(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Alliance for Full Participation Employment Summit 11/17-19/11

OverviewMariola Rosser

Catherine Burzio

IDEA Partnership

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Summit Goal

• To double integrated employment for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities by the year 2015

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

AFP's Definition of EmploymentIndividuals with developmental disabilities want to work in integrated settings along with their non-disabled colleagues. They want to be afforded the same wages, benefits, and opportunities to advance in their careers, and contribute to society, and move out of poverty. To obtain equal access to employment, education must make transition from school to work a priority rather than an add-on, and adult service providers must work to remove barriers and support individuals in real jobs for real pay.

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Who attended?

• AFP State Team Directory – 42 Participating States

• Over 1250 participants representing:– self advocates, employers, direct support professionals,

providers, and state and federal leaders

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Important links

• AFP Website• 4 minute highlight video • AFP 2011 Schedule at a Glance• Plenary Session Speakers• Handouts and PowerPoints• Directory of state team's activities and key co

ntacts• State Team Scorecards

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Summit Topics• Employment Tips for Job Seekers and

Supporters• Creating an Employment First Policy• Value of Employing People with

Disabilities• Self Employment and Microenterprise• The Role of Small Business in Disability

Employment• Public Policy Strategies for Improving

Asset Development Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities

• Transportation Challenges: Getting People to Jobs

• College: An Unexplored Pathway to Employment

• A New Way of Doing Business: The Move Away from Sheltered Workshops

• Shifting Models to Integrated Employment

• Creating Systemic Change• Technology and Communication:

Keys to Successful Employment• Self Advocates Helping Each Other

to Pursue Employment Dreams• Federal Strategies for Promoting

the Transition of Youth with Significant Disabilities into Integrated Employment

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Big Messages from Summit

• Depressing employment statistics for individuals with developmental disabilities

• Moving toward Integrated Employment• Employers perspective • Barriers to employment (policy, systemic,

personal) • Self-advocacy and empowerment

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Statistics • Labor force statistics December 2010

28% of working-age adults with disabilities are employed, compared with 70% of people without disabilities.

Workers with disabilities have experienced significantly higher levels of job loss and hardship during the recession of the late 2000s.

• Labor force statistics FY 2003 Only 26% of individuals with IDD supported by community rehabilitation providers (CRPs) worked in integrated jobs, including both individual jobs and group supported employment.

Butterworth, J., Hall, A.C., Smith, F.A., Migliore, A., & Winsor, J. (2011). StateData: The National Report on Employment Services and Outcomes. Boston, MA:

Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston.

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Employment

• Why Employment Matters? • What is needed to make integrated employment a reality

for all, including a look at subminimum wage, employment first, and integrated and group employment, and the barriers that keep us from reaching these goals?

• What employers want the disability community to know about employment?

• What are the promising practices across the country in transition, implementing employment first, systems change, and innovation?

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Definition of Integrated Employment

Regular or customized employment in the workforce on the payroll of a company (unless self-employed) at minimum or prevailing wages and benefits. Employment where integration and interaction with co-workers without disabilities and customers is assured.

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Employers Perspective

• Employers are looking for talent• Ask us what we need Do not tell us what you

have• Best ways to work with potential employers is

to build trust and strong relationships that result in quality, lasting employment opportunities for the people with disabilities

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Barriers to Employment• Negative attitudes• Low Expectations (“If others in our lives don’t

believe in us, it’s hard for us to believe in ourselves”)

• Historical devaluing of the family role • Language of exclusion• Stereotypes and labels • R-word • Disability v. Diffability (different abilities)

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Strategies promoting employment • Partnerships and Collaboration (example, DE Early Start to Supported

Employment! DD - VR - Education! Seamless transition! Starts last year of high school)

• National Services, Apprenticeships and Internships, technology-electronic capacities…this is where we need to put focus.

• Funding: Long range strategic plan for implementing demonstration models/plans BEFORE the project ends.– Working bottom up

• Use anecdotal stories in addition to white papers, case studies…What supports the real situations of people with disabilities.

• Technology • Transportation • Increased families voice• Self-advocacy and self-determination • Others

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

TECHNOLOGY

• Locating Apps – Search for the action• Momswithapps.com• Apple Accessibility Resources• Allwithmyiphone.com Tutorials• Bookshare.org Read to go=$• Dolphin Digital Technologies - Virtual

Technical Assessment • Network for Training & Development, Inc.

(c) 2011 IDEA Partnership www.sharedwork.org

Self-advocacy and Empowerment

David Eagon Julie Petty Ricardo Thornton