Employees with disabilities find purpose through their work
Bradley Davis
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The RM Soap Market in Colorado Springs hires people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) to help customers in-store and package their product in their factory.
“This is something that I like to do, and someone with disabilities should get to do something that they like to do, and not something that they hate just because they can do it,” Kari said, an employee with IDD at the RM Soap Market.
Kari and her coworker, Joey, package the soap, give luxury hand treatments, greet customers and more at the shop and factory.
“Why do you like working?” KRDO13 reporter Bradley Davis asked Joey.
“Because it is my favorite thing, working here with my friends. I love working with Dad and everybody else.”
Joey’s dad, Rob Graham, also works at the RM Soap Market as its mySTORY program director. The program helps people in the IDD community set up their own website, gives them products to sell and allows them to make a commission without impacting their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
Graham said Joey’s job has been a game-changer for his son.
“I saw that before he came here, there was a period there where we were waiting for support from the state, and he was just in his room, and he didn’t have any purpose, and it really affected him,” Graham said. “He’s excited to go and do something and interact with people, so he gets the purpose. He gets the community, and he’s back to being the Joey that we know!”
On March 21, for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day, the RM Soap Company is partnering with Nano 108 Brewery for a fundraiser event. Joey and other people with IDD worked together to brew their own beer. Their special brew will be on sale at the brewery on Saturday, and both Nano 108 and RM Soap will donate $1 a sale to causes helping people with disabilities.