Enterprise Mission: Parameters
for cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com

By Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF, Disability Employment Expert
_________________________________________________________

Here are statements about my enterprise mission, the caveats you need to consider as you think about my recommendations, the code of ethics which I follow and my privacy guidelines.

My enterprise mission

Covers of my seven "Transformation Stories" eBooks.49 riveting stories in 7 eBooks.

My mission is to help you, as parents, "see real hope" as your son or daughter who has a disability explores options for a school-to-work transition.

There are now an increasing number of paths toward a meaningful vocation and an independent life that are open for your youngster. I'm here to show you what is not only practical but possible.

Mainstream employers often admit that, despite much effort in recruiting, it’s difficult for them to find “qualified” candidates with a disability who are ready to work for open jobs.

There may be two reasons for this situation.

First, attachment theory, the study of the importance of early childhood emotional bonds, suggests that youngsters who have stronger relationships with their parents develop stronger self-esteem and better self-reliance as they grow older and explore the world – even though disability is involved.

Children with a stronger self-esteem tend to be more independent, perform better in school, have successful social relationships, experience less depression and do well in the work world.

Individuals with a disability may have difficulty with the psychological ramifications of living with a vulnerability in a society which often presents a distorted picture of disability.

This may be particularly true when unexplored misconceptions within the family unit about disability impede a healthy connectedness between them and their parents.

The result could be an “encumbered” job candidate who does not have the self-esteem, emotional intelligence or interpersonal communication skills to perform well on a job.

Second, in today’s highly competitive job market, getting hired and building a career require career management skills that are increasingly becoming more sophisticated.

Acquiring and continually updating these career management skills are crucial to on-the-job success because “no one else is going to do it for you” in a temporary-work world where job holders are “free agents” and employee turnover is high.

Individuals with a disability often encounter barriers in getting hired because they are using outdated employment models and job marketing methods.

They cannot expect to do well in today’s work climate without access to contemporary career management tools, knowledge about how to use them effectively and insight about how to modify them so disability is a competitive edge instead of a disadvantage in the minds of hiring managers.   

My website, cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com, is a parent-driven platform for addressing the second one of those two issues: acquiring and updating career management skills from a disability perspective.

Addressing the psychological implications of disability within individuals and within the family unit which may affect career-readiness is outside of my expertise.

Consider these caveats

This site’s information is geared toward those youngsters with various forms of cerebral palsy (CP) and other developmental and physical disabilities who have at least an average intelligence.

I do not pretend to be a parent coach or an expert about how to manage a disability. My only expertise is this: knowing how to address employment issues from a disability perspective.

So, managing CP or any other type of disability outside the world of career development is not a topic for discussion on this site.

The content of cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com only addresses career development issues from the perspective of the current U.S. National Career Development Guidelines through my experience as a Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) certified by the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE) and as an individual with CP who has wide experience in competitive employment.

As a GCDF, I am not qualified to provide psychotherapy and other professional counseling services that are normally provided by those who have obtained a master's degree in counseling (see GCDF code of ethics). The content of cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com needs to be viewed with that limitation in mind.

CP and other developmental and physical disabilities vary widely among individuals in terms of severity and limitations, which can affect individual potential in terms of career development. That means what worked for me may not be applicable to situations others, who are living under very different circumstances, face.

My site, cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com, needs to be viewed only as a parent-driven approach to competitive employment for youngsters with a disability based on personal stories of successful careers which give the U.S. National Career Development Guides a disability perspective.

My site, cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com, also assumes you, as a parent, grandparent or other mentor (and, most importantly, your mentee) are both motivated to take responsibility for reaching one's potential from an occupational point of view.  

Visitors to cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com have indicated that these issues concern you the most about preparing your youngster with CP for meaningful work and an independent life as an adult:

  • 64% = Fostering your youngster’s personal motivation.
  • 17% = Strengthening your youngster’s self-confidence.
  • 11% = Building your youngster’s skill set.
  •   8% = Overcoming your youngster’s potential barriers.

For each age group, cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com addresses the current U.S. National Career Development Guidelines from the vantage point of how to set the stage for building self-confidence and how to frame disability's competitive advantages for a future job seeker.

My drive (my need to prove myself by sacrificing present gratification in pursuit of future attainment) is based on these three sources of my personal motivation:

Entrepreneurialism

My recognition that, at birth, my unique mix capabilities and disabilities perhaps gave me a 15 to 20- percent chance to gain personal independence and self-determination through competitive employment -- if I devoted extraordinary effort throughout my lifetime, sought help from others and tapped my creativity toward that end.

Spirituality 

My belief that being in the spotlight because I'm "different" due to my disabilities gives me a unique opportunity to reflect God's forgiveness, acceptance, love and hope to those around me – and that is empowering for me.

Exceptionalism

My personal need to prove to others that I'm in some ways "superior" to others with similar disabilities and the “exception” to the commonly held perceptions within our society about people with disabilities in general -- while, at the same time, personally feeling inadequate in the eyes of many.

