Tom Perez has been nominated to lead the US Department of Labor. This is great news for people with disabilities. Mr. Perez is currently the head of the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice, where he is a champion on disability issues. In more than 1,600 cases, Tom has cleared the way for more Americans with disabilities to live independently, obtain a quality education, become successfully employed, and participate in activities most Americans take for granted.

March 27, 2013

By Dale DiLeo

Several issues reside in the heated discussions over the need to change the traditional day service model for people with disabilities. But the defining one relates to competing beliefs about productivity:

Can individuals with the most significant disabilities be productive in the workplace, such that sub-minimum wage is unnecessary?

Those in the individualized community employment sector, myself included, believe yes. We use a zero-exclusion model, reject sub-minimum wage (referred to as 14(c), its legislative shorthand), and no group employment. Looking at various US national databases, these efforts represent probably only about 15% of people with developmental disabilities receiving day services.

Those providers in the much larger majority, the traditional day service sector, utilize segregated work centers and sub-minimum wage, and often rely on group employment models such as enclaves or crews. Yet, the functional levels of those they serve do not appear different from those in individualized community employment.

It appears that the loudest argument against ending 14c sub-minimum wage has been that its removal will take away employment opportunities for those with the most severe challenges. For example, on this blog, commenters talk about how, without a workshop or sub-minimum wage, their son or daughter would be left with little to do. And professional lobbyists for agencies providing more traditional services make the same case. In a recent In These Times article, reporter Mike Elk noted that even leading congressional disability advocate Sen. Tom Harkin will not pursue ending sub-minimum wage, stating that he "has heard from a number of advocates for people with disabilities that eliminating the sub-minimum wage option without having a real plan to create sustainable employment alternatives would be detrimental to Americans with disabilities currently working in 14(c) settings."

In reality, there is a real plan that has been around for over 30 years. It's called supported employment. And eliminating 14(c) does not completely reflect what advocates have actually proposed, which is eventually eliminating it by phasing it out. The article then notes a key source of the position of retaining sub-minimum wage was Harkin’s former top disability staffer who now works as a lobbyist for ACCSES, a coalition of providers. He is quoted as saying:

“Would you hire somebody who is working at 30% and not meeting productivity goals?" 
"What if somebody is not capable with or without an accommodation of working at a regular job?  Should we force them into a rehabilitation program with no work or sit at home and watch TV?" 
"If you eliminated 14(c), you would lose the opportunity for these people to be trained to be employed.”

Examine these statements carefully. What does 30% productivity mean? Where did it come from? As demonstrated in a workshop? On what tasks? With what support? Is this rate set in stone? How reliable is this a predictor of job success in the community?

A number like that put on a person is damaging; it is just an arbitrary label like any other stereotype.

The assertion that removing sub-minimum wage will lead to job loss is not only unproven, but false. This is demonstrated by the many workers across the US with very challenging disabilities who are working at minimum wage or better, yet whose productivity ratings in traditional (segregated) work training settings were extremely low. It also sets up a false choice (i.e., low paid work or none at all). This kind of thinking is only true if you have a narrow (and I would argue obsolete) view of job placement, productivity, and what people are capable of.

Here is the missing piece: The best predictor of job success is not whether we can convince employers to let people work at lower standards for lower wages; it is how well we customize employment and provide job supports to meet productivity demands. It is inherently unfair to close perceived productivity gaps by reducing the wages of those who need money the most, especially when we have other proven tools to enhance productivity.

Essentially, human service agencies have relied on sub-minimum wage as an entry tool to access jobs (or keep people "busy" in workshops) in situations that are probably not well-matched nor sufficiently supported or accommodated to enhance good productivity. While it might be somewhat understandable, given the pressure on providers to met job goals, it is a poor solution to the chronic history of unemployment of those with disabilities. With better training and using existing job customization tools, sub-minimum wage is not necessary.

The continuing use of sub-minimum wage is actually hindering our ability to promote and provide well-matched employment. It has become an obstacle, first because of its misuse (the ongoing documentation of many instances of low wage exploitation alone should cause it to end). And secondly, because it has caused providers to rely on a "low cost" plea for job placement, rather than investing in the real task of developing the skills job developers need to produce a more productive job situation.

There are likely many, who after reading this, will still not agree, thinking such job matches and supports such as I describe are unrealistic for most. Note that such customized employment is indeed already being accomplished in many places. In a future blog, I will to try to explain more about how to individualize jobs such that productivity can be reached to justify commensurate wages.

