Kathy Tilley

Albany, Georgia (Senate District 12)

There’s this saying: “When one door closes, another one opens.” Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that will eventually be true. Even losing your job can become one of the best things that’s ever happened to you.

 (Story continues below after slideshow.) 

Kathy Tilley is a 51-year-old woman from Albany, Georgia who has an intellectual disability, hearing loss, and is of small stature (4’2”). When her mother, Ruth, was pregnant, she took the drug, Bendectin, similar to Thalidomide (both containing a shared ingredient), to ease her morning sickness. The use of the medication was very popular at the time until it was discovered to be causing birth defects worldwide. Between 10,000-20,000 babies were born affected by Thalidomide in the mid twentieth century, although approximately forty percent died near the time of their birth. The ones who survived had significant limb, eye, heart and other internal defects, but the results of the crisis and scandal were greater drug regulations in many countries around the world.

For nearly thirty years, Kathy worked in a sheltered workshop through the Easterseals of Southern Georgia. Sheltered workshops are facilities where people with disabilities work doing jobs such as separating bottle caps, breaking down boxes, or creating packages of materials. Although Kathy loved her job and her co-workers, the workshop was closed down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under a structure known as Section 14(c), people with disabilities are paid sub-minimum wage for their work. That is because Section 14(c) is antiquated, pre-dating our nation’s civil rights laws. Doug Crandall with Advancing Employment and author of 22 Cents an Hour:Disability Rights and the Fight to End Subminimum Wage says it’s really unfortunate that Georgia is one of the states that still allows Section 14(c)to stand, despite multiple violations by the few facilities in the state that still operate as sheltered workshops. Doug talks, with not a small amount of frustration, about the house bill this year that could and would have ended Section 14(c) in Georgia. It passed unanimously in the house but couldn’t make it onto the senate floor. Whereas there are only about 225 people remaining who work in Georgia sheltered workshops or subminimum wage, there are 5000 in Ohio, which is on the precipice of ending the practice. “Georgia's economy is so strong and so diverse,” Doug says, “we can support 250 job seekers, acutely, with great services, great supports. It's just a matter of will.”

As things were beginning to open back up in 2022, Verdice Dudley, Vocational Specialist at Easterseals, called to ask if Kathy was ready to go back to work. However, there was a hitch. Would she like to make a change? Easterseals was moving away from the sheltered workshop model. Verdice suggested that, with the sheltered workshop permanently closed, now was the time to get out into the community. At first Ruth and her husband, Bob, were leery. Not only had Kathy really liked her job before, they felt she was safe there. “We were really fearful,” Ruth says, “Being a parent, you don’t want anybody to take advantage or bully or hurt your child–or do even worse.” After Verdice talked them through all the ways Kathy would be supported in making this transition, including five months of pre-employment training (interview skills, professional skills, etc.), they were all on board to try it. Kathy had to interview and land the job herself though.

These days, Kathy works at two different YMCA locations, one shift in the morning, one in the afternoon. To say she’s flourishing israther an understatement. She loves her job, her co-workers, and all the people in the community she interacts with. There’s no bullying here. In fact, she often opens up her voice, telling the young teenagers they need to slow down, pipe down, or behave.

Kathy is not the first person with a disability on staff at the Albany Area YMCA. According to Dan Gillan, Chief Executive Officer, the Y has a long history of inclusion work, evidenced by a gentleman with a disability who started as a young man and retired after fifty years from staff who still attends as a member. After mentioning this, he points to Kathy, talking about how cool it is to work with her and mentioning her recent awards and recognition.

That recognition came as a bit of a surprise to Kathy. She went on a road trip to the Carter Center in Atlanta with her parents, but didn’t know why, thinking it was just to enjoy a nice event and maybe an opportunity to see some friends. Suddenly, to her delight, Kathy saw her name up on the screen as she was being called up to the podium. She received one of the Advancing Access & Equity Employee of the Year Awards as a part of National Disability Employment Awareness Month!

Kathy clearly takes pride in every part of the facility where she works, polishing every surface from the front hallway to the children’s area and back again. EJ Vereen, YMCA Chief Operations Officer, works with Kathy, managing her schedule at both sites. EJ reflects, “It’s only fair for [Kathy] to be paid for the job she’s doing. She has the ability, with training, to do a job just like anyone else. It’s not right for them [people with disabilities] to be mistreated. They should be paid equally and fairly.” The YMCA has even selected accessible equipment that’s more appropriate for someone like Kathy to use such as smaller mops and brooms.

At the end of the day, like so many of us, work, while important, is not Kathy’s whole life. She loves hanging out with her dad, watching YouTube videos. The two of them give each other a hard time: “Beat it, Daddy!” she jokes. “Who do you think you are, my boss?” he grouses back, affectionately. Kathy also loves playing with her little dog, Tinkerbell. She and her sister, Amanda, bake and go on shopping trips and together. She also spends a few hours a week talking on the phone with her boyfriend, Joshua. They used to work together at the sheltered workshop, but don’t get to see each other in person much anymore because he lives in Americus about 45 minutes away.

After a day of two shifts, running from work to home and back to work again, Kathy can be pretty tired at the end of a long day. She and her mom wind down by lying in bed to watch things together on their iPads. But retirement? Forget it! As she told Bob one day when he joked he didn’t want to take her to work, “But, Daddy! I gotta make a living!”

Writer: Shannon M. Turner Photographer: Jessica Whitley