Need workers? Hire the disabled: many disabled individuals are ready, willing and able to work, and oftentimes they stay on the job longer than other workers.

• Author: White, Kristin

Patrick Shallcross was optimistic he'd find a job after graduating from the University of North Alabama in 2000. The 33 year-old Alaskan believed his bachelor degrees in criminal justice and sociology could take him far. He interviewed at insurance companies in his college state for a position as an accident investigator. His finances dwindling, Shallcross was counting on the phone to ring.

"The people I had come to know that graduated a few semesters before me were walking into middle management positions that started at $40K," he said. "Why should it be any different for me?"

He'd hoped his cerebral palsy wouldn't get in the way of being hired, that potential employers would see past his speech and motor impairments; he refused to consider his physical limitations would keep him from finding work. He thought the numerous federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination-including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Civil Rights Act of 1991-meant the country couldn't overlook minorities seeking jobs, that a person who walked or talked differently wouldn't be immediately judged as incapable because of their appearance.

"I decided it must be a lack of education, as in today's world a four-year degree doesn't get you very far when you're competing with people with masters and doctorates," he said. "So I decided I'd get a job-any job-to pay the bills, and save up for law school."

Still, after applying for jobs as a stock boy, cashier, security guard and gas station attendant, no one hired him. One potential employer used the excuse, "we can't hire you because you can't write."

"I swallowed my pride and went to the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in Decatur, Ala.," he said. "I was shuffled from one office to another like a Post-It note. To them I was just another crippled person looking for a job. Being back in the DVR system as I had been as a senior in high school reminded me how proactive DVR had been in Alaska."

Juneau's DVR helped Shallcross find a job in Haines (where he grew up) as a service provider for REACH, a nonprofit that provides eligible disabled community members with care givers. Last summer, he was hired as program manager. He's working on his fifth year with the organization.

"It all comes down to people's willingness to see past the exterior and see what's within," Shallcross...