PRIDE Industries at Fort Bliss creates opportunities for people with disabilities

Hillary Floren

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. A local company that provides inclusive employment opportunities, changing lives in the process at Fort Bliss.

Fort Bliss employees with disabilities are key in mission support roles.

Rusty Burns is thankful for his job. He’s a production control clerk with cerebral palsy, which affects the left side of his body.

After graduating college, he was hired by PRIDE Industries, which does repair and maintenance on Fort Bliss.

“I’m getting to communicate with our customers, our technicians, our subcontractors. This has been a blessing for me to get here — making sure everyone’s happy,” he said.

Employee Estefany Gonzalez has multiple sclerosis. She said it makes her a compassionate supervisor.

“It helps me understand where they’re coming from or what they might be feeling,” she told ABC-7. “My guys are capable. They’re all licensed.”

Butch Henry supervises six employees on post. Most of them have a disability. He said that, as employers, they look at what people are capable of doing — not what they’re not capable of doing.

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