COMMENTS (3)

Working hard to overcome disabilities, difficulties

By Kristin Day
The Daily Reflector

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Jody McCallum is one of those people who makes instant friends. With a welcoming, amiable personality, contagious laugh and effortless generosity, he could carry on a conversation with a stranger as if he had known him for years. He just might repeat himself a few times.

After suffering two brain aneurysms in the past three years, McCallum, 28, works around his short-term memory loss to carry on with his job and personal relationships.

“I really hadn't had the greatest memory in the world (before) because I was diagnosed with ADHD,” McCallum said, discrediting any damage the aneurysms may have caused.

It's clear through McCallum's expressions that he doesn't consider his situation to be a disability, and an unknowing individual may never guess he has difficulties. But to recognize the many local workers with disabilities, as well as their accomplishments and contributions to the workforce, Eastern Carolina Vocational Center is ending this National Disability Employment Awareness Month with its annual banquet, scheduled for Thursday night at the Hilton Greenville.

McCallum first learned about the strife associated with unemployment when he was just 8 years old. His father was a manufacturer and engineer for York Air Conditioning in Madisonville, Ky., when the boss told him the plant was shutting down. That next morning, everyone else who came to work was greeted by locked doors and confusion. That's when his family moved to North Carolina.

Fifteen years later, McCallum began working at Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express, but had to take an extended break three years ago when he had his first brain aneurysm.

“Literally, the feeling, say you're on the couch and watching TV — peaceful, relaxing. Then all of a sudden, you don't get nervous and you don't feel it coming, just ...” he clapped his hands, making a loud popping sound. “All of a sudden something explodes in your head.”

All he could think about was the pain, he said, yet he waited seven days to go to the hospital. The doctors were surprised he was alive. They also said the aneurysm was caused from cigarette smoking, but McCallum didn't quit the habit. About a year later, he woke up in the hospital and knew it had happened again but he doesn't remember the circumstances surrounding the second aneurysm.

It was tough not being able to work while he spent time in the hospital recovering from surgery, but McCallum's now returned to Wal-Mart — working his way back to full-time employment — and says his employers and co-workers have been “awesome.”

“Every time I go up there, even the store manager asks me how I'm feeling,” he said.

And if he at any time forgets what he was supposed to be doing, he simply asks a co-worker and gets back on track.

For Marcus Jeffries, 32, technology helps him overcome his Retinitis Pigmentosa.

The hereditary disorder makes it difficult for him to see in low-light areas and to read small print or purple-hued ink, which caused problems when he couldn't read the blackboard in grade school.

But Pitt County Schools' faculty worked with Jeffries parents in order to give him the same education as the other students. After graduation, he enrolled in Pitt Community College and emerged in 1998 with an associate's degree in computer programming.

At PCC, his teachers and advisers, like Michael L. Bridgers, director of Disability Services, gave him encouragement to find his career.

“They said, ‘The key to you being able to find a job is your willingness to explain to your employers what your disability is,'” Jeffries said.

Bridgers led Jeffries to Pat Parker, vocational rehabilitation counselor at the Division of Services for the Blind, and he began his job search. After several interviews, he applied at a new company called Convergys, an outsource billing call center.

After a placement test and interview, he was ready for hire on the condition that his aiding software was compatible to Convergys' system. Jeffries uses a program called ZoomText, which magnifies the content on his computer screen. Technology, Jeffries said, is a tremendous aid for workers with visual impairments, adding that he once worked with a woman who was completely blind. She worked with a program that read the computer's text to her.