Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host Brittany Sweeney Ma Martin guitar and VIA of the Lehigh Valley have teamed up to give folks with disabilities opportunities to earn a living, live more independently, and socialize with others at work and in their community.

Our own Grover Silcox is here with a story of one young man with autism who became a valued employee of Martin Guitar.

With support from VIA and the legendary company itself.

Grover, it's always nice to see you.

Great to be here, Brittany.

So tell us about this young man, Michael.

Is his name correct?

Yes.

And as he expressed to me and everyone else around us, he loves and enjoys working for Martin Guitar.

You know, it's a legendary company.

There's a lot of pride in working for Martin and and the company itself, the managers and management have told me how important and valuable he is in their workforce.

Wonderful.

What a great example of people working together to help others with disabilities.

It really is.

Michael is one in five people with disabilities who currently work at Martin Guitar with assistance from VIA.

For more than 45 years VIA of the Lehigh Valley, has helped thousands of people with disabilities find apply and land jobs.

They've also supported their participants with life skills and job coaching.

The organization serves individuals with Autism, Down Syndrome and other cognitive and physical disabilities live more independently.

Michael Teitsworth, one of his participants, landed his job at Martin Guitar right out of high school.

His story is an encouraging one for others with disabilities and for all of us as members of a caring community.

Michael Teitsworth, age 39, loves his job at Martin Guitar Company in Nazareth.

Nice job, Michael!

Thank you.

Yes, it is.

Very helpful when a company welcomes you in and has you do a good job.

Michael lives with autism.

He got his job with the Legacy Guitar Company 21 years ago with support from VIA of the Lehigh Valley.

He's one of thousands of people with disabilities who the organization has coached and helped find employment since the 1970s.

Hey, Michael.

Yes?

What are your plans for Christmas, buddy?

I'm going to.

My mom and dad’s on Christmas Day.

Okay.

We support individuals like Michael in finding competitive employment so that could consist of building a resumé, contacting businesses, applying on websites like indeed or the employers website, talking to businesses about our individuals and their skill set and in how it could help their company to maintain employment.

We are doing full time support check ins.

It's really based off the individual's needs of how much support they'll need on the job to maintain that position with VIA’s support and Martin's encouragement.

Michael performs a vital step in the 300 overall steps it takes to make a Martin guitar.

Michael works on final inspection, so what he is responsible for is making sure that the cases are there and that the guitars get kind of stocked and set into cases before they get sent off to the people that are going to enjoy them.

I put them in the empty case of shelf and I put the guitars on the carts at the shel and they put them on the Martin guitar truck and they're taken to the distribution center in Tatamy.

The company values Michael's abilities and dedication.

Michael is very hard working.

He's very diligent.

He has amazing attention to detail, and I think that's one of the things in that particular department.

It really is about that attention to detail, knowing exactly what he's doing, where it needs to go, who it needs to go to, what's coming next.

So he does a fantastic job.

I start at 6:30 in the morning till 3:00, when I leave at 3:00, I take the LANTA van bus home.

Now I leave now.

Martin guitar currently employs 500 people, including Michael and five other team members with disabilities.

I think the other thing about Michael is his positivity and his energy.

You just feed from it.

You know, he always goes out of his way to make sure he greets every employee in the building, usually with his fist bump.

I just think he has such a great positivity about him.

You're welcome.

A VIA job coach supports Michael and his fellow employees with disabilities to make sure that they have what they need to meet their goals on and off the job.

That's one of the great things about VIA and kind of our partnership with them.

They really, really do a lot of work around coming in, helping on the job to coach people on how to be successful in their roles.

Martin Guitar Company strives to instill in each of its employees how important they are, no matter what their role, because each employee contributes in making one of the world's best guitars.

It's really a beautiful process that we have here because we really do make the guitar from start to finish.

It happens here in Nazareth.

The beauty and the craftsmanship and the artistry really that goes into day to day.

So there's a whole number of jobs that folks can do here.

And, you know, from beginning to end in the process.

And we're really thrilled that, you know, we have that kind of an opportunity, that manufacturing environment here.

An opportunity and a culture that enables a wide variety of people, including those with disabilities, to make a salary, make a difference, and work for a legendary company that takes pride in both its products and its people.

As demonstrated in the story over and over again.

Michael’s Supervisors told me how incredibly diligent he is, how self-motivated he is on the job, and that his dedication hasn't waned even after two decades.

I heard similar accolades about VIA’s other participants who work at the company.

Grover, your story is a great example to remind people that people with disabilities have some of the same goals that everyone else does.

Absolutely.

We all want to make a living, live independently.

We get a good job with a decent company, make a salary, have room for advancement, and enjoy the camaraderie and collegiality of our fellow employees.

And that's exactly what Michael has found.

At Martin Guitar, it sounds like a perfect fit, and this is a story that should resonate with everybody.

It should.

All right.

That'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.

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