Sapulpa Resident Receives Commendation from Governor

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Sapulpa resident Matthew Jones 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.
Jones works as a dairy stocker at the nearby Wal Mart store in Glenpool. Jones started his job in 2009, shortly after graduating from high school and quickly blossomed into an independent, gainfully employed young man. After a month of intensive training with a job coach from Central Tech Supported Employment, Jones learned his job well. He is responsible for rotating and stocking various dairy products and keeping the freshest products available to customers.  Since joining the store, Jones has become one of the most popular employees. The other associates seem to enjoy hanging out and socializing with him. Jones has earned their respect by being a hard worker who gets the job done and has fun while doing it.

“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, http://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.