Seeing TOV In Action

Last Sunday, the business section of The Dallas Morning News had a great article that provides a model for using TOV principles – protecting life, preserving life, making life more functional, and increasing the quality of life.  

Autistic Workers Bring Sweet Results is an article about a small bakery owner who hired a group of autistic workers and how they are helping her business grow. A non-profit called Have Dreams, which provides services to people with autism, partnered with her and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, to track their productivity and answer this question: “Did it make good business sense to hire someone with a disability?”

The answer was a resounding "YES!" They received a $125,000 grant from the Chicago-based Colman Foundation to track the productivity. If the bakery program succeeded, the data could be used to persuade other businesses to hire people with disabilities. This program targeted high-functioning people with autism. How does working make the participants feel? One person said; "I'm working 20 hours a week, which my parents are very happy about. It feels as happy as can be." Participants are also learning life skills -- how to work as a team, independence, initiative and communication, as well as other basic social skills.

This is a picture of TOV in action, especially the TOV Principles of Increasing Functionality of Life & Increasing the Quality of Life. Using the TOV Standard and TOV Values provides Win-Win results, in business, in the community, socially and individually.

Every time you go shopping, pay attention to employees that are helping you. Some may be "Challenged" in some way. Think how important the job is to them and how good and useful it makes them feel. Acceptance is a primary TOV Value and to “have a place in life” in which one can have contact with others and be accepted is a Basic Requirement of Life.

I believe we have a moral responsibility “to reach and give a hand to the weakest and most vulnerable people, especially those who need immediate care.” This is giving them a "hand-up," a way for them to become self-sufficient, and they will become important contributors to the community. This is the true power of TOV, bringing people together with Common TOV Values, not only to accomplish what needs to be done, but building a "WE" in a society of "ME's".

The bakery owner said, "This is a good business decision, it just so happens that it's also a really good social decision and a good moral decision too."  The ideas expressed here articulate the concept of creating TOV in every phase of our lives. The results benefit all involved making our world and our lives more functional, more productive, safer and more peaceful.

Do TOV, Choose Life! 

Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor

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