A story on the NBC Nightly News last night showed that full inclusion can work. Walgreens has planned to hire an 800 person workforce where at least one third of those employees have disabilities. They are currently ahead of that goal with 42% of their employees having a disability. Here is the link to the story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19417759/
I certainly applaud Walgreens for this effort and hope they will be a model for other companies. I do have to wonder if Walgreens would be making such a strong effort were it not for the fact that the son of the senior vice president had autism. Would the company have been so progressive if no one at the top had a life touched by disability? When we move to the next level, when companies do something similar because it is the right thing to do and not just a response to a personal involvement, then real progress will have been made.
Very interesting. I'll be looking up our local Walgreens when little guy starts looking for a job. ;-)
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