National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2025: Reimagining How We Approach Employment
Imagine this: instead of just putting up a job description and hoping for the right contender to apply, we could create roles around talented individuals in our communities?
That simple shift in thinking is at the heart of two powerful initiatives at the Sonoran Center that are transforming employment in Arizona, and October's National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) gives us the perfect opportunity to talk about why it matters.
Moving Away from the One-Size-Fits-All
For too long, people have viewed job placement like clothing purchasing, where you find something close and accept the sleeves are a tad short or the fit isn't quite right. What if every opportunity's fit could be tailored?
That's the promise of Customized Employment, a person-centered approach that's gaining momentum across the country. Combined with Employment First initiatives that prioritize competitive integrated employment as the expectation, this approach is changing how we think about disability and work. At the Sonoran Center, our Customized Employment pilot is partnering with Vocational Rehabilitation to understand how Customized Employment can work here in Arizona. We are currently in the discovery phase, where we will develop conversations to learn more about every participant’s strengths, interests, and support needs before we can engage in any job development process.
The Discovery Process: Where the Magic Starts
Right now, our pilot is deeply engaged in the discovery phase with participants, and it is transformational. Rather than starting down the path of "What jobs are available?" We are asking questions like "What makes each person light up? What do they desire? How do they work best?"
For example, Bryant, one of our pilot participants, lives on the Navajo Nation. He went through extensive discovery with activities such as home visits, job shadows and community experiences, and we learned that he prefers the afternoon shift, he likes to work with his hands, helping and serving people is important to him, and he learns best through visual and hands-on training. He wants to earn a steady income and eventually save so he can live in his own place.
We are still in the process of discovering all of his strengths and preferences, but we can already see how he would benefit an employer's service-oriented mindset and preference for a team environment. There is not a created job yet, but we are thinking about everything from the ideal work environment to how he will travel there.
This isn’t charity. This is smart business and maximizing human potential.
From Arizona to National Success
The pilot happening here is part of a much larger national movement. Meet Simon, a young man whose journey with Customized Employment shows what’s possible when employers and communities say YES:
Simon’s success is a reminder that Customized Employment is not about lowering expectations. It’s about rethinking jobs so that people’s strengths are front and center.
The Promises Ahead
When we stop asking if someone can work and start asking how we can support them to work, everything changes. Families begin to envision new possibilities. Employers prepare to discover untapped talent. Communities get ready to become stronger.
While we're still in the early stages of this pilot, we're already seeing how thorough discovery can reveal potential that traditional assessments miss. The job matches haven't happened yet, but the foundation we're building now will make all the difference when they do.
Because when you build work places around people, as opposed to when people adjust to fit work places, everybody wins.