When Amanda Gregg gets “over stimulated” while working a casino concession stand, Gregg knows she can take a walk to regroup and relieve her stress, she said.
“It feels really good because they work very well with me. They’re accommodating,” said Gregg, 31, who sometimes has a stress reaction to pyrotechnics at concerts at Mohegan Sun.
Gregg has special needs and has worked at Mohegan Sun since right after high school.
“I love it here. It’s like a big family,” she said.
She is one of more than 800 neurodiverse or physically disabled people who are among Mohegan Sun’s approximately 5,300 person workforce.
Some of those employees are on the autism spectrum, have other cognitive differences and some have physical disabilities.
For the Mohegan tribe that runs the resort and casino, the strong presence of differently abled employees is not about government mandates, but about the Mohegan tribe’s philosophy and way of life.
“We’ve been doing DEI for 500 years,” said William Donehey, manager of Mohegan’s DEI Partnership Program and a tribal member.
“We build people up.”
He said that, since the early 1600s when they formed out of another tribe, the Mohegans have lived by the four principles of the “Spirit of Aquai’ – a guiding philosophy to be welcoming to all, show mutual respect, cooperation, and building relationships.
“It happened organically,” Donehey said of their DEI.
That philosophy applies to their business model as well.
“We want people to fit in and feel like they’re family,” Donehey said.
According to the Connecticut State Council on Developmental Disabilities, there are an estimated 43,000 people living with developmental disabilities in the state, and these are comprised of individuals who live with intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, deafness, blindness, psychiatric disabilities, substance use disorders, and physical disabilities. The federal Centers for Disease Control reports that about one in four adults in Connecticut have a disability, or about 671,000 people.
Further, the state Department of Labor and Department of Economic and Community Development, note in a joint publication the importance of the ability of differently abled people employees to participate in “Connecticut’s economy and improve their standards of living.” Such employment also promotes improved employer “understanding of the benefits of hiring and retaining workers with disabilities” and improve the employment outlook for the segment of the state’s workforce, it said.
Donehey said people with disabilities serve in all sorts of positions at Mohegan, from IT to housekeeping, depending on where their strengths lie.
Donehey said people with disabilities “expand our guest services.”
“Once you get to know someone you don’t fear them,” he said. “We look like the community were in because we (at Mohegan Sun) are diverse.”
He said it becomes apparent in no time that many with what are thought of as disabilities also have “super powers.” That can take many forms such as organizational skills, dedication, and ability to memorize, he said.
“It’s amazing how you get skill sets,” he said. “It’s not about lowering standards. It’s about lifting up.”
He said they may have been bullied in school or in the community and then, in a work space immersed with positivity, they learn to trust and bloom.
He noted a storm of 12 inches of snow a few years ago when employees called out left and right and one person in the DEI program was so determined to get there they rode a bicycle eight miles from Norwich because busses weren’t running.
“You talk about that resolve,” he said.
He said one employee of 13 years came in like a “wallflower” and wound up running the front desk at the hotel.
“When she felt she belonged she became a force,” Donehey said.
He often likes to quote late president John F. Kennedy in saying, “the best social program is a job.”
Potential employees come to work at the resort/casino via referrals from numerous agencies, including the state’s Department of Developmental Services.
“It blends into one cohesive culture,” he said of the work place where there’s such a strong culture of embracing the differently-abled.
“Everybody is equal,” he said.” We don’t want them to fit in we want them to feel they belong so they can be their authentic selves.”
That concession worker, Gregg, also has a second job and is a martial arts champion who also teaches the skill to young children.
She is active in the Amateur Athletic Union or AAU and said she wants U.S. Secretary of Health and Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to know she can walk, talk, play many sports, competes nationally and internationally, and works two jobs.
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“If we hear we can’t do something we become more stubborn,” she said, of those with special needs.
