If you call for a ride at Columbus Yellow Cab, you may hear Evan Alioto’s friendly voice on the other end of the phone. 

Since Oct. 1, Evan, of Reynoldsburg, has worked for the company as a dispatcher — answering calls from customers and communicating with drivers.

After several years of patience and hard work — Evan said he’s grateful to have a job where he can help others get where they want to go.

A 2021 graduate of the Ohio State School for the Blind (OSSB), Evan, who also uses cochlear implants, has been working toward employment for several years.

His first step was completing the OSSB’s Education, Development, Growth and Employment (E.D.G.E.) program, which allowed him to gain work and independent living skills. Then, with support from Ohio’s Bureau of Services for the Visually Impaired and the Licking County Board of Developmental Disabilities (LCBDD),  Evan began working with an employment provider, Functional Training Services, to apply for jobs. 

Evan is a people person, so working at a call center or something similar was appealing, he said. 

He was excited to apply for the job at Yellow Cab, and that the assistive technology he uses was compatible with their systems.

Now Evan uses COTA Mainstream paratransit to get to his office in Columbus five days a week. He uses the screen reading program Job Access With Speech (JAWS) and a bone conduction bluetooth headset to handle calls.

“I enjoy talking to people on the phone,” he said. 

When he isn’t working, Evan swims competitively for both Special Olympics and Paralympic teams in Columbus. He swims freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke and is looking forward to traveling out of state for meets.

He said he enjoys having a work-life balance and earning a paycheck. A job that is the right fit was worth the wait. 

His mom, Tara Alioto, said she hopes the story of Evan’s persistence can help others on their own employment journey.

“He just kept going,” she said. “He didn’t give up and he was really positive about things. “