They stare intently at one another, their eyes bright with understanding.

Except for muffled music from the shopping mall below and the odd rustle of clothing, the room is silent; however, an important discussion is taking place.

Mohlin Pillay and Krista Lefler, seated at a table, are communicating through sign language. Their hands and fingers move with purpose. While individual formations are indiscernible to the untrained eye, each gesture speaks volumes, evident in the smiles, shakes of the head and enthusiastic nods that result.

At times, their excitement causes them to interrupt one another, signing simultaneously.

Such conversations, filled with comprehension and compassion, are among the many held at the North Vancouver IAM Cares Society offices, located on the third floor of Capilano Mall.

Pillay is a client of the non-profit organization, which offers a range of free employment and advocacy services to people with disabilities and chronic conditions. Lefler is the office's program manager as well as a sign language interpreter.

Not only do Lefler and her staff have the ability to understand the hopes and dreams of those they serve, but they endeavour to help local employers do the same, to focus on peoples' abilities rather than their disabilities.

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"When friends of mine are telling me: 'Oh, I've gone to another agency,' or: 'I'm looking for a job and I can't find it,' I tell them about IAM Cares. I say that I got a job with VANOC through IAM Cares, and they're really impressed. I recommend it to my friends all the time," says Pillay, as interpreted by Lefler.

Born deaf, the 34-year-old Burnaby resident has a strong background in IT and despite his proven talent -- like many members of the community facing unique challenges -- has long had to struggle to find a job.

Pillay never includes the fact he's deaf on his resume when answering job postings.

"I always get people interested and then after they contact me and they want to have an interview, I tell them I'm deaf. They kind of start to be awkward and don't know how it's going to work," he says.

"What they want to know is how I'm going to communicate. I tell them 'I've worked at VANOC before; I've worked with different companies.' Really, communication isn't an issue; I find it's quite easy. People don't mind communicating with me through email, Blackberry, MSN, by writing on paper. And people are really happy to learn a bit of sign language," he adds.

The IAM Cares Society was started in Burnaby in 1989 and has since grown to include offices in Vancouver, Coquitlam, Surrey and on the North Shore.

The organization survives through funding from the federal and provincial governments as well as through the generosity of private donors. All services, offered to both clients and employers, are free of charge.

Overall, the society provides employment-related services to more than 400 clients per year.

"We work with people with disabilities and chronic conditions to help them find employment and get access to training," says Lefler.

Challenges their clients face include deafness, visual impairment, arthritis, learning difficulties, back pain, depression, anxiety, asthma, heart problems, carpel tunnel syndrome and workplace injuries. Their clients, of all ages, come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from those who have been university-educated to those who have not having graduated high school.

Newcomers to the organization tend to find out about it through word of mouth. Each new client is assessed and a unique plan of action -- taking into account the client's background and disability -- is created. The organization offers one-on-one support, and invites participants to take part in the Edge Job Club, an employment search skills program. Services include help with resumes and cover letters, instruction in online searching, tips on talking to employers, help with finding a survival job until a permanent position can be found, and assistance with going back to school for training.

Additionally, the society connects job seekers with other programs and funding sources they're eligible for. These include: the North Shore Compass Centre, which offers four-week career exploration and job search programs; Dress for Success, a non-profit helping women get back into the workforce by providing them with professional attire; and funding sources for training and wage subsidy programs.

IAM Cares also provides services to employers. For example, if a company comes to them with a position they'd like to fill, staff will prescreen candidates.

"For the employers, it saves a lot of time," says Lefler.

Advocacy is also an important aspect of the work of the IAM Cares Society: both in terms of helping a particular client find a job and more generally, with respect to issues of inclusion and the creation a diverse workforce.

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Pillay says he is incredibly grateful for the society's efforts on his behalf. It helped him get a job in his chosen field with VANOC.

Having had limited success with other agencies, he got a recommendation from a friend to connect with IAM Cares, which he did last fall.

"I was putting it off and then finally I contacted them, made an appointment with Krista, and sat down with her. It was successful, it was really good," he says.

First, they helped him overhaul his resume.

"I showed it to Krista and she went through it and she made some changes and she contacted people in the industry. It helped a lot to (receive) feedback on what I should be putting in, what I should be taking out, because I was really confused; I wasn't sure. I had a lot of experience," he says.

Pillay has worked as a network administrator, network analyst and a system administrator. He had been in contact with VANOC about an opening in their IT department and Lefler got in touch with them, explaining how things could work if they hired him.

In addition to helping their clients obtain jobs, IAM Cares assesses workplaces, suggesting improvements that could ensure a client's safety as well as improve his or her workflow. For deaf clients, they might suggest the installation of flashing fire alarms as well as the use of different technology, like instant messaging devices or software.

Lefler also offers interpretive services for job interviews, which Pillay took her up on.

"The IT manager was really interested in the sign language," he says. "He had never seen sign language before. . . . After the interview was done, I still remember, he was like: 'Wow'; he was just blown away. And after that I worked at VANOC."

