Employment of People With Disabilities
In 1955, Kamaka first hired disabled employees, a time at which the disabled were viewed as unable to work. Two hearing-impaired individuals were hired as craftsmen, and were found to be exemplary workers, because of their enhanced sense of touch, which allowed them to craft better ukuleles, able to feel the thickness of the wood.
In 1999 Kamaka held a retirement celebration for two master craftsman who had been with the company for over 40 years; both were deaf since birth.
Read more about this topic: Kamaka Ukulele
Famous quotes containing the words employment, people and/or disabilities:
“The boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life, and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after. They suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man, how indifferent all employments are, and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men, if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To every people the land is given on condition. Perceived or not, there is a Covenant, beyond the constitution, beyond sovereign guarantee, beyond the nation’s sweetest dreams of itself.”
—Leonard Cohen (b. 1934)
“The more I read and the more I talked to other parents of children with disabilities and normal children, the more I found that feelings and emotions about children are very much the same in all families. The accident of illness or disability serves only to intensify feelings and emotions, not to change them.”
—Judith Weatherly (20th century)