Ready and Able:

People with disabilities can work and want to work. Given the growing body of evidence that

demonstrates that workers with disabilities meet or exceed the job performance of co-workers

without disabilities, the continuing high unemployment rate and low labor force participation

rate of people with disabilities deprive the nation of a valuable pool of talent. Increasing the

employment of people with disabilities produces significant benefits to the economy, the

nation, and people with disabilities themselves.

The National Technical Assistance and Research (NTAR) Leadership Center at Rutgers

University chose to address this issue by conducting research on employer and marketdriven initiatives to recruit, hire, train, and retain people with disabilities. Using a case study

approach, NTAR Leadership Center researchers selected 13 diverse examples from around the

nation of partnerships — between employers and trusted workforce intermediaries — with a

track record of helping employers recruit, hire, train, and retain employees with disabilities.

Over the course of six months, researchers conducted in-depth research and interviewed

and visited leaders and practitioners at the heart of these business-public collaborations. The

goal of this research was to identify successful elements of these strategies and offer lessons

that can be learned by employers and employer organizations, workforce development and

disability service organizations, and federal, state, and local policymakers.

While each partnership has its own distinctive qualities, NTAR Leadership Center researchers

found several overall themes, identified as key Ready and Able findings:

Employers respond to a business case for employing people with disabilities.

Employers believe that people with disabilities who possess the skills needed for the job

add value to the employer and positively affect the “bottom line.” Successful experiences

with qualified workers with disabilities increase the employer’s willingness to expand

employment opportunities. Because employers tend to listen to each other, business-tobusiness marketing of the value of employing people with disabilities is most powerful.

Innovative collaborations with and between workforce-supplying organizations

enable employer efforts to recruit, hire, train, and support employees with disabilities.

Employers do not want to have to maintain relationships with many varied workforcesupplying organizations — they find it daunting to learn the intricacies of the workforce

and disability service worlds. Accordingly, they prefer a single point of contact to

coordinate needed assistance and supports they require to recruit and hire. In some cases,

intermediaries organize and coordinate supports and provide technical assistance on

workforce issues, including disability-specific issues.

Collaborations ensure that workers are qualified and productive. Many effective

projects feature internships and mentorships, encouraging hands-on guidance and work

experience. Others provide opportunities for workers to earn credentials and degrees for

jobs with good wages and benefits, or offer access to career ladders, workplace training, and skills. Needed supports and accommodations are provided to enable employees to be

successful once on the job.

Successful collaborations nurture and reward continuous leadership. Leaders in the

partnerships studied showed a willingness to develop, coordinate, nurture, and manage

the collaboration.

ƒ

The chapters in this report are organized to highlight different partnership models.

(Click Here For The Full Article)

Ohio disabled work for under minimum wage

COLUMBUS, OHIO

Thousands of Ohio adults with developmental disabilities earn less than the minimum wage -- a situation that critics say exploits workers and supporters say provides more opportunities for the disabled to have jobs.

At least 14,600 disabled Ohioans make less than the minimum wage, and the number is likely much higher, but wage information is not public in 18 of Ohio's 88 counties, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The newspaper analyzed federal wage documents from 69 of the 70 counties that support workers with developmental disabilities through taxpayer-funded agencies and operate employment centers.

A provision in the federal wage law allows employers to pay less than minimum wage if adults have disabilities limiting their productivity, the newspaper reported in the first two parts of a series that began Sunday.

Curtis Decker, director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Disability Rights Network, says "it's immoral."

Norma Williams says her autistic son's low-wage job in Columbus allows him to have a purpose in life.

"He has a place to go and a reason to get up in the morning," she said. "I don't care about the money."

Statewide, about 21,000 disabled Ohioans receive services through their counties and are employed, and most of the low-wage earners are employed in sheltered workshops -- quasi-industrial settings resembling factories that bid on jobs with government agencies and private companies for contract work, the newspaper reported.

More than 80 percent of the low-wage work force earns an hourly wage of $3.70 or less, with about 35 percent of them -- or 5,200 workers -- making less than $1 an hour, the newspaper reported. Nearly 1,000 make less than 25 cents an hour.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

"It's concerning in terms of overall numbers," said John Martin, director of the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities that oversees the statewide system. "But I don't have a concern that people are being taken advantage of."

County officials say federal requirements do not allow room for error or subjectivity, and some say that their budgets and the revenue generated by the contracts cannot support higher wages.

Troy Thompson, 30, has autism and works at an art studio at one of Franklin County's sheltered workshops, where he earns commissions of about $80 a month based on the work sold. Thompson gets some government benefits and earns $5 an hour as a janitor.

"I want to find higher-paying jobs," he said.

The economy also has worked against disabled workers, decreasing the contract work on which workshops have relied.

Advocates for the disabled also believe more can be done in Ohio to help find community-based work for disabled adults that would pay better.

"I think our challenge is convincing employers that people have skills, even with disabilities," said Jed Morison, superintendent of the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

John Pekar, superintendent of the developmental-disabilities boards in Fairfield County and Vinton County, and has helped art studios to grow in both counties.

"A lot of it is knocking down stereotypes," he said.

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Moving From Disability Benefits to Jobs

By MOTOKO RICH

In an article today, I explore why Social Security is strained by the number of workers who now collect disability benefits, and why it is so difficult for these beneficiaries to go back to work.

Many, of course, suffer such severe disabilities that it is all but impossible to work. For them, the benefits provide an essential lifeline. For others, some work is possible, and economists and advocates for the disabled argue that if these people were provided with the right assistance and workplace accommodations, they might be able to work enough to leave the benefit rolls.

But some economists and policy analysts argue that many beneficiaries who might work are discouraged from doing so because of the so-called “cash cliff” that stipulates that workers who earn even $1 more than $1,000 a month — a level deemed “substantial gainful activity” — will lose all their cash benefits once a nine-month trial period is completed.

According to a paper submitted to The Journal of Rehabilitation by Tim Tremblay, Alice Porter and James Smith of the Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Robert Weathers of the Social Security Administration, this cash cliff is a “substantial disincentive to work.”

Let’s say a disabled beneficiary goes back to work part-time, and earns $13 an hour for 15 hours a week. His total monthly earnings would be $845. Because that amount falls below $1,000, he would be able to keep a total of $1,845 a month. But if he upped his hours to 20 hours a week, he would then be earning $1,127 a month, which would put him