Tulsa Residents Receive Commendations from Governor

OKLAHOMA CITY--Tulsa residents Earl Ray Snow and Eddie Stout received commendations 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.

Snow has worked at the Tulsa Airport for the past three years. He found out about the job from a neighbor and applied for the job entirely on his own. He has never needed a job coach at the job site but his residential provider, Phoenix, occasionally provides some support. Snow has been working overtime at the airport to cover for other staff that cannot make it to work. His supervisors know they can call on him anytime and he is ready and willing to fill in. Snow is also an entrepreneur with his own business, Snow Flake Express, Trinkets and More. Snow goes around to different shows and events selling his wares, largely running the business by himself with some support from his family. When he is not working, Snow enjoys helping out his neighbors by doing odd jobs for the elderly like shoveling snow and mowing lawns. 

Stout has worked at Wal Mart in Owasso for the past 17 years as a cart pusher. He has become a part of the Wal Mart family and is well known as a hard worker. Even though Stout’s job is to collect shopping carts, he will go out of his way to help shoppers with their groceries and take their carts so they do not have to put them away. He also helps out in the store by picking up items that are out of place and putting them where they belong. Stout always has a smile on his face and is very welcoming to the store’s customers. Anyone who meets Stout ends up smiling after spending a few moments with him. He is a hard working employee with a great personality and a drive to do his job to the best of his ability.

“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 a 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.