Bristow Employer Receives Commendation from Governor

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A Bristow employer received a commendation from Gov. Brad Henry and Lt. Gov. Jari Askins on October 6 during the Governor’s Disability Employment Awards at the Governor’s Mansion in Oklahoma City. October is national Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Bristow Housing Authority manager Melvin Taylor has employed people with disabilities through the Central Tech Supported Employment program for many years. One of the employees has been working for him since 2002. Taylor works with employees to accommodate work hours, help them with work-related issues as well as personal issues. He works with supported employment staff to complete situational job assessments and find new positions for other employees. He also works with the summer youth program and other youth-related programs in the surrounding area. Taylor is a long-time advocate for supported employment and is constantly promoting to other businesses the benefits of hiring people with disabilities. 

“It is employees and businesses like these that have put Oklahoma ahead of every state in the nation at employing people with disabilities,” said Director Howard Hendrick of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

“For the past three years, Oklahoma has led the nation in assisting people with developmental disabilities to find competitive jobs and become working taxpayers," Hendrick said. “Today, 60 percent of individuals with developmental disabilities served by the OKDHS Developmental Disabilities Services Division participate in supported employment services.”

The Governor’s Disability Employment Awards are co sponsored by Gov. Brad Henry and Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, along with OKDHS/DDSD, the Department of Rehabilitation Services, and the Oklahoma Association of Persons in Supported Employment.

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Editors Note: To see Oklahoma’s ranking as compared to other states in regard to the numbers of persons with developmental disabilities in competitive jobs (supported employment) go to, www.statedata.info (link opens in new window). This web site is a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston, supported in part by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under cooperative agreement with additional support from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education.