HOULTON, Maine — Arnold Bulley will never forget the time a woman he helped get a job sat in his car after she got hired and cried.
“She said, ‘I am worth something,’” said Bulley, an employment specialist who works for Houlton-based Living Innovations. “It makes you realize how much they have been stereotyped.”
Such views often keep people with disabilities from jobs they would like to be doing, with many relegated to jobs such as janitorial positions or Walmart greeters.
Bulley helps change those perceptions. He helps employers see beyond obstacles to focus instead on what the person does well.
“What’s fun is opening people’s eyes to what people with disabilities or challenges can do,” Bulley said. “I think a lot of times we close our minds to that. It’s fun to watch them blossom and get more confidence. Before you know it, they are shining in their jobs.”
In the past year or so, he found more than 40 job placements in northern Maine for people who have challenges that make it difficult for them to find employment, matching their interests and abilities to employer needs. For his efforts, Bulley was recently named the 2024 Direct Support Professional of the Year out of a pool of more than 450 nominations nationwide.
Bulley was honored in Omaha by the American Network of Community Options and Resources Foundation.
“It was a really big deal,” said Angelina Jackman, Bulley’s supervisor. “Living Innovations has been around since 1996 and this is the first time they have won the award.”
Living Innovations is the sole provider for the state’s vocational rehabilitation services in an area that spans from just past Newport to northern Maine, Jackman said.
The employment team of 26 works with people with challenges such as physical disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, transitioning from recovery houses or having been previously incarcerated.
“We’ve got people working on pig farms, working in IT, at the L.L. Bean call center, all Houlton grocery stores, restaurants,” she said.
The support includes job development, job coaching, skills training, career planning and new business development, among other resources.
Sometimes a person has some sort of a challenge or a part of the job that is hard for them, but there is another part of the job that they really excel in, Jackman said.
It might be a task that nobody else at the business wants to do, she said.
The employment specialists work with the employer to carve out the piece of the job the person does well, and many times they will do that task for the other employees who do not like doing it.
“It makes that individual feel like this is their specialty. This is something that nobody else can do,” she said. “They become the go-to person for that piece of the job.”
Bulley talks about the successes, the promotions, the employees of the month, the accolades from employers.
There is Brandon Clark, who is legally blind, and was working in a janitorial job at a Houlton school. Clark loves cars and wanted to do something with cars, Jackman and Bulley said.
Bulley found A.J. Boyce, owner of Shiretown Solutions in Houlton, who agreed to talk with Clark.
In a short time, Clark was detailing cars, Jackman said, adding that Clark now manages the detailing portion of the business and trains other employees.
“A.J. did not see the disability, he saw a kid who wanted to learn and he saw a kid that was willing to give it 100 percent. Really that’s what most employers want,” she said.
Another example is Robbie Garland who works at Elm Tree Diner in Houlton.
At 40, he was having trouble getting a job. But after Bulley worked with him and he got a placement in the Houlton diner, he quickly became a key to the diner’s success during the day, Jackman said.
“They are always saying, ‘He’s the No. 1 this, the No. 1 that.’ For his birthday, the diner bought him a cake that said ‘No. 1 host,’” she said. “People go there to see his positive attitude.”
The American Network of Community Options and Resources Foundation award nominees are selected on the basis of four criteria: person-centered support; relationships with employers, employees and their team; leadership; and initiative and innovation.
Bulley did not really see the award as his, but rather the whole team’s because they work together. He also credits the employers in northern Maine who were willing to see things differently.
Jackman said she nominated Bulley for the award in the leadership category because he is a role model.
“He breaks the mold. He doesn’t quit, he doesn’t give up,” she said. “Times can get tough and it’s not an easy job. We cry with people. We watch them fall sometimes and sometimes we are the only people there to pick them up. To see somebody care the way he does and then pull it off, nobody else deserved it more.”
