State Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kauai, called him a “symbol” and an “icon.” The head of the state Department of Human Services’ Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Services for the Blind Division said Kauai’s office is the most productive in the state,
State Sen. Gary Hooser, D-Kauai, called him a “symbol” and an “icon.”
The head of the state Department of Human Services’ Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Services for the Blind Division said Kauai’s office is the most productive in the state, in part because of his efforts.
The way The Garden Island Photographer Dennis Fujimoto sees it, though, he’s just doing his job.
For doing that job exceptionally well in the eyes of counselors of the island’s disabled population, Friday he was given the plaque that goes along with being named Outstanding Media Advocate for the state by the division.
“Kauai is our most productive branch every year, and it has to be in part because of you,” said Neil Shim, state vocational administrator.
“You help create some people’s lives,” Hooser said.
Fujimoto’s enthusiasm excites employers, clients and the VR staff, said Brenda Kaauwai Viado, Kauai branch administrator. She added that Fujimoto’s award also honors the entire staff of The Garden Island, because she knows he can’t do it all by himself.
Through Fujimoto’s photographs of annual rehabilitants and employers of the year that appear in these pages, employers get positive pictures of rehabilitants, Viado said.
Funds are set aside to help put the state’s disabled population to work, including money used to pay counselors assigned to each disabled resident, Shim said. But the Kauai branch leverages the “free” publicity to reach employers and the employable disabled, he added.
“Without that kind of working together, with the community and media,” the program is not successful, Shim said.
Fujimoto said the Kauai branch’s “capable staff is where it all begins,” and he is proud to help overcome employer fears he says come largely from ignorance. Disabled people make some of the best workers, because they have “purity of heart” that gives them strong work ethics, he said.
The Vocational Rehabilitation division “is the place of last hope for many of the disabled,” and he finds it gratifying to see disabled workers still employed when he visits the top employers on an annual basis, he said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
