He told the group about two workers at Wynn Las Vegas who are each missing an arm. One worker sets up banquet tables and the other is a bartender. He said they are as able or better able to perform their jobs than others.

"Isn't it about getting our minds around the issue of diversity?" Nathan asked the group.

He said companies should hire from a diverse pool of candidates because there's a labor shortage and a low unemployment rate in Nevada. However, he said, that's not why Wynn Las Vegas hires from a diverse pool of candidates.

"It's not that we need more applications, but it's the right thing to do," Nathan said in a follow-up interview. "I get more candidates than most anybody else. Realistically I might not have to follow my own advice. I think people have to broaden their perspectives on what is a good applicant and what are good applicant sources."

Wynn Las Vegas isn't the only employer in town that hires workers with disabilities.

De Salazar is a business consultant for Nevada JobConnect and is chair of the Work Enhancement Employment Team, which works to educate company leaders about hiring workers with disabilities and works to get people with disabilities jobs.

She said WEET honors outstanding employees with disabilities and outstanding companies that employ them at an annual luncheon each October during National Disability Employment Awareness Month. At the last luncheon, the group honored Station Casinos, Star Nursery and SITEL Corp., an Omaha, Neb.-based company that provides outsourced in-bound and out-bound customer support services, with offices in Nevada.

She said other companies, organizations and agencies that have partnered with WEET include Manpower Inc. of Southern Nevada, MGM Mirage, the Bureau of Reclamation, Cox Communications, the Venetian, UNLV and the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Another special date for workers with disabilities is set for July 26. That date is the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that protects people with disabilities in a variety of ways, including in the workplace. It specifies that companies must provide reasonable accommodations for qualified workers with disabilities.

Salazar said nationally the Americans with Disabilities Act has helped boost the number of employed people with disabilities.

"Since (the enactment of) ADA, 56 percent of working-age Americans with disabilities are now employed," Salazar said. "That's significant because it was estimated that between 60 to 70 percent were unemployed. It made a huge impact on keeping people at work more than getting new people into work."

She said more employers in the Las Vegas Valley are hiring workers with disabilities. She said the luncheon, which had about 205 company leaders in attendance, has helped get more workers employed locally. She said after October's luncheon, she received calls from 10 employers asking her to connect them with qualified applicants.

"Some of the objectives of WEET are providing individuals with disabilities the opportunity to develop a positive self-concept and learn work-related skills that would lead to employment," Salazar said. "The most important one is reducing employers' fears of hiring qualified (disabled) applicants through education and exposure."

Sylvia Milburn, rehabilitation supervisor of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation's Services to the Blind & Visually Impaired, said that employers often can find ways to accommodate disabled workers with little cost. Both WEET and Services to the Blind and Visually Impaired work together to ensure workers with disabilities find work.

She said the Services to the Blind & Visually Impaired offers free evaluations of company worksites to help company leaders determine what, if anything, needs to be changed to accommodate the worker.

Milburn said her agency helps employers to hire workers with disabilities by tailoring candidates to meet the needs of employers. She said the agency prepares candidates for the interview process.

"We're prescreening and helping employers meet their recruitment needs," Milburn said. "We do a trial period. It gives them an opportunity to test out the client's skills and abilities, and often they're hired as a result of (it)."

Salazar said WEET has assisted workers of all skill levels to find jobs.

"We've got attorneys and doctors that have been disabled who we've assisted in being placed," she said.

Charles Coveney, 64, of Las Vegas, said he has been blind since 2000, because of complications related to an open-heart surgical procedure. He said that although he is a retired television news reporter, he would like to continue to work. He said he is currently working on a book about the history of the Hispanic population in Nevada.

He said that through training he has received via the Services to the Blind & Visually Impaired, he has learned how to use the telephone and how to access e-mail through special software.

"I was trying to learn how to do this stuff myself," Coveney said. "I want to go back to work. I would like to develop a show on NPR (National Public Radio) for the handicapped or the visually impaired."

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.