KIMT 3 News Highlights MDI and the Event “Mobile Unified Work Academy”
By Alex Dederer, June 6th 2022
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Minnesota Diversified Industries (MDI) and MaxAbility are hosting a four day workshop to help people with disabilities develop job skills.
The event “Mobile Unified Work Academy” will be at downtown Rochester’s Hilton Garden Inn Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Participants will spend three days building and practicing work skills. On day four, they will attend a job tour at Mayo Clinic to learn about positions there.
The main goals of the workshop are to increase communication skills, gain confidence, connect with local employers, and build a resume for employees with disabilities.
The workshop will also go over some easy, manageable ways employers can make it a more comfortable environment for employees with disabilities.
“We try to help employers look at creating inclusive job postings, inclusive practices for interviewing – not only an interview where you’re asking questions but possible a tour so a person can relax and you can have a better dialogue and really assess skills on a tour. Just being creative and looking at the hiring process a little bit differently,” said MaxAbility Task Force Chair Dawn Kirchner.
The workshop aims to create more accommodating work places for people with disabilities.
“Can the employer provide the right accommodation?” said Kirchner. “That can look like a variety of different things depending on the employee. Or, sometimes it’s just the interview or the job posting – people with disabilities may read the job posting and see that they may not have everything in that job posting and so then they don’t apply.”
Monday, the event will have a representative from the Rochester retail community. There are still some spots left to register for the event.
