Our Mission

Assisting individuals with disabilities to realize their full potential. Vision Statement: To be regarded by employers, beneficiaries and the general public as Hawaii's best resource and premier advocate for individuals with disabilities to achieve their full potential, an improved quality of life and foster their dignity and self worth through employment. Core Values:

We are passionate and dedicated to our mission and our clients and patrons.
We act with integrity, honesty and respect for our clients, patrons, partners and staff.
We are committed to a teamwork environment where every member is valued and encouraged.
We welcome constructive criticism and are committed to continuing excellence and improvement.
We adhere to strict accountability of our commitments and results for the benefit of our clients and patrons.

Our History

"Partnering to create communities that work."

Abilities Unlimited, a dba of Winners At Work, Inc. was founded in 1983 to provide community-based employment services for persons with disabilities and barriers to employment residing in the island of Oahu. Abilities Unlimited is committed to helping people with disabilities claim their birthright as full and equal partners in the community.

Today, Abilities Unlimited is a dynamic, private 501(c)(3) non-profit and community-based organization whose mission is "Assisting individuals with disabilities to realize their full potential." In partnership with community employers and supporters, the agency assists the economic inclusion of individuals with disabilities into their respective communities, and encourages those communities to welcome such individuals as productive members of society.

Since 1983, Abilities Unlimited has provided community-based employment services for persons with disabilities and garnered a well-deserved reputation for changing public understanding and attitude about the capabilities of persons with mental and physical challenges. The agency has been the premier provider of community-based employment services in the State of Hawaii, providing on-the-job support for people with disabilities. And through its disability awareness education and training programs for both the public and private sector, it has also rendered quaint or obsolete many of the institutional prejudices and barriers that persons labeled as "unemployable" or "difficult to place" previously had to overcome.

Abilities Unlimited remains the only agency in the entire state that provides services exclusively in natural community settings and locations for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. Further, Abilities Unlimited has been publicly cited by the State of Hawaii as an essential organization whose services are vital to the State's Olmstead Implementation Plan, which recognizes the inherent right of persons with disabilities to live in their respective communities as full-fledged members of our greater American society.

In its service to individuals with disabilities, Abilities Unlimited has also compiled a respectable and impressive list of singular achievements in Hawaii, such as:

The first community-based employment support program for persons with severe developmental disabilities
The first work-internship program with members of the Hawaii State Legislature for persons with developmental disabilities;
The first inter-agency collaborative effort to provide cost-effective services to persons with disabilities, DiverseAbilities, which was formed with three other agency partners.

The Vocational Rehabilitation and Services for the Blind (DVR) Division has frequently recognized Abilities Unlimited' s success in placing disability-challenged in suitable positions, by honoring both our program's high-achievement participants and those employers in the community who support our mission by hiring our program participants.

Additionally, Abilities Unlimited has been honored with appointments to positions of leadership on many committees, boards and task forces that determine standards, policies and services for persons with disabilities:

Member, Hawaii Job Summit, which is responsible for creating job development strategies and policies for future military construction projects
Member, Employment and Education Committee, State Dept. of Health Developmental Disabilities Council
Member, Olmstead Task Force, convened to provide the governor with a plan to ensure Hawaii's compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead v. L.C. decision.
Member, Board of Directors, the Rehabilitation Association of Hawai`i
Member, Board of Directors, STRIDE Hawai'i Mentoring Project, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services

Because of its success breaking down barriers for persons with disabilities, Abilities Unlimited has been duly recognized both for its achievements and its commitment to its mission:

Meritorious Service Award, The Governor's Commission on Persons with Disabilities (1991)
Business, Agency and Community Award, Council of Exceptional Children (1994)
Aim for Excellence Award (as agency partner in DiverseAbilities), Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Fellows (1998)
Hawaii Drug Court Outstanding Service Award, State Judiciary (2000)
Service Recognition Award, State Department of Human Services - Vocational Rehabilitation Division (2000)
Recognition, "Imua Keiki" Project, for training youth service providers to serve youth with disabilities effectively (2003)
Recognition, the Komo Kaulike Project, for excellence in assisting people with disabilities with job searches, career planning services & training opportunities (2005)
Award, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i, Healthy for Life Program (2006)

Abilities Unlimited's successful advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities also led Midweek - Hawaii's largest circulating publication - to do a front-page profile on the organization, program participants and participating employers. The feature article highlighted the challenges that individuals with disabilities face everyday, and educated the public about the values such individuals as both employees and contributing members of society.

Abilities Unlimited was also featured in the Honolulu Advertiser, for promoting the value of individuals with disabilities as employees (2004), for the many benefits that an Abilities Unlimited Martial Arts Academy student received from his participation in the Martial Arts Academy (2005) and most recently on November 29, 2006 for its computer training class that impacted the life of a participant with cerebral palsy