October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM)! In celebration, the Minnesota Council on Disability puts the spotlight on Minnesotans with disabilities seeking employment – without the inspirational spin.
Meet Dupree Edwards. Dupree is a local rapper and performing artist. Dupree talks about how essential job coaches are in finding competitive integrated employment and why people with disabilities deserve to move up the career ladder.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Dupree Edwards. I’m 32 and from Battle Creek, Michigan. I have lived in Minnesota since I was 14. I have a mental health disability and an intellectual and developmental disability that affects my ability to process information. I am a rapper and an actor.
Tell us about the process you went through to find work.
While I was in transition services, I was volunteering for a program for people with disabilities. I didn’t really know what my “thing” was. After graduation, many kids in my school ended up doing piecework, where you earn a subminimum wage and get paid by the amount you produce. I knew if I worked in that type of setting, it would take me a while to get a job in the community. My team didn’t want that.
I was able to get into a program that offered competitive integrated employment and found part-time work doing laundry and folding towels in a beauty salon. Things clicked right away. I was doing a good job and was fast with the towels. It felt good to make money, and I held that job for about five or six years.
I was kind of the anchor in the salon. My duty was to make the salon run smoothly. Make sure those stylists – those 40s stylists – have towels and make sure they had cups for their clients, you know. Make sure the bathrooms were clean
You quit your first job. Was it difficult to find new work?
I was unemployed for several months until I started working for Lund’s and Byerly’s. I’ve been a bagger there for five years now. It took me a while to get the job down. I was going through a lot in my personal life, and that affected my job performance. But as time went on, I got faster and faster.
In 2018, I got a second job for Upstream Arts, working in the office as a teaching assistant. Right now, the job doesn’t exist anymore because of COVID-19.
What was it like to work during the pandemic as an essential worker?
It was good to have a job at that time, and I was thankful that I was still making money. A lot of people that were in day programs lost their jobs, and I was really thankful that I kept mine. And that my day program found a way to stay open and provide support.
What supports help you succeed in the workplace?
My Job coach supports me in job security! They make sure I stay on task, teach me the skills of the job, help me talk to my manager, schedule rides on Metro Mobility, and assist with anything else I need to perform the job.
Right now, the job coach industry is suffering. We lost a lot of job coaches during the pandemic, and people who rely on them are still feeling the effects. Our support staff doesn’t get treated well because they work with people like us. I don’t think it’s fair that job coaches and other support staff get paid low wages.
As a person of color with a disability, have you been discriminated against at work?
I haven’t had those experiences before. I’m a people person and tend to get along with everybody. A lot of people at my job don’t even know I have a disability. When people with disabilities come into the store, I like to work with them because I feel like I can understand what they’re going through.
Our support staff doesn’t get treated well because they work with people like us. I don’t think it’s fair that job coaches and other support staff get paid low wages.
I try to remember the way people like to have their groceries bagged, and that helps the customer know that I care.
Do you have any advice for people with disabilities looking for jobs?
Believe in yourself, know what your skills are and what type of job you want. Follow your dreams and pick a job that brings you joy. Don’t let the managers or other people discriminate against you or tell you that you’re not capable. You can have a job and deserve to work just like everybody else in the community.
What do you want employers to know about hiring people with disabilities?
We’re are reliable – come to work on time and take the job seriously. We are efficient, and people with disabilities tend to be very loyal and stay with the same company for a long time. People with disabilities want the chance to show other people what we’re capable of, even if we need accommodations.
What does inclusion for people with disabilities in the workplace mean to you?
When you hire people with disabilities, do not automatically assume that they can only do a certain job like cleaning or bagging groceries. If somebody wants to work in the kitchen or be a manager or work up the ladder, let them!
I’ve known people with disabilities that have had the same job for 20 years and did not work their way up the ladder. It’s this separate but equal thing. You get your foot in the door, but you’re stuck doing the same job over and over again. I want to try a job that I never tried before, one that’s a challenge for me where I can learn new skills and have room for growth.
Where do you see yourself in the future?
Before the pandemic, I was in the process of trying to find a job because I was getting tired of bagging groceries. When COVID-19 hit, I had to accept that it was hard to get a job in the market.
My dream is to get paid to be a performing artist, but I always learned that if you’re a starving artist, you need a job to pay the bills.
When you hire people with disabilities, do not automatically assume that they can only do a certain job…. If somebody wants to…work up the ladder, let them!
I have a good support team that listens and helps me have opportunities to live independently. Another goal is to get back into an apartment program at some point. Right now, I am living in a group home.