Ambassador of goodwill

Michael Bulling was born Jan. 9, 1977, weighing one pound, five ounces.

He spent his first 10 months in Army hospitals and grew up with cerebral palsy and a learning disability.

Today, he’s an ambassador.

Goodwill Industries International has named Bulling its national Graduate of the Year.

He’s the first Tacoman in more than 50 years to earn that award, and the opportunity that comes with it to speak up for Goodwill and people with disabilities.

“It was my passion and my dream to be an ambassador,” Bulling said.

In April, he flew to Washington, D.C., for a Goodwill conference that included meetings with members of Congress.

“It was like speed-dating,” Bulling said.

He’d prepared a five-minute talk, which he had to cut to two minutes, making the case for government support for employing people with disabilities.

It wasn’t much time, but he’s a compelling proponent. He is sure he had an impact on the representatives and aides he met.

That, and the presentations he makes locally on Goodwill’s behalf, would be the glamour side of his role as an ambassador.

The custodial job he’s held for three years at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the bus rides he takes to get to and from it and his mentorship for other Goodwill clients would be the ongoing, practical side.

For that, his mother, Kyu Chon of Tacoma, gave him extraordinary skills.

Though she was born in Seoul and spoke English as a second language, she and her daughter, Tina Jones, taught Bulling a courtly manner of speaking, along with a fine sense of his own worth and impeccable manners.

“I’m smart as heck, as my mom would say. Maybe too smart for my own good,” he said. “You can imagine the outpouring of love and respect I have for my mom. No need to be sad. It’s amazing I’m here.”

His mother advocated, fiercely and consistently, for his medical treatment, physical therapy and education, he said.

He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1995, then worked nine years at custodial jobs on military bases.

“I liked my jobs, but the treatment was not so kind,” he said. “I left for personal reasons. It was not my choice. I was pulling my share, but the managers didn’t treat me very well. They didn’t give me the advocacy and support I needed.”

Advocacy and support, of course, were not his employers’ responsibilities.

That’s where Goodwill’s CHOICES program has made the difference in his work life.

He knew how to mop, dust, pick up litter and clean bathrooms, but he needed guidance in other areas.

His case manager, Leah Ferrer-Warner, coached him through the transit systems he relies on to get back and forth from his East Side home to his 3-11 p.m. shift at the airport. She advised him on how to interact with supervisors and co-workers. She’s working with him on independent living skills.

Goodwill sticks with him, and its other clients with disabilities, as job conditions shift in retail, food service, janitorial services, public agencies, non-profits, the military. An employer may hire new supervisors, set new performance standards, lay people off, pick up another contract, or lose one.

Goodwill case workers get nosy about such changes, and, if it’s needed, contact the employer to sort out any problems.

Transit cuts are a big issue, said Ferrer-Warner, because so many of her clients work odd hours and have to figure out alternatives to disappearing bus routes, including the one Bulling rides home at midnight.

Hopping off a Pierce Transit bus and lining up for the Sound Transit 574 to the airport, Bulling greets the other regulars.

“He’s an absolutely great guy, a great, kind spirit,” said Dave Burns of Pierce Transit security. “He’s got this challenge, but he’s always coming at life. It’s an inspiration.”

It’s an inspiration that benefits the airport’s users and workers, said David Soike, director of aviation, facilities and maintenance there.

“Being helpful is his nature. He is an emissary for the airport,” Soike said. “We get the benefit of having a secondary customer-service agent.”

Bulling is good at his job, Soike said, well-known, liked by other employees, and his one-of-a-kind duster is famous airport-wide.

“I tell him he’s not handicapped. He’s handicapable,” said his friend and colleague Kimberley Major.

He’s a good friend, she said, and a guy who works so hard he wore out the knees to his uniform pants. “He’s a go-getter,” she said. “He goes extra miles.”

And yards.

Bulling is not tall, but he wanted to be able to dust spots near the D Concourse passageways’ ceilings.

“We made him a high duster,” Major said. “We put a broom handle on his duster.”

With it, he can dust anywhere.

Soike sees a metaphor in that.

“That duster is taller than the others,” he said. “Michael has some really high goals for being a spokesperson. My hunch is he’s never going to let those goals go.”

Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677 kathleen.merryman@ thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/street