Mainstreaming—

Workers Demonstrate ‘Ability Beyond Disability’ At Belimo Air Controls

By Andrew Gorosko

With focus and attention, Kenneth Barrachina repeatedly combines multiple parts into a mechanical subassembly, which will be kept on hand at Belimo Air Controls (USA), Inc, until it is combined with yet other parts to form the electromechanical components of climate control systems that are used in buildings.

Mr Barrachina is one 36 people sponsored by Ability Beyond Disability who do piecework at Belimo’s modern factory on Old Ridgebury Road in Danbury. Besides the Ability workers, about 160 other people are employed at Belimo’s Danbury facility.

Ability Beyond Disability is a private, nonprofit agency that formerly was known as the DATAHR Rehabilitation Institute. The agency is a health and human services provider that serves people who have developmental and neurological disabilities.

The organization’s mission is to enable individuals whose independent living skills are impaired by disability, illness, or injury to achieve and maintain self-reliance, fulfillment, and comfort at home, at work, and in the community, by providing them with comprehensive home, health, and rehabilitation services.

The Ability workers at Belimo spend four hours daily assembling parts, said Charles E. “Skip” Annett, III, who is Belimo’s product procurement manager. Ability workers also have the use of the modern factory’s cafeteria.

Having Ability-sponsored people working on the factory floor at Belimo is part of Ability’s thrust to have its clients “mainstreamed” into society. In an actual factory setting, their work lives can be better integrated into society than is possible in the artificial work conditions that are found in “sheltered workshops,” according to Ability.

Louise Vincennie, who is Ability’s community contracts manager, said having its members work at various businesses in the greater Danbury area is a superior arrangement to its former use of a sheltered workshop. Having Ability’s people working in the field provides a much more rewarding and productive work experience for them than is available at a sheltered workshop, she added.

Besides Belimo, Ability has people working at about 15 area businesses including Chuck’s Steak House, Kimberly-Clark, Duracell, Super Stop & Shop, Shaw’s, and Pepsi Bottling Group.

The jobs that Ability’s clients perform at Belimo are tasks that they are capable of performing well, Ms Vincennie said. The jobs include about 75 specific assembly tasks.

Clear focus by undistracted workers is required to accomplish such assembly work, said Mr Annett. “They’re always productive,” he said. The Ability members always have provided Belimo with work that meets its standards, he added.

The pay that Ability’s workers receive is based on their level of productivity in the piecework-based job, Ms Vincennie said.

“By using our folks, we can increase productivity and decrease [manufacturing] costs,” she said.

“It’s added value. They add value to our products,” Mr Annett said.

Besides the personal satisfaction that Ability’s members derive from working at Belimo, they also help Belimo achieve its manufacturing goals, creating a mutually beneficial situation, Mr Annett said. 

To ensure that Ability’s members function well in the Belimo environment, Ms Vincennie determines which Ability members will best perform the specific assembly tasks that are required by Belimo. Ability serves as a subcontractor to Belimo for labor.

Ms Vincennie said Ability’s members’ presence in an actual factory environment and their interaction with Belimo’s other workers is a “morale builder” for Ability’s members.

“Our folks never have ‘bad hair’ days. Job satisfaction is tremendous. It enhances their lives,” Ms Vincennie said.

People who are placed in various jobs in the community by Ability have a range of disabilities, including physical limitations, mental retardation, brain injuries, and Down syndrome.

Ability members enjoy their daily work in settings such as Belimo, which is far superior to the sterile, static environment that exists in sheltered workshops, Ms Vincennie stressed. The Ability members are supervised by Ability job trainers while on the job.

While he was interconnecting the parts of a mechanical subassembly at Belimo recently, an energetic Mr Barrachina looked up from his work and said, “This is fine.”

Mr Barrachina methodically and repeatedly connected the small parts to one another, and noted that work continuity is important in a piecework situation.

As the Ability workers continued with their assembly tasks, Ability trainers Joel Garcia, Catherine Light, and Nichelle Roy supervised them to ensure that the assembly work was performed correctly.

Ability has men and women on its work roster ranging from age 18 to retirement age, all now working out in the community..

 “I like to work here. I like to be busy,” Ability member Tony Hosseini said.