VOA标准英语2012--Manufacturer Adapts Factory Plant for Disabled Workers

Manufacturer Adapts Factory Plant for Disabled Workers

 

The sewing machines at the Peckham factory in Lansing, Michigan, churn out 300,000 garments a month for the American military, from long underwear to fleece jackets. About 1,200 employees work two shifts a day to meet production deadlines. That's not an unusual feat¹, except that 85 percent of the sewers² and other workers at Peckham live with what staff here call a “significant” disability. Workers have blindness, deafness, emotional trauma³ or other mental illnesses.

“We employ a lot of people that either cannot work a full work week or their disability just doesn’t allow them to do the job,” says Director of Manufacturing Ed Terris.

Peckham is a nonprofit organization dedicated⁴ to training and employing people with disabilities. It makes use of what’s called “assistive technology” - the process of enhancing technology to allow disabled people to interact with it.

Productive use of disabled workers

Each worker here also gets a mentor⁵ to help maximize his or her goals, not only at work but in the rest of life, as well. 

“With the wraparound services that we provide and the coaching and training, and the assistive technology that we employ, we give people opportunities to do this type of work that they may not be able to experience in a typical working environment,” said Terris.

Terris points to a worktable where Chuck Ayotte sits. Ayotte is legally blind but employed by Peckham to trim loose thread from fleece jackets, which eventually will go to troops in Afghanistan. 

Ayotte can work at the plant because Peckham developed equipment that allows disabled people like him to operate machinery⁷. 

He feels for loose threads along the seams of the jacket and places the thread next to an air hole, which sucks the thread in and safely shaves it off. “You could put your finger right here in the machine and you can’t cut yourself,” Ayotte said.

Large workforce⁸ that is untapped

There are 20 million disabled Americans between the ages of 18 and 64, the years during which most people work. But nearly 80 percent of these lack fulltime, year-round employment.

Advocates for the disabled say that’s partly because employers don’t make accommodations for disabled workers in the workplace. 

Greta Wu, senior vice⁶ president of Human Services at Peckham, said chronic⁹ unemployment can be a worst-case scenario¹⁰ for many people living with disabilities.

“You don’t get to work, you don’t get to enjoy that you are contributing to the society,” she said. “But when you do have work your self-confidence is built up, your self-esteem is increased, you feel good about yourself.”

Amy Rose Heyboer, who has suffered from Attention Deficit¹¹ Disorder¹² and Obsessive¹³ Compulsive Disorder for much of her life, came to Peckahm three years ago.

Employee is role model

Before she found Peckham, mental illness caused Heyboer, who is in her 20s, to move from job to job. It took a toll¹⁴ on her, she said, both emotionally and financially.

“Back when my employment status was not as great as it was now, I just thought that it was something wrong with me,” said Heyboer. “That I’m not doing my job right because I’m not motivated, because I’m lazy, because I’m a procrastinator¹⁵, because I am no good at this. So that was self-esteem issues for sure,” she said.

Heyboer’s supervisors¹⁶ here quickly moved her from one assignment to another, though, to keep her attention from wandering. Now she’s supervising other workers. 

“It really started to turn with me that this may not be my fault,” she said. “This place was really pivotal in that because there are other people here who do recognize that ‘Okay, she’s having issues, but it’s not her fault. How can we adjust it so that it works for her?’ And that’s really nice.”

Peckham is funded in part by a federal government program that buys products and services from nonprofits that hire the disabled.

Advocates for the disabled say that unless more companies change their hiring practices and workplace environments, millions more disabled will remain shut out of the American workforce. 

1 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

2 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

8 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

9 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

10 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

11 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

12 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

13 obsessive   

adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的

参考例句：

• Some people are obsessive about cleanliness.有些人有洁癖。
• He's becoming more and more obsessive about punctuality.他对守时要求越来越过分了。

14 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

15 procrastinator   

n. 拖延者, 拖拉者, 因循者

参考例句：

• General Peckem's communications about cleanliness and procrastination made Major Major feel like a filthy procrastinator. 佩克姆将军谈到清洁和拖延的那些简报，使梅杰少校感到自己象一个邋遢的、作风拖拉的家伙。
• This is also a great help if you are a procrastinator. 如果你是一个拖拉的人，这样会对你很有帮助。

16 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句