[Nfbc-info] Wells Fargo’s Kathy Martinez: How to Hire & Empower People With Disabilities

[Chad Allen]

This was good. Thank you for sending. 


> On Aug 6, 2015, at 10:15 AM, Clark, Ted A at DOT via Nfbc-info <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> By Barbara Frankel
> 
> [Kathy350]
> 
> After serving as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy, it was important to her to work for a company that was committed to diversity (Kathy has been blind since birth, is a Latina and a lesbian). She also wanted a company that was ready to be a leader in relating to people with disabilities as employees, customers and suppliers.
> 
> She found the right organization in Wells Fargo<http://www.diversityinc.com/wells-fargo/>, the top bank on the DiversityInc Top 50.<http://www.diversityinc.com/the-diversityinc-top-50-companies-for-diversity-2015/> Wells was ready to launch a major initiative for people with disabilities and hired Kathy to lead the effort.
> 
> “I believe in economic empowerment and I know Wells Fargo does too. With the 25th anniversary of the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) this year, we have seen a lot of progress with physical challenges …. Wells is in a place now where they are really making a commitment to serving all people on every level,” Kathy says.
> KATHY MARTINEZ
> 
> Current PositionLeader, People With Disabilities segment, Wells Fargo, No. 11 on The 2015 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity<http://www.diversityinc.com/wells-fargo/>
> Previous Position
> 
> Assistant Secretary, Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of LaborExecutive Director, World Institute on Disability
> Education
> 
> Bachelor’s degree, San Francisco State University
> 
> 
> Wells Fargo’s Dedication
> 
> At the time of this interview, Kathy had only been on the job for five weeks so she was still formulating strategies. But a few significant steps already were in place:
> ·         Wells Fargo is the Presenting Partner of America’s Disability Rights Museum on Wheels, a mobile museum launched by the US Business Leadership Network. EY, No. 4 on the DiversityInc Top 50<http://www.diversityinc.com/ey/>, is a Presenting Partner as well. The museum was scheduled to kick off its cross-country tour in June.
> ·         Kathy met with 800 Wells Fargo recruiters to talk about their disability recruitment strategy. “I think the real question is not the ‘will’ but the ‘how’ – we talked about where to go, what to do to find talent,” she says. For example, she cites working with government sources and non-profits.
> ·         She is beginning a dialogue about customer service, including financial literacy for people with disabilities.
> ·         She is working with Regina Edwards, Head of Corporate Supplier Diversity, to increase the number and viability of vendors owned by people with disabilities.
> 
> Why This Became Her Passion
> 
> Kathy’s life story illustrates how people with disabilities can overcome both cultural stereotypes and systemic obstacles.
> 
> One of six children, she was born blind (as was her younger sister) and grew up in Southern California, where her father worked for defense contractors and her mother cleaned houses.
> 
> Her mother was determined that her two blind daughters would not go to special schools.
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> When Kathy went to public kindergarten, “for the first time I realized I was different,” she told DiversityInc in a previous interview. “I would hear other kids on the playground, rush toward them and crash into other people or toys … I realized I would have to negotiate the world differently.”
> 
> She learned to do that and was determined to help others achieve maximum potential. “I have first-person experience with the low expectations and assumptions of the majority,” she said in the earlier interview.
> 
> After the ADA, Next Horizons
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> With the ADA hitting the quarter-century mark, Kathy believes the most important current issue is increased employment of people with disabilities.
> 
> “When people see us as productive members of society – contributors not charity cases – it will change,” she says.
> 
> The ADA, she says, set out what it was supposed to do – create building accommodations and transportation systems that improve accessibility. “It allows people with disabilities to have a presence in society today – it is no longer a shock to see a person with disabilities on a plane or in a restaurant while 25-30 years ago, it was pretty rare.”
> 
> But as Baby Boomers age into disability the importance of this demographic is increasing, she says. We are the largest minority, we cross age, race, gender, etc. We all will have a disability or someone we know will if we live much longer, and we are all living longer than before,” she says.
> 
> It is more difficult for people who are not born with disabilities to navigate the workplace, she says. “I was born blind so this is what I have always known,” she says.
> 
> What’s most important is to look at the value individuals bring. “I try to get recruiters to see the accommodations process as helping employees with productivity tools … People come to work expecting lights, chairs, coffee. They don’t consider that an ‘accommodation.’ We need to get people with disabilities off the ‘special shelf’ and have them woven into the fabric of the workplace.”
> 
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