"When the board approached me about taking the position, I was doing the same type job in Haywood County," he said. Before that he worked in mental health and vocational rehabilitation here. And even before that he worked for the Employment Security Commission.
Today, thanks to his leadership, Webster Enterprises is a well-established manufacturer of disposable medical devices used in surgical procedures all over the country, as well as several foreign countries. "Last year we made over 5 1/2 million surgical drapery sheets," he said.
"I won't tell you we haven't struggled in the past," Robinson said. "Part of that struggle was to wean ourselves from government funding. Now Webster Enterprises earns more than 85 percent of its budget from business elements. Our business systems and technology are developing constantly, and we don't take a back seat to any business in our category."
But the product and the profit doesn't make Robinson as proud as the workforce.
"We've had to change peoples' mind-set - we are not a sheltered workshop, but an advanced work training agency," he said. "One of the first things I did was get us out of the old Webster School and the thinking that our workers were perpetual children."
The mission at Webster Enterprises is to provide opportunities for individuals who are disadvantaged or disabled to work to their fullest potential. However, one does not have to be either disadvantaged or disabled to work there.
"We provide the opportunity for people to get off subsidy programs such as welfare, social security and disability insurance," he said. "We've even had people from our program go to college and graduate with honors."
Under Robinson's direction, WE has provided training and work for those who are severally mentally retarded to those whose disabilities are not visible.
"I'm a firm believer that work helps make you normal. As you integrate into a workforce, your competence grows and your deviance fades," he said. "Take Willie Nelson, for instance. Now if he couldn't sing, he'd be a deviant."
But then, what's normal anyway? "If you have an IQ of 75 you could be considered mentally retarded. But up that 25 points to 100 and you are considered normal," said Robinson. "If I have an IQ of 125 and I'm talking to somebody with an IQ of 150, that's a 25 points difference. Does that make me mentally retarded? Personally, I don't think there are any absolutes. You just kind of slide up and down on the same scale."
The United States has a disabled population of 50 million people, said Robinson, who has a bachelor's degree in business administration and a masters in counseling. "That's larger than the population of Canada. In Jackson County, we have 2,200 working age people who are disabled... but that's a workforce that doesn't show up on the unemployment figures."
WE's stable workforce consists of dedicated, capable workers - a change from when there were few workers and a constant turnover. "It's an energizing job to work with these people and help make something happen in their lives. They don't need an umbrella - they just need an opportunity to develop."
What Robinson also helped develop was WE's involvement in recycling. "I'm a big believer in recycling... even as a kid I recycled aluminum cans, copper and metal to make money." WE contracts with the county to provide recycling services and just last month subcontracted those services to Country Collections.
"Some folks think because we did recycling for the county that we are a government agency. We are not. We are no different than a T-shirt factory that gets a government contract to provide T-shirts to the government," he said. "They don't become a government agency, but remain a private company. We remain a private, not-for-profit rehabilitation organization established by the community to develop services for the community."
As he steps down as WE's executive director, Robinson said, "I feel like I've done a good job building the program, but I may not have done so good in educating the public."
He will work through the end of August, and when he leaves "the program won't miss a beat," he said.
Now 62, this Jackson County native has worked since he was 16. "I think it's time to retire while I am still able to enjoy the things I want to in retirement."
By "things," Robinson means motorcycling across the West Coast and trying amateur racing - but that's just for starters.
"Next year a friend and I plan to ship our bikes over and tour Europe," he said. "We'll be staying with friends we have over there, so it will be an economical trip."
In addition to building successful programs like Webster Enterprises, Robinson is also a builder of other things, like rock walls. He also plans to build a customized car. "I used to do some amateur car racing and I still have an interest in that."
Robinson describes himself as a "kind of private person. I like doing solitary things like woodworking, and I'd like to build some craft boxes that I've designed in my head."
Retirement also means more time to spend with his "family of nurses." His wife, Carol Stephens, is an associate professor of nursing at Western Carolina University; his oldest daughter, Gena Fox, is a certified nursing assistant at Highlands Hospital, and his youngest daughter, Erin Robinson, is a nursing student at UNC-Wilmington.
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