RSC Helps Woman Keep on Trucking for ODOT
Without an Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission vocational
counselor Doty Bigler of Shiloh would still be spinning her
wheels and soothing achy feet.
After years working factory and retail jobs, Bigler figured
driving a truck was the only way to make a living that kept her
off feet eternally pained by a congenital deformity. She sought
vocational and financial help from Orientation for
Non-traditional Occupations for Women and then the Mansfield
office of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (RSC),
Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, which vowed to put the
Richland County woman on the road to recovery.
First, RSC paid for Bigler’s orthopedic exam, leg brace, and
special shoes to relieve sore feet. Another exam revealed that
she had secondary disabilities—carpal tunnel syndrome and
hearing loss—so RSC paid for her hearing aid and carpal tunnel
treatment. Next, the agency financed her successful four-week
training course for a commercial driver’s license ($5,000), plus
gasoline, food and some utility bills. The newly licensed truck
driver then went to the Step-by-Step Employment and Training
Center to fine-tune job searching skills.
Finally, a RSC counselor helped Bigler prepare for an Ohio
Department of Transportation (ODOT) interview and pass the
agency’s driving performance test in 2005. Today, Bigler keeps
on trucking as a fulltime driver who daily hauls equipment and
road signs between ODOT offices in Ashland and Columbus. With
RSC’s help ODOT has a skilled and reliable driver and Doty
Bigler gets a paycheck, pays her bills, and stays off her
painful feet.
