always evaluate these situations on a case-by-case basis.
For example, we worked with someone who was nonspeaking—he did not use verbal words to communicate. But we saw that he was one of the fastest warehouse employees because he just used an iPad to communicate. So sometimes it may seem at face value like someone is not able to work, but that’s actually not the case. It’s really incredible what happens when you get the right team and the right accommodations in place.
Q: Are there specific changes in a work environment or process that need to take place in order to accommodate workers with disabilities?
A: The way that we train at Aspire is for “competitive employment,” which means that we are preparing folks to come in and work just like anyone else without a disability. However, they may need a little bit more time to ramp up to meet a job’s desired quotas. For example, some of our partners require that employees are hitting their quotas after two months. But for our folks, you may just need to give them a little more time, maybe three months.
What we have found is that really small adjustments can make a huge impact, not only for our employees with disabilities but for everyone involved. For example, putting a visual checklist at a workstation can help both the people in an Aspire program and their nondisabled co-workers. On several occasions, we’ve had employees come up to us and say, “Hey, this has really helped our team.” So accommodations can be made, but they are typically much less intense or expensive than people anticipate.
Q: I’ve been in distribution facilities where people with disabilities work. In one such facility, instead of using numbers to mark warehouse locations, management used color coding, shapes, or symbols to make it easier for people who may have difficulty reading and understanding a set of numbers.
A: Yeah, that’s a great example. We do have that with some of our partners. I will say that we do use a lot of number matching. We do have written-out checklists, so it really just depends on the specific employer and the specific partner. But that is a really great example of a small accommodation that can make a big difference.
Q: Are you primarily training these workers for warehouse order fulfillment roles?
A: Yes, these are your typical warehouse jobs. I will say some of our folks have been so successful and so fast and accurate that they’ve been placed on special projects. So if there are special orders from customers that come in, they actually will take some of our folks and say, “Hey, we need you on this specific, complex order.”
Q: To accomplish this, you’ve developed a training facility where people can learn about the different types of warehouse jobs. Would you describe what that looks like in your facility and what type of training takes place there?
A: Yes, we’re very fortunate at Aspire that we have incredible corporate partners. It was actually experts and leaders in the distribution industry who reached out to us and told us they had a talent gap and needed reliable, productive warehouse workers. They wanted to partner with Aspire to build the training site, so it was done in collaboration with partners like KeHE, Holman Logistics, Wesco, and Parts Town. So for the training, we built a fully functional simulated warehouse in our space at Aspire.
As trainees come through our doors, they begin the hands-on skill-building process, learning how to pick orders, ship orders, and receive goods—that’s half of their day. They’re also working on what we call “work hardening,” where they’re learning to be on their feet for eight hours. We’re building up that very physical aspect of the job.
And then the other really important piece for people with and without disabilities is developing the soft skills—communication, learning what’s appropriate work attire, all of those really important skills. They are trained at our Aspire facility for a 10-week period, and then at the end, they are guaranteed placement as an intern at one of our corporate partners, assuming that the trainees are hitting all their marks and hitting their milestones.
Q: That’s great. I imagine some of our readers would like to know a little more about the specifics of your training facility. For instance, what kinds of technologies and material handling equipment are used to help train your people?
A: We have a warehouse management system that provides enterprise-level software. It’s software that’s used at billion-dollar companies, but it’s specifically tailored to Aspire and our needs. For example, we clear everything at the end of the day, but it is a fully functional WMS environment. We also have scanners to read bar codes, we have computers, and we have the tape machines for packaging the orders. So we have what you would see in a typical warehouse.
Q: So your trainees learn to pick items from racks using scanners and then pack the finished orders, just as they would in a warehouse?
A: Yes, and entering all of that into the WMS.
Q: Statistics show that people with disabilities are highly reliable and productive workers, and they tend to be very loyal employees as well. Can you share some of the benefits of hiring workers with disabilities?
A: Yes, you just hit on quite a few of those benefits. But studies have also shown that people with disabilities turn over at half the rate of their peers without disabilities. People with disabilities are a very overlooked talent pool. But when employers really lean in and decide to make disability hiring a part of their talent strategy, we see not only a reduction in turnover but also an increase in productivity of up to 25% and even a reduction in safety incidents.
For example, folks who may be on the neurodiverse spectrum might actually love following the same process over and over again, whereas sometimes folks without disabilities may think this is getting a little boring and might be tempted to take a shortcut. We have seen that folks with disabilities are really, really good at following safety processes and procedures to a tee. Those are just a few examples of the benefits.
Q: Say I’m a Chicago-area employer who’s interested in your program. How can I get in touch with you?
A: We are always looking for additional employers. We have so many incredible trainees who are excited to work, who are loyal, who are ready to add value to your business. So if you’re at all interested in partnering with Aspire, please feel free to reach out to us at aspirechicago.com. We’ll be happy to have a conversation about how we can support your talent needs.