Productivity, at first glance, seems to be just a matter of how fast you do what is given to you. But dig deeper, and you see that is more about how well the worker is matched and supported to accomplish something needing to be done. And the answer on succeeding in that, though challenging, is up to the provider's abilities at customizing, accommodating, carving, training, and more.

Lobbyists for day programs hanging on to sub-minimum wage as an answer for their belief about those "not capable of work" need to rethink the message they are giving. "He has 30% productivity" is no better than any other discriminatory disability stereotype, and it flies in the face of federal law where there is a presumption of employability. And it's a damn shame that Senator Harkin has accepted it as fact.

Sustainable Investment: Toward Economic Self-Sufficiency for Citizens with Disabilities

Public policy is at a crossroads. The central tenants of federal disability benefits have remained fundamentally unchanged since 1950. Publicly-financed programs have not kept pace with what we have learned about the potential of individuals with significant disabilities. The slow pace of modernization of public policy and federal programs has had major financial implications to the government, resulting in cyclical dependence, disincentives to employment and continued segregation for Americans with disabilities. Recent legislation and proposed federal entitlement restructuring programs to promote and incentivize employment and economic self-sufficiency policies for individuals with disabilities can make a significant contribution to the economy over the long-term.

Please join the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD), an advocacy network of 17 national disability organizations, and the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) for a House Briefing on systemic barriers to employment, savings and economic self-sufficiency for citizens with disabilities.

Thursday, April 18^th

10:00 to 11:30 a.m. ET

1310 Longworth House Office Building

Hear nationally-recognized leaders and experts in the federal government and the disability community discuss the importance of Systems Change, the Employment First framework, the ABLE Act and the TEAM Act of 2013.

To RSVP, please contact Allison Wohl (awohl@thecpsd.org).

Source: Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination

March 8, 2013

By Melissa Maynard, Staff Writer

Julie Williard, 25, is one of the top performers in her division filling orders from local stores at the Walgreens distribution center in Windsor, Connecticut. She is also deaf.
 
Williard says she was more accustomed to being bullied than encouraged before she started at the center, her first full-time job. “It just brought the happiness into my life,” she says. “Right now I have tons of friends.”
 
What makes this job different is that the facility, which opened in 2009, was built with the needs of people with a range of disabilities in mind. The workplace removes obstacles to success, by offering touchscreens, adjustable work stations and images and symbols to illustrate functions. About half the workers at the center have a disability, and they are expected to compete with all of their colleagues. Making the accommodations cost Walgreens an average of $50 per worker.
 
The nation’s governors have turned their attention to helping more people like Williard find jobs and building partnerships with companies like Walgreens that are willing to help accommodate people once considered unemployable. The National Governors Association (NGA) is targeting the issue this year and will make recommendations in an August report. The aim is to come up with plans that provide workers with disabilities not only a paycheck, but also a deeper sense of purpose and belonging.
 
Delaware Governor Jack Markell, NGA chair, says he chose this issue after meeting a disabled Bank of America employee who made T-shirts and other promotional materials. Markell says he was moved by the pride the employee took in his work and asked what he had been doing before he got the job. “He sat at home for six years watching TV with his parents,” Markell told Stateline.
 
According to the NGA, the U.S. spends about $300 billion annually to support unemployed workers with disabilities, while 67 percent of working-age people with disabilities would rather have a job than be unemployed and unproductive.
 
Nationally, more than 30 percent of the adult population receiving income-based government assistance through programs such as Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has a disability, according to a recent report from the Census Bureau (see map). One in three adults with disabilities, ages 18 to 64, were employed in 2011, compared with three out of four adults without a disability.
 
State governments have taken a variety of steps to help these workers find jobs. Connecticut’s state vocational rehabilitation agency, for example, works closely with Walgreens to identify people with disabilities who might be a good fit for the program and provides ongoing support for employees who are struggling to adapt.
 
"(Walgreens) didn't ask for much,” Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told fellow governors in February at the NGA’s winter meeting in Washington, D.C.  “The one change that we had to make in Connecticut is we put a bus stop at their front door.” The state also provides funding for the training program through a nonprofit partner, Community Enterprises.
 
Delaware’s Markell signed “Employment First” legislation in July requiring state agencies that provide services to people with disabilities to push jobs that are in an integrated setting as the first choice. A work group is also focusing on state hiring practices with the goal of advancing recruitment, retention and career advancement opportunities for people with disabilities. “States can be model employers themselves,” he says.