I believe my craving to beat the odds, to serve a higher purpose and to reconcile my feelings of both inadequacy and superiority generated a personal drive that resulted in a rewarding and interesting life that some may still regard as another example of an “overachieving” individual with a disability -- instead of a much broader snapshot of the resiliency of humankind.

I follow the GCDF Code of Ethics

Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF)
Code of Ethics

INTRODUCTION

The Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) is a certification created by the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE), in consultation with the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC). The GCDF certification program, administered by CCE, certifies qualified individuals who have satisfied the extensive knowledge and skills standards established by CCE. GCDF certificants provide quality career assistance, not career counseling or psychotherapy.

Regardless of any other affiliation, this GCDF Code of Ethics (Code) applies to each individual certified by CCE as a GCDF (certificant), and each individual seeking the GCDF certification (applicant). The Code is designed to provide appropriate ethical practice guidelines and enforceable standards of conduct for all certificants and applicants. The Code also serves as a resource for those served by GCDF certificants and applicants with respect to such standards and requirements.

SECTION A:
COMPLIANCE WITH LEGAL REQUIREMENTS AND CONDUCT STANDARDS

GCDF certificants and applicants shall:

  1. Comply with all applicable laws and governmental regulations relating to occupational activities.
  2. Refrain from conduct or behavior that is contrary to legal or regulatory requirements.
  3. Refrain from behavior involving dishonesty or fraud.
  4. Refrain from unlawful discrimination in occupational activities including age, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender orientation, religion, national origin or disability.
  5. Avoid condoning or engaging in harassment, including deliberate or repeated unwelcome comments, gestures or physical contact.
  6. Maintain accurate client records related to the provision of services in accordance with applicable legal and occupational requirements.
  7. Disclose to appropriate governmental agencies when a client appears to be a danger to or is otherwise unable to act safely concerning self or others. Such disclosures shall be consistent with legal and occupational requirements.

SECTION B:
COMPLIANCE WITH CCE ORGANIZATIONAL POLICIES AND RULES

GCDF certificants and applicants shall:

  1. Comply with all applicable CCE policies and procedures, including the GCDF Code of Ethics and CCE Ethics Case Procedures, as amended or revised.
  2. Provide accurate information to CCE.
  3. Maintain the security of confidential CCE information and materials.
  4. Cooperate with CCE concerning ethics matters, including the collection of information.
  5. Inform and support others, such as employers and colleagues, regarding the responsibilities established by this Code.
  6. Report an apparent violation of the GCDF Code of Ethics by certificants and applicants upon a factual basis.

SECTION C:
PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES AND OTHER OCCUPATIONAL ACTIVITIES

GCDF certificants and applicants shall:

  1. Conduct all occupational activities in a responsible manner.
  2. Recognize the limitations of practice and qualifications, and provide services only when qualified. Certificants and applicants are responsible for determining the limits of their competency based on education, knowledge, skills, practice experience, credentials and other relevant considerations.
  3. Protect the privacy of information obtained in the course of providing services, including electronic files and communications. Certificants and applicants shall not disclose this information unless authorized to do so by applicable legal requirements or client authorization. The limits of privacy shall be clearly identified before services begin.
  4. Properly use occupational credentials, titles and degrees; and provide accurate information concerning education, experience, qualifications and the performance of services.
  5. Avoid occupational techniques that are harmful to clients. Certificants and applicants are responsible for ensuring that the techniques used are consistent with client’s emotional, intellectual and physical needs. Certificants and applicants shall appropriately inform clients regarding the purpose, application and results of techniques, assessments and strategies.
  6. Obtain written agreements with others when appropriate in the course of performing facilitation services. Agreements shall include the rights, roles and responsibilities of the parties involved as well as the manner in which private information will be protected.
  7. Seek supervision with qualified professionals when necessary, and provide appropriate referrals when unable to provide appropriate assistance to a client as well as when terminating a service relationship.
  8. Ensure that clients and employers understand that services are career assistance, and avoid providing career counseling or psychotherapy.

SECTION D:
AVOIDANCE OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AND THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY

GCDF certificants and applicants shall:

  1. Disclose to others, including employers, clients and colleagues, significant circumstances that could be construed as a potential or real conflict of interest, or as involving an appearance of impropriety.
  2. Avoid conduct that could cause a conflict of interest regarding clients or employers. If a conflict of interest occurs, certificants and applicants shall take reasonable steps to resolve the conflict.
  3. Avoid engaging in multiple relationships with clients. In situations where multiple relationships cannot be avoided, certificants and applicants shall discuss the potential effects of the relationships with the affected clients, and must take reasonable steps to avoid any harm.
  4. Avoid any sexual or romantic relationships with clients. Certificants and applicants shall not engage in sexual or romantic interactions with former clients for a minimum of two (2) years following the date of termination.
  5. Refrain from offering or accepting significant payments, gifts, or other forms of benefits that are intended to influence occupational judgments or services.
  6. Acknowledge accurately the intellectual property of others with respect to all activities.

