Back in 2007, Oceanside Institutional Industries, Inc., did something that not all linen operators fully understand, are comfortable with, or even support. The family-owned business, which employs 350 people in two plants on New York’s Long Island—in Oceanside and Freeport—hired two employees with mental disabilities.
 
“There’s a special place in our hearts for anyone with a disability,” says Francine Boyle, payroll and human resource manager at Oceanside, a healthcare operator servicing customers in the Northeast. “My father has a special interest in this since his daughter—my sister—has Down syndrome. He always wanted to reach out to the ...