Employment for People with Developmental Disabilities February, 2012

1. Jewish Funders Network Employment for People with Developmental DisabilitiesFebruary, 2012 David Michael Mank, Ph.D. Director, Indiana Institute on Disability and Community Professor, Indiana University dmank@indiana.eduwww.iidc.indiana.edu

2. Indiana Institute on Disability and Community • Early Childhood Center • Center on Education and Lifelong Learning • Center on Community Living and Careers • Center on Aging and Community • Indiana Resource Center for Autism • Center for Planning and Policy Studies • Center for Disability Information and Referral

3. Bill of Rights: People First • We do not want to live in poverty. • We want the right to a job in the community. • We want to work regardless of productivity. • We want to work for fair wages. • We want to be respected on the job.

4. Self advocates and advocates are repeatedly calling for more rapid expansion and improved quality for all persons, across disability labels, who will benefit from a job in the community with individualized supports.

5. What Do We Know About Community Employment? • Wages are higher than in workshops and day programs. • Integration and social networks are better. • Before and after comparisons of individuals are striking. • Families who were uncertain or resistant at first often express higher satisfaction. • Self Advocates are calling for “more and better” community jobs. • Current behaviors in segregated settings are not predictors of behaviors in community.

6. What Else Do We Know? • For every person considered too severely disabled to work, someone somewhere has figured it out for a person with similar support needs. • Every improvement in services for people with severe disabilities has been a movement away from institutions and segregation and toward community and inclusion. • We are a lot better at starting initiatives than we are at widespread implementation.

7. Percentage of People in a Community Job • USA: 22% • Florida: 22% • Indiana: 28% • Vermont: 48% • Washington: 61% (Braddock 2008, State of the States)

8. Our Evolving Mission:Twenty Five Years of Change • A safe place for people to go during the day. • A place for people to go to learn daily living skills. • A place for people to go to prepare for work. • A place for people to go to work with others who have disabilities. • Support for people to work in the community. • Support for people with disabilities to choose and prosper in community jobs.

9. Innovations of Importance • Natural supports • Assistive technology • Person centered planning • Demonstrations of choice and control by people with disabilities • Facility downsizing and closing • Employer leadership • Customized employment • Self employment

10. Arguments Against Expansion of Community Employment • People choose to congregate. • People are happy where they are. • Its too expensive. • The community is not a friendly place. • Some people aren’t “ready.” • Some people are too severely disabled. • Community Employment is simply a different – not a better – paradigm.

11. Employment • From impossible to possible ….. • From possible to beneficial ….. • From beneficial to allowed ….. • From allowed to preferred ….. • From preferred to expected ….. • From expected to required ….. ….. to the same standard as everyone else

12. The Tyranny of “OR”Security OR Employment?Integration OR Wages?Support OR Integration?

13. The Power of “AND” Good wages AND Integrated AND Personalized Supports AND Choices AND Negotiated Work Life

14. A New Path to Change • Put control of resources in the hands of people with disabilities. • Invest in self-determination. • Eradicate policy conflicts. • Close the door of entry into segregated programs. • Use the new information to create quality employment. • Expand investment with employers. • Invest in the broader community.

15. A New Mission • Choice • Satisfaction • Friends • Inclusion • Careers • Contribution • Self Determination • Quality of Life • Lifestyle Change