Windmills Disability Training Program: Empowering Accessible Workplaces

Working Together to Build A Better Bottom Line

About the Windmills Disability Training Program

The Windmills Disability Training Program is a powerful, interactive training initiative developed by the California Governor’s Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons. Revised in 2016, this program consists of 12 modules designed to help businesses create a more accessible and supportive workplace for employees with disabilities.

This training equips business leaders with the knowledge, skills, and tools to build a workplace where all employees can succeed.

Whether you participate in a single session or complete all 12 modules, Windmills provides valuable insights into:

  • The benefits of hiring employees with disabilities

  • Implementing low-cost workplace accommodations

  • Effective communication strategies

  • Creating a work environment where everyone can contribute

Contact us for details on bringing Windmills Disability Awareness Training to your organization.

Objectives and Benefits:

  • Enhance awareness and sensitivity towards disabilities.

  • Promote a supportive and accessible workplace culture.

  • Equip participants with practical tools and strategies for effective disability accommodation.

Program Structure:

  • Modules: 12 interactive modules utilizing participation and discovery-based learning methods.

  • Duration: Flexible scheduling to meet organizational needs.

  • Delivery Modes: Available in both in-person and online formats to ensure accessibility.

Target Audience:

  • Employers and HR professionals.

  • Managers and team leaders.

  • Employees seeking to improve their understanding of disability accommodation and accessiblity.

Enrollment Process:

To enroll in the Windmills Disability Training Program, contact the Workplace Disability Network of the Black Hills.

Executive Director: Heidi Mecham

Email: director@wdnbh.org

Phone: (605) 786-8311

Windmills Training Modules Synopsis:

Duration: 1 hr per module training
Category: Awareness

These 12 interactive training modules can be taken individually or during a training intensive.

Contact us for details on how to sign your organization up for the Windmills Awareness Training.

  • Ice breaker exercise that allows participants to realize they have all had experiences with disabilities or persons with disabilities and can identify with the importance of disability accomodation.

  • Examine stereotypes associated with common disabilities and illustrates participants’ emotional reactions to specific disabilities. Helps participants understand how an individual’s prior perception of a disability can keep successful applicants with disabilities from being hired.

  • Examine how stereotyping of persons with disabilities may impact employment decisions and teaches participants to evaluate on a case-by-case basis each person with a disability.

  • In this interactive exercise participants are asked to evaluate the potential needs of persons with disabilities and to formulate possible creative solutions. Participants learn the interactive communication process to develop reasonable accommodations.

  • This disability accomodation module is an exercise wherein participants complete a questionnaire and review their knowledge about addressing perceptions about individuals with disabilities.

    The goal is to become more comfortable and effective in our workplace interactions with people with disabilities.

    Participants become aware of respectful etiquette and language for creating a comfortable work environment and they learn the basics of disability employment law.

  • This exercise introduces the concept that persons with emotional disabilities are also able to perform on the job as effectively as persons without emotional disabilities.

    Participants learn to objectively consider reasonable accommodations for persons with emotional disabilities.

  • This exercise gives participants a chance to formulate better ways to utilize employees with disabilities.

    The activity includes interactions between four departments within the same company needing to resolve a schedule problem while examining the dynamics of the groups’ interactions with their new employees with disabilities.

  • This module will introduce participants to practical information about traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well as participants’ assumptions and beliefs about how traumatic brain injuries affect job performance. Participants identify effective ways to accommodate employees with traumatic brain injuries.

  • This interactive session will help participants feel more confident and relaxed in dealing with disabilities. Participants are able to ask questions to a panel of people with disabilities in a safe, information-sharing environment.

  • A successful diversity program is reflected in a company’s hiring practices, and is embedded in the company’s culture. The hiring and promotion of persons with disabilities relies on an integrated working relationship among many levels of management and staff.

    Participants will hear examples of how “miscommunications” can impact the workplace. Participants will then determine where miscommunication occurred and brainstorm strategies that might have prevented the miscommunication.

  • This exercise is designed to illustrate how rumors and inaccurate information can affect the employment and return to work of people with disabilities. It offers practical suggestions for avoiding rumor problems that can arise when employing people with disabilities.

  • This exercise is designed to reduce inherent fears about asking questions regarding disabilities or persons with disabilities.

    Participants will learn simple and easy ways to get answers to any future questions they or their co-workers might have about disabilities.