PAUL'S SUCCESS STORY:

After thirty years in the tool making business, two successful careers working for others and one as the owner of his own business, Paul never thought he'd be standing at the doors of Goodwill Industries of RI. Now legally blind due to an ischemic optic neuropathy, more commonly known as a stroke behind his eyes, Paul put his tool making days behind him. He couldn't imagine he could ever work in the tool making industry again. Understandably, Paul's confidence and his thoughts about future employment prospects were at an all-time low. When Paul arrived at Goodwill he hoped to find a part-time job that could potentially lead to full-time employment. While he still had an interest in the manufacturing field he wasn't sure it was a realistic option due to his visual impairment as well as the shrinking demand for tool makers. Additionally, Paul's experience with adaptive equipment was limited and he expressed that he didn't think using it would help. With the encouragement of his case manager, Denise Doktor, Paul slowly became more comfortable utilizing the adaptive equipment needed to help him through his program. After Paul completed the first phase of service, the vocational evaluation, he then moved to the E-waste training to learn how to work with his visual impairment. While E-waste training may have been very different than Paul's goal of tool making, Paul really needed to boost his confidence as well as experience success in the workplace... E-waste was the right place to make that happen.