Transcript: Learn How Internships for People with Disabilities Can Transform a Workplace

A device scans the barcode on a cardboard box. The employee holding the device examines the screen and taps it with a pen.

TIMOTHY: Yeah, this way.

He writes on a sheet of paper, then places a stack of boxes on a desk.

TIMOTHY: I feel joy. I feel excitement. My name is Timothy Hinson.

Timothy stands in front of a printer and a computer monitor. Boxes overhead are labeled with blue and white signs.

 

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Outgoing          Outgoing         Outgoing          Outgoing

`           USPS Mail        USPS Mail         USPS Mail         USPS Mail

Standard           Large               Large                Certified

Envelopes         Envelopes        Envelopes         Envelopes

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Timothy Hinson

                                    Project SEARCH Intern UnitedHealthcare

TIMOTHY: I am an intern, and I work at the mail room.

Hands place a stack of envelopes into a machine. The machine pulls them in one by one. On the other side, the envelopes slide down onto a tray.

LUQUINA: Timothy is amazing. He works very hard.

Luquina wears a purple polo shirt with an emblem that reads "LUQUINA B, SR IT BA."

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Luquina Jones-Bates

                                    Technical Operations Manager UnitedHealthcare

LUQUINA: He does pay attention to detail. He's very organized. But he does get frustrated at times. But the good thing about it is, when he gets frustrated, he turns to us.

Timothy picks up the stack of envelopes from the machine. He closes the top.

LUQUINA: He trusts us that we're going to encourage him, and he's been one of our best interns that we had on our team.

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Sandy Needler

                                    Rehabilitation Employment Manager

SANDY: Project SEARCH is a model for transitioning students with significant disabilities from the school environment into the workforce.

A young man walks down a hallway and enters a cubicle. Sitting down, he manipulates a laptop touch pad.

SANDY: There are so many myths around working with individuals with disabilities, and that's part of the reason we wanted to do this program here at UnitedHealthcare.

Sandy speaks in front of translucent glass. On the other side, muted red seats rest against a pleasant green wall.

SANDY: The myths can be anything from...

Four Project SEARCH interns work on laptops at a desk. They each examine a sheet of paper next to them, filling out information with a pen or pencil.

SANDY: ...the individual won't be there on a regular basis, their attendance is poor, that they're not adaptable or flexible, that they're incapable of learning and incapable of completing a task, and all of those, absolutely not true. It's an everyday reminder of why we do what we do.

White text appears over a shot of a man sitting at a desk. In the next shot, a name placard is visible on the edge of a man's cubicle. In the background, he sits looking at a computer monitor. A pamphlet and another placard sit on a desk. Then a man with glasses, Billeh, talks to the camera.

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Of more than 400 Project SEARCH

                                    sites worldwide,

                                    70% of interns achieved

                                    employment within one year.

ON SCREEN TEXT:          UnitedHealthcare

                                    BILLEH

                                    TUBEA

                                    B806.018

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Our

                                    United

                                    Culture

                                    THE WAY FORWARD

                                    Our

                                    United

                                    Culture BE HERE NOW

                                    UNITEDHEALTHGRO

BILLEH: I feel really good being in this position. I can, like, communicate with my coworkers and ask them questions on-- on stuff that I do not understand.

A hand pecks at keys on a keyboard.

BILLEH: And I get the help I need, and everything works out good.

Luquina talks to the camera.

LUQUINA: With the Project SEARCH, it helps all of us learn and look at our lives, period.

Four young men sit hunched over laptops in a conference room. Back to Luquina talking to the camera.

LUQUINA: They were helping me to realize that, don't treat anybody any different. Treat them as if I wanted to be treated. Having the Project SEARCH interns, it was educational for all of us on both ends, like, lifting them up, but they were lifting us up as well.

A woman in a red blouse, Jillian, sits talking to the camera.

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Jillian Hamblin

                                    COO, Community Plan of Texas - UnitedHealthcare

JILLIAN: We have had 48 individuals come through our program.

Timothy stands in the mail room. He lifts a box onto a shelf.

JILLIAN: They are eager to be here. It's a unique perspective to think of work as a privilege, and that's exactly how these interns see it.

Back to Luquina talking to the camera. In a series of shots, Timothy uses a copier and handles mail, writing on a cardboard box.

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Outgoing

                                    USPS Mail

                                    Standard

                                    Envelopes

ON SCREEN TEXT:          Steven

LUQUINA: So the lesson goes all the way across the board, period. It's not just the Project SEARCH, but they're teaching, they're actually teaching us on how to treat one another and how to deal with certain situations. We're learning those things piece by piece.

Stamped envelopes slide on top of one another. In the mail room, Timothy stands talking to the camera.

TIMOTHY: And not lose my ability or disability. And just smile, have good, positive energy.

Blue text appears on a white background. Then the background fades to black.

ON SCREEN TEXT:          UnitedHealthcare®