State official advocates for handicapped

Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley has made helping disabled people a priority during his five years serving under Gov. Rick Snyder.

One of Calley’s assistants, Michael Stroud, recently brought that message to a Sault Area Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon. He asked the businesspeople in attendance to consider hiring those who are disabled, saying it is unfair to define them based solely on their handicap.

“Imagine if, when I was introduced today, I was introduced as overweight, not a great reader, and kind of shoddy at math,” Stroud said. “It’d been an odd introduction, and it would have defined the way you think of me. Well, (for) those with disabilities, typically, that is what happens.”

He added that Calley wants to especially help people who are structurally unemployed — that is, those who cannot get hired because employers believe they cannot offer the skills required for a position. He said handicaps don’t always mean people have limited skills.

Stroud cited an example in which a young man was interning with Gordon Food Service. Although he was autistic, a symptom of his particular condition caused him to excel in math.

Once he was reviewing some financial numbers and noticed that some of them were not correct. He had discovered an accounting error that saved the company over $400,000.

“Let’s look at their powers, let’s look at their abilities,” Stroud said. “Let’s look at the areas where we can help them help us.”

He also discussed another person who has succeed despite a handicap - Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein.

Bernstein was elected to the court in November, 2014. Stroud called him a “world class attorney,” a distinction Bernstein has earned despite being legally blind since birth.

Calley and Bernstein are political opposites — Calley a conservative Republican and Bernstein a Democratic-leaning progressive judge. However, the two men recently traveled to New York to run in a marathon together. Bernstein has now run in more than 20 such events.

Stroud concluded by saying Calley does not necessarily favor legislation — like tax incentives — to push businesses into hiring people with disabilities. He said that implies that businesses who are willing to do it must get something in return. But he added that Calley plans to continue working to grow awareness for the disabled, and to continue trying to serve them.