Utah has put in place an alternative application process for state workers called “ASAP” that lets qualified people with disabilities bypass the regular competitive hiring process. Instead, they get the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to do the job in a trial work period.
 
A state program also helps workers with disabilities understand whether any of their benefits, such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and housing support, would be affected if they were to get a job, and informs them of available work incentives and safety nets.
 
“If you cannot convince the individual that it is in their best interest to try working at a level that will get them off of benefits, increase their disposable income and improve their quality of life, nothing else you do for them in the (vocational rehabilitation) program is going to make that big of a difference,” Don Uchida, executive director of the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, said in testimony last month before the U.S. Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
 
Companies like Walgreens that have made strides in hiring and training people with disabilities say it has helped their bottom line. “This was not charity; this was business,” Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson said at the NGA meeting.
 
Wasson credited the program in Connecticut and other distribution centers with lowering absenteeism, increasing retention and reducing the number of accidents and associated workers’ compensation costs. The company has since launched a similar program for its retail outlets that partners with state agencies and community organizations to train and place people with disabilities as service clerks.
 
Stephen Wooderson, chief executive officer of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation and former director of Iowa’s program, says he appreciates all of the attention the NGA initiative has brought to the issue and the change it is already beginning to generate. The NGA’s focus on working with businesses to meet their needs is furthering an effort that has been gradually taking hold in the vocational rehabilitation community. “Quite honestly for many years, we have been training individuals without a clear understanding of what the marketplace was going to be when they completed their training,” he says.
 
South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard brought home the point at the NGA meeting with an emotional story about growing up on a farm in South Dakota with two deaf parents. After his father was laid off from a job making cabinets, Daugaard remembers his parents arguing in sign language over whether they should accept unemployment benefits. His father then got a job as a janitor at night while working on the farm during the day.
 
“I thank all the employers here who open their minds and job sites to workers with disabilities because by helping them you are helping yourselves, but your efforts also unlock doors,” he said. “They give workers like my parents a chance to live their lives with dignity and provide for their little boys back at home.”
 
Daugaard told Stateline he believes workers with disabilities have a lot to offer employers. “Many folks with disabilities have an increased level of determination because they've had to overcome adversity in the form of their disability,” he says. “They can in many ways become a superior employee to those without disabilities.”

Workers with Disabilities Add Business Benefits

New Report Provides Path for Employers Looking to Leverage New Talent Opportunities

February 5th, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper (R–Miss.) reintroduced a legislative package today that aims to redesign federal programs for individuals living with intellectual disabilities as they transition from secondary school to the workforce.

The three bills, collectively referred to as the “Transition toward Excellence, Achievement and Mobility” (TEAM Act), aim to support youth with significant disabilities from adolescence to adulthood and refocus federal resources on improved outcomes in post-secondary education and integrated employment.

By promoting meaningful post-secondary educational and employment opportunities, this package intends for intellectually disabled citizens to gain full-time employment in an integrated setting at a livable wage. The plan also seeks to produce long-term career development and community inclusion through independent living and social engagement opportunities.

“In order for individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities to reach their maximum potential, Congress must enact a systems change,” said Harper, a third-term lawmaker and longtime champion for the disabilities community. “The current federal disability laws are hopelessly outdated and will ultimately lead to unemployment and poverty for these children.”

The “TEAM-Education Act” ensures that schools are provided the necessary guidance and resources to proactively engage transition coordinators who assist America’s disabled children during their public education tenure.

The “TEAM-Empowerment Act” creates an adult transition planning process and system of supports for youth and their families under the supervision of state disabilities agencies.

The “TEAM-Employment Act” seeks to stimulate a national system-change initiative, which will establish that agencies coordinate services better to produce the desired outcomes of integrated living and employment.

“This legislation helps promote an efficient blending of resources and coordination of services among federal and state agencies,” added Harper. “As the father of a special needs child, I understand the need for these reforms and the urgency to act.”

Harper’s 23-year-old son, Livingston, lives with Fragile X Syndrome. This disorder is the most commonly inherited form of intellectual disabilities and the only known genetic cause of autism.

The Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD) has endorsed this legislation. This advocacy group is a network of eighteen national disability organizations committed to high-impact public policy reform to promote the economic advancement of citizens with significant disabilities.

###

Gregg Harper is a third-term Republican lawmaker from Mississippi.

