RUMFORD — The Hope Association held a “Speaking Up For Us” meeting at noon Thursday in which guest speaker Vickie Morton spoke about employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Morton, who works with the Hope Association as an employment service director, spoke to an audience full of clients who were interested in learning more about employment opportunities in the region.

“I’ve seen quite a few of you already going through this service, and I’m hoping to see more of you,” Morton said. “The folks in this room are likely here because you’ve identified employment as one of your goals, or as something you might be interested in.”

Morton played a video that explained a program that would help them get jobs if they wished to work.

The program, known as Vocational Rehabilitation, was described in the video as “a Department of Labor program that helps people who have physical, mental or emotional disabilities prepare for, find and keep a job.”

The video featured testimony from two Maine residents, Eric Hughes and Diane Poulin, who have had experiences with the Vocational Rehabilitation program and lauded its ability to integrate people with disabilities into the community.

Poulin, who is deaf, said that the Vocational Rehabilitation program placed her in a new environment and made it so she was not so isolated.

“There’s a greater balance between home and the rest of the world,” Poulin said through American Sign Language in the video. “The program helps increase your social interaction and gives you more opportunities for social exposure that you wouldn’t have at home.”

Hughes, who owns and runs a small pizza cart in Portland called Eric’s Pizza Express, said the Vocational Rehabilitation program helped him come up with a business plan that allowed him to start running his own business.

Among the services that the Vocational Rehabilitation program offers clients, according to the video, are advice and guidance on how to prepare for an interview, fill out an application, draft a resume and make informed choices about where to work.

After the video, Morton told the clients, “We’ll have career exploration workshops if you’re not sure what you want to do for work. The workshops have exercises that will help you identify your interests and hobbies, so we can find something for you to do that you like.”

Client Mary Turnbull told those in the audience that she recently got a job at Dick’s Restaurant in Mexico and was able to make more than $100.

“It’s nice to get a paycheck, isn’t it?” Morton asked.

Turnbull smiled and said, “Yes, it is.”

Morton reiterated that if clients were to get a job and find that they did not enjoy it, they should find a new one immediately.

“If you’re not happy with your job, find a new one — because life’s too short,” Morton said. “I can’t say that enough to you.”

Morton later said that a lot of the state’s philosophy as of late is that “anybody and everybody should have a chance to work.”

She added, “We’ve been placing a lot of our clients and a lot of local residents suffering from developmental disabilities with retail jobs, food service jobs and home and health care jobs. In a 35-day period, we were able to place 13 different people with jobs. It’s been a great program.”

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