Approved by the CCE Board of Directors: July 19, 1997.
Amended: October 14, 1998.
Amended: October 9, 2010.

© 2010 Center for Certification & Education (CCE)

My privacy policy

I recognize that your privacy is important. This document outlines the types of personal information I receive and collect when you use cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com as well as some of the steps I take to safeguard information. I hope this will help you make an informed decision about sharing personal information with me.

I strive to maintain the highest standards of decency, fairness and integrity in all my operations. Likewise, I am dedicated to protecting my customers', consumers' and online visitors' privacy on my website.

Personal Information

My website, cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com, collects personally identifiable information from its visitors only on a voluntary basis. Personal information collected on a voluntary basis may include name, postal address, email address, company name and telephone number.

This information is collected if you request information from me, participate in a contest or sweepstakes, and sign up to join my email list or request some other service or information from me. The information collected is internally reviewed, used to improve the content of our website, notify my visitors of updates, and respond to visitor inquiries.

Once information is reviewed, it is discarded or stored in my files. If I make material changes in the collection of personally identifiable information, I will inform you by placing a notice on my site. Personal information received from any visitor will be used only for internal purposes and will not be sold or provided to third parties.

Use of Cookies and Web Beacons

I may use cookies to help you personalize your online experience. Cookies are identifiers that are transferred to your computer's hard drive through your web browser to enable my system to recognize your browser.

The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that you have come to the site for the first time or have returned to a specific page. If you personalize the site's pages or register with any of our site's services, a cookie enables cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com to recall your specific information on subsequent visits.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying settings in your browser; however, if you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of my site.

Web beacons are transparent image files used to monitor your journey around a single website or collection of sites. They are also referred to as web bugs. They are commonly used by sites that use third-party services to monitor traffic. They may be used in association with cookies to understand how visitors interact with the pages and content on the pages of a website.

As you browse my website, Google Analytics and advertising cookies will be placed on your computer to collect demographic and interest information, but I do not tie the cookie to any personal information that you provide to me. If you do not wish your data to be collected via Google Analytics, you may use their opt-out tool at <a href="https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/"target="_blank">https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/</a>.

I use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on my website. These companies use cookies and web beacons in their ads to ascertain how many times you've seen an advertisement. No personally identifiable information you give me is provided to them for cookie or web beacon use, so they cannot personally identify you with that information from my website.

Some third-party advertisements may be provided by Google, which uses the DoubleClick cookie to serve ads. This cookie enables Google to serve ads to users based on their visits to sites on the Web. You may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie by visiting <a href="http://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/" target="_blank">Google ad and content network privacy policy</a>.

Browsers can be set to accept or reject cookies automatically or notify you when a cookie is being requested. Privacy software can be used to override web beacons. Taking either of these actions should not cause a problem with my site, should you so choose.

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act

My website is directed to adults; it is not directed to children under the age of 13. I operate my site in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and will not knowingly collect or use personal information from anyone under 13 years of age.

Non-personal Information

In some cases, I may collect information about you that is not personally identifiable. I use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyze trends, to administer the site, to track users' movements around the site and to gather demographic information about my user base as a whole. The information collected is used solely for internal review and is not shared with other organizations for commercial purposes.

Release of Information

If cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com is sold, the information I have obtained from you through your voluntary participation in my site may transfer to the new owner as a part of the sale in order that the service being provided to you may continue. In that event, you will receive notice through my website of that change in control and practices, and I will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the purchaser honors any opt-out requests you might make of me.

How You Can Correct or Remove Information

I provide this privacy policy as a statement to you of my commitment to protect your personal information. If you have submitted personal information through my website and would like that information deleted from my records or would like to update or correct that information, please use my Contact Me page.

Updates and Effective Date

My website, cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com, reserves the right to make changes in this policy. If there is a material change in my privacy practices, I will indicate on my site that my privacy practices have changed and provide a link to the new privacy policy. I encourage you to periodically review this policy so that you will know what information I collect and how I use it.

Agreeing to Terms

If you do not agree to cerebral-palsy-career-builders.com's Privacy Policy as posted here on this website, please do not use this website or any services offered by this website.

Your use of this website indicates acceptance of this privacy policy.

Return from Enterprise Mission to Cerebral Palsy Career Builders

This is Creative Commons content.  You can freely and legally use, share and repurpose it for non-commercial purposes only, provided you attach this sentence and the following attribution to it (including the two links):

Originally written and illustrated by Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF, owner of Hasse Communication Counseling, LLC, who, as a person with cerebral palsy, served for 10 years as a vice president in a Fortune 500 company during his 29-year career in corporate communication. He’s an Accredited Business Communicator, certified as a Global Career Development Facilitator and author of 14 Amazon books about disability awareness and disability employment issues.

Jim Hasse, ABC, GCDF
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Covers of five Career Books, a series for parents who seek information about school-to-work preparation for their youngsters with unexpected challenges.5 Career Management Books from a Disability Perspective