New Mobile Apps Make Your Job Search Easier

The U.S. Department of Labor's CareerOneStop website now offers five mobile web applications you can use on your smartphone, tablet computer and other mobile device. These mobile apps can help you locate an American Job Center near you, search job listings and find local education and training programs.

Visit Disability.gov for more career planning and job search tools, as well as information about job accommodations that can help you succeed in the workplace.

WEST ORANGE, NJ--(Marketwire - Jan 30, 2013) - Kessler Foundation awarded a $323,333 Signature Employment Grant to APSE -- Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst -- in Rockville, M.D., to work with OfficeMax to develop a model of successful employment for people with disabilities. This Signature Grant is part of more than $2.17 million in grants distributed by Kessler Foundation to improve employment and job training options for Americans with disabilities.

For this project, entitled, "Maxing Out Diversity," OfficeMax and APSE will help nurture the careers of trainees towards success in their professional careers. Utilizing the spider concept, a specific training center will initially support a distribution center and then it will begin to spider out to area stores. Through this approach, individuals will have the option to choose a career track in a distribution or retail setting.

"Kessler Foundation funds innovative initiatives to help solve the low employment rate for people with disabilities," said Elaine Katz, vice president of Grants and Special Initiatives at Kessler Foundation. "Individuals with disabilities are often an untapped resource in the workforce. When given the opportunity, they have the determination and skills to greatly contribute to an organization. Employee dedication and productivity improves, which increases the bottom line. OfficeMax will serve as another shining example of the benefits of a workplace inclusive of individuals with disabilities."

OfficeMax will train individuals with significant disabilities in the company's core values, safety skills, job skills and social communication skills. Corporate disability experts from APSE will analyze the activities in each of the four training areas to serve as the foundation for instruction, evaluation and creation of support plans. Each trainee will have individualized training time, support, assistive tools and accommodations to ensure success.

APSE and OfficeMax will create a pre-training model that can be distributed across the company and quickly increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities. In the two-year grant period, the project will involve at least four OfficeMax facilities and support 40 jobseekers with disabilities. The partnership with Kessler Foundation will enable OfficeMax and APSE to expand the project to other markets across the country.

James Emmet will serve as the lead consultant for "Maxing Out Diversity." He was the strategy leader behind the award-winning Walgreens Outreach project that increased recruitment of job seekers with disabilities.

Signature Employment Grants are Kessler Foundation's largest grants. Awarded for a period of two years, Signature Grants range from $250,000 to $500,000. This is the second year that Signature Grants were available to organizations nationwide.

About Kessler Foundation
Kessler Foundation, the largest nonprofit organization in the field of disability research and employment, is a global leader in rehabilitation research that seeks to improve cognition and mobility for people with multiple sclerosis, brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, and other disabling conditions. Kessler Foundation leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for job training and employment for people with disabilities. Since 2005, Kessler Foundation has invested more than $27 million in organizations and programs to increase the participation of people with disabilities, including veterans, in the workforce through strategic funding and philanthropic leadership. For more information, visit kesslerfoundation.org. Follow Kessler Foundation on Facebook, Twitter (@KesslerFound) and YouTube.

REDI is a program that creates partnerships between stores and local disability resources to provide job skills training for people with disabilities. REDI is a training program, not a placement program. The purpose of REDI is to educate externs with the skills and competencies required to be successful in our retail environment. Participation in the REDI Program serves as a great opportunity to increase the skills of people with disabilities so they can join the pool of qualified and diverse talent we consider when we have openings. In cases where we do not have openings in the local area, our hope is that REDI graduates will find employment with a neighboring business. It's important to know that while REDI provides training, it is not a guarantee of employment.

For more information, please visit www.walgreensREDI.com

Talk to the REDI Team on Thursday, December 6 at 11am Pacific/12pm Mountain/1pm Central/2pm Eastern

The Call in # is 1-866-855-1224/ Meeting Number is 4592748891

The APSE Marketing and Communications Committee is having a Name the APSE Newsletter Contest! The committee is looking for suggestions for a name for our quarterly newsletter that aligns with what we stand for - Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst. If you are interested in participating, please email the following information to Jenny@apse.org by December 5th.

Your Name
Phone #
Email
Mailing Address
APSE Newsletter Name Idea
Why you chose this newsletter name

Welcome to our blog! APSE has established a blog so we can connect with our current and future members. We will be posting information about future events, Employment First news, and best practices in our field. We encourage members to engage in our posts and share their input. To respond to a post click "comments" and fill out the information below. We look forward to hearing from you! Please check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin page for more information about what APSE is doing!