PRIDE Industries in El Paso provides employment opportunities for disabled workers

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments of disabled workers. For over 55 years, PRIDE Industries has given workers with different disabilities the opportunity to succeed. That includes businesses in El Paso and on Fort Bliss.

Don Nelson, the vice president of government service for PRIDE was interviewed today on ABC-7 at 4.

"Not only is this month a time to celebrate all the great accomplishments people with disabilities do every day on the job across the country with lots of employers," Nelson said, "it's also a time to encourage employers to hire people with disabilities on their teams, and we should concentrate on people's abilities and not their disabilities. People with disabilities make great team members and great employees."

PRIDE Industries has been working with Fort Bliss since 2007. "We do all the face maintenance support services for the base, and we have carpenters and electricians, plumbers, doing all the Building Operations and Services to maintain the base," Nelson explained.

He added he was particularly proud of one group of PRIDE employees.

"One team that stands out in my mind is our team that runs our aircraft arresting barrier system at Biggs Airfield. They've successfully caught two aircraft, two fighter jets that had emergencies in flight, they were able to stop those aircraft similar to what you see on an aircraft carrier with the arresting barrier wire. And then they were able to get the airplanes, you know, repaired and off on their mission. So that's a pretty cool accomplishment for a team that's made up of people with disabilities as well."

Nelson encourages business owners in El Paso to reach out to PRIDE Industries at http://www.prideindustries.com. "We love to help other employers create opportunities for people with disabilities," said Nelson. "And we can provide that that outreach to employers to show them how to do it, what kind of accommodations can they put in place, what kind of support systems should they put in place to help people disabilities. People with disabilities have a lot of capability and I think we just need to provide that opportunity for them to be successful on the job."