A few years ago, we introduced the printing industry to Stakes Manufacturing, a print-on-demand shop based in East Lake, Ohio, that hires those with disabilities. Co-founded by Jed Seifert and Vince Bartozzi, the pair have worked extensively with various organizations to provide inclusive employment at Stakes.

And now a few years later, Stakes has teamed up with Spectrum Designs, a print shop that has 65% of its team on the Autism spectrum, and Marshall Atkinson, Atkinson Consulting, to co-author a book about how other companies in the printing industry can implement a similar program. Titled, “INKclusivity: Company Benefits of Disability Inclusion & How-to Implementation Guide for the Print Industry,” the book is scheduled to publish in November 2024.

During PRINTING United Expo 2024, Apparelist Content Director was joined by Seifert and Patrick Bardsley, co-founder and CEO of Spectrum Designs, to talk about the book.

Key Takeaways

• Both Seifert and Bardsley believe that hiring people with disabilities is a beneficial business decision, filling employment gaps in printing shops and giving people jobs that are willing and able to work
• Bardsley and Seifert both share stories of employees they’ve interacted with to exemplify the positive impact that this type of program has
• Later in the episode, Atkinson joins the show to talk about how the book came to fruition through talks between everyone and how it could unify the industry
• Anyone can get a digital copy of the book for free once it’s published — click here to learn more