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:
“What exercise is to the body, employment is to the mind and morals.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“It is true, these Roman Catholics, priests and all, impress me as a people who have fallen far behind the significance of their symbols. It is as if an ox had strayed into a church and were trying to bethink himself. Nevertheless, they are capable of reverence; but we Yankees are a people in whom this sentiment has nearly died out, and in this respect we cannot bethink ourselves even as oxen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“A child is not a salmon mousse. A child is a temporarily disabled and stunted version of a larger person, whom you will someday know. Your job is to help them overcome the disabilities associated with their size and inexperience so that they get on with being that larger person.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)