“Do schools give you foreign language credits for taking sign
language? Why shouldn’t they? Giving credit for it would give
people more incentive to learn it. With more people learning
sign language, our society would be that much more accommodating
to people who are Deaf.” That idea is a good example of the
practical no-nonsense thinking that Ron Hyde applies to his
world. Ron is a Layout Inspector in PCC Structurals’ Small
Structures Business Operation division. Ron uses a wheelchair
and can draw on personal experience when talking about
accommodating employees with disabilities. Recently, the OBLN
asked Ron to draw on that experience and share some of his
perspectives with us.
OBLN: Ron, you and PCC Structurals had some interesting
experiences on the issue of workplace accommodations when,
sixteen years ago, you were first hired. Some of the lessons
learned might be useful to other employers.
RON HYDE: When you go to hire somebody with a disability you
might want to get their input on what they would like – rather
than assume that you know what they need. My employment was held
up for two months while the company and the State’s vocational
rehabilitation folks decided what I needed to have – like
special carts for me to move stuff around and a little platform
in front of my workstation to raise me so my elbows would be X
number of inches from the tabletop. Well, once I finally got in
there, that stuff proved to be a pain in the butt.
OBLN: Ron, anytime anyone starts a new job, it is an anxious
and experience. You came rolling in to your new workstation and
you saw a new little platform and some special carts that no one
else had. Within a short time you realized that those
accommodations weren’t working for you. What did you do?
RON HYDE: Yes, they thought I’d need to move products around
with those special carts rather that push a pallet with a pallet
jack like everyone else. Well, in a short time, I just went
over, grabbed a pallet jack and started using it. I imagined
everyone was thinking “Oh, we didn’t know you could use a pallet
jack.” and I wanted to say “Yeah, I can use a pallet jack. All
you had to do was ask.”
The ramp took up so much area around the workstation that I
couldn’t get the pallet truck close enough to grab the parts
from it. I had to keep making little trips to go get the parts -
rather than have them right next to me. The ramp lasted maybe
two hours. I took my own initiative. I didn’t ask. I just moved
it out of the way and kept working.
I’ve since had encounters with other individuals who have had
somewhat similar tales – where somebody else along the line has
decided what they are going to need to do the job function –
without asking them. My advice to employers is simple: When you
hire somebody, ask them; “What do you think you will need to
perform this function?” It saves a lot of time and guesswork. If
you don’t first ask the person themselves, you likely won’t get
it right… and there may be something that they need that you may
not even think of.
OBLN: Ron, you didn’t need the ramp or the carts. Were there
any modifications or accommodations that you did require?
RON HYDE: Not really, I was pretty much “plug and play”. The
facility was fairly new and accessible. The only thing they’ve
added since I’ve been here was an elevator that now lets me get
to the lunchroom.
OBLN: Ron, you’ve switched jobs several times within PSS
Structurals. Did those changes in job functions present
obstacles to you?
RON HYDE: Once I had recently changed jobs. I was switching
from working on parts that you could hold in the palm of your
hand to castings that weighed close to a ton. My supervisor came
by to check up on me. He looked into my booth and was surprised
to see my chair sitting there empty. I had pulled myself up and
out of it to climb part way in to the casting to investigate a
defect. He was pretty surprised. It was a good object lesson -
to not underestimate what a person can or can’t do.
On my third job, they brought in a Rolls Royce case for me to
inspect. It was one of the biggest castings that this facility
makes. To visually inspect it, it had to be put in a fixture.
Once in the fixture, the case would be sitting about two feet
over my head. My coworkers knew this and were wondering how I
was going to be able to look down into it to do the inspection;
but they just left the case on the pallet and went off to their
break. After they left, I found a way to hook the case up to the
hoist and get it up on the fixture. I taped a mirror to a piece
of rod and, when my coworkers returned from break, I was reading
the gauges with the mirror. Six months later, I found out that
it had been a test. One of my coworkers told me: “You know Ron,
we were setting you up to fail that day. We didn’t think there
was any way that you were going to be able to do that part of
the job. We took bets on it. And when we came in and saw what
you had done…”
OBLN: Before you joined PCC Structurals, you applied for
other jobs and worked for other companies. As someone with a
disability, can you comment on those experiences?
RON HYDE: It was very tough. There is an invisible wall that
exists. They don’t come out and say it, but you know employers
are thinking “We’d love to hire you; but we think it would cost
too much to accommodate your needs.” You don’t get a chance.
OBLN: Ron, the Oregon Business Leadership Network is
promoting the benefits that a “culture of accommodation” can
bring to a company. A culture of accommodation is a
consciousness that making accommodations isn’t an unusual thing
to do. Rather, it is just a smart thing to do for all employees
- to enable them to bring their best to your company. Ron, on
the issue of accommodation, do you have any final words of
wisdom for employers?
RON HYDE: Their biggest asset and learning tool is their
ears. All they have to do is learn how to ask.
(By the way, Ron doesn’t know what became of the ramp that he
didn’t need; but he reports that, 16 years later, those special
carts are still in use by able-bodied employees who discovered
that they came in very handy for manipulating materials through
some of the narrower spaces between pieces of machinery on the
work floor.)
