{"id":251630,"date":"2021-08-22T13:45:09","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T18:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=251630"},"modified":"2021-08-21T07:35:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T12:35:58","slug":"west-virginia-deli-accommodate-special-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/west-virginia-deli-accommodate-special-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"West Virginia deli goes the extra mile to accommodate employees with special needs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A West Virginia deli is warming hearts and filling bellies with their delicious food and beautiful mission<\/a> to “support special needs employment.”\u00a0Jordyn’s Deli<\/a>, located in Falling Waters, West Virginia, was founded by Bob Parks and named after his daughter Jordyn, whom he described as “the definition of love.” Jordyn has both epilepsy and autism and works at the sandwich shop.<\/p>\n

Parks opened the deli in February of 2020, just one month before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Still, the business has thrived thanks to its creation of a truly inclusive workplace for individuals with disabilities. Parks told a local ABC affiliate<\/a> that the atmosphere of inclusivity extends to usual job responsibilities and equal pay, with whatever physical accommodations the employees need to be successful. Parks said, “Everyone is accepted. We have disabilities, but we are so beyond that.”<\/p>\n

READ:<\/strong>\u00a0Illinois bakery inspired by children with Down syndrome will provide jobs for adults with disabilities<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

One employee who is pursuing her dreams thanks to accommodations made by Jordyn’s Deli is Angelina Seal. Seal has Lumbosacral Agenesis, a rare birth defect where the lower part of the spine doesn’t form properly. Seal described her condition saying, “I was born with my legs crossed, it had a web in between where my legs and knees were.” But because the name of the game for Jordyn’s Deli is what is<\/em> possible rather than what’s not<\/em>, Seal, who was one of the shop’s first employees and works the register, has her sights set on becoming a manager eventually. Parks told her that in order to be a manager she needed to be familiar with every aspect of the shop’s operations, so Seal’s grandfather is creating a specialized workstation in order for her to be a cook.<\/p>\n

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