Pillay was hired as a level-2 help desk technician. After two weeks, he was promoted to help desk supervisor. His contract was also extended to the end of the Paralympics.

"We had team meetings from time to time and my IT manager was like: 'When we meet for our team meetings, nobody is going to speak. If you want to speak, you have to go up to the whiteboard and write it down.' If the person wanted to talk, if they had a question, they'd have to go write it down so that I could see everything that they were talking about," says Pillay.

"It was a challenge for everybody, and it helped in their communication too," he adds.

As his contract has concluded, Pillay is now back to the drawing board and is in search of a new job.

"Right now, I have a part-time job, but it's just contract. Really what I'm looking for is a full-time IT job, but I haven't been able to find anything yet," he says.

IAM Cares is continuing to help Pillay. Last week, Lefler assisted with another job interview and is continuing to send him postings.

"I'm really appreciate working with this organization," he says.

In addition to going to bat for each of its clients, IAM Cares also does outreach.

"We try to get out into the community and talk to employers and educate them about hiring people with disabilities," says Lefler

Despite the support they receive from many employers, staff are constantly frustrated by others who are unwilling to accept those with differences. As a result, the society continues to fight the stigma of disability, work to educate the public and encourage employers to draw on people's strengths instead of focusing on their disabilities, she says.

There are financial benefits to hiring people with disabilities as well. "People with disabilities stay in a job longer, because once they find an employer who's accommodating, they're not as apt to leave," says Lefler, adding this allows companies to save money on training.

"It's really win-win," she says.

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In addition to helping people find jobs, the IAM Cares Society also works to increase clients' self-esteem.

A year and a half ago, Doug Ripley, a 36-year-old New Westminster resident, found himself at a crossroads: after 14 years of working at a warehouse, he was laid off due to a downturn in the economy.

Ripley, who has a visual impairment, contacted the organization. He was interested in changing the direction of his life.

"I didn't have a lot of transferable skills. I wanted to get out of the warehouse industry because it was probably dangerous and probably not the best vocation for me to be in," he says. "I wanted to get into massage therapy, but I didn't know how to get from where I was."

He had always had an interest in the field, having led an active life and having known people in the industry, but for some reason never took steps to pursue it.

"This whole layoff situation really forced me to think: 'OK, what do I want to do now? What do I really want to do?'" he says.

Ripley kept coming back to massage therapy, attracted to its hands-on approach to helping people feel better.

"It's a pretty powerful medium to affect changes in people who are having any kind of stress or even injury or recovery or whatever. There's lots of different things that massage therapy can help people with," he says.

Ripley got in contact with IAM Cares, and immediately things were set in motion. Staff at the North Vancouver office guided him through the application process for school and funding assistance, and he's now enrolled in a program at the West Coast College of Massage Therapy in New Westminster.

"It's been great for me, a huge change . . . to go back to school and everything, and they really facilitated my ability to do that," says Ripley.

While his visual impairment creates some challenges -- there's a lot of reading involved in his studies, for example -- massage therapy has proven to be a great fit for him. With the support of his professors, it's been smooth sailing through his course work. Ripley will graduate in December 2011. He has a goal of one day opening his own massage therapy clinic.

IAM Cares has a had a "huge" impact on his life, he says.

"If I had to do it all by myself, I don't know if I would have done it. I might have chickened out or done this or that," he says.

"Definitely (I have) higher confidence now than before because I have direction; I have a vocation that I'm going to love waiting for me; whereas, before I was kind of lost," he adds.

Based on his positive experience, Ripley remains a strong champion of the society's potential to help.

"Once you hit that point where you realize something's got to happen, you should use the services and the people out there who know how to get stuff done. (IAM Cares) can teach you what you need to do to find a direction, . . . get you going in that direction and not necessarily do the work for you, but help you and show you what needs to be done. It really helps clarify the stuff inside you," he says.

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Due to the recent economic downturn, IAM Cares Society staff face additional challenges in their quest to secure jobs for their many clients.

"There's a big change in the economy, and a lot of the jobs that have gone by the wayside are manufacturing-type positions," says Lefler. Many of their clients are looking for those types of jobs.

They've also noticed a hiring slowdown since the Olympics and the introduction of HST, as employers are waiting to see the full impact, holding off on bringing in new staff for the time being.

"We're working with clients longer and taking in a lot more new clients who are being laid off from positions," she says. "Whereas a couple years ago, an employer would put out an advertisement and they'd get four resumes, now they're telling us they'll get 400 resumes. So they can pick and choose the cream of the crop and usually they're not people with disabilities."

That said, the IAM Cares Society's positive impact on clients and the greater community continues to inspire Lefler and her staff, who remain firmly dedicated to the cause.

"It's really nice to see people who . . . are struggling with finding employment find a job and be successful and be able to provide for themselves and their families," she says.

For more information on working with the IAM Cares Society as a client, an employer or a donor, visit www.iamcares.ca or phone 604-990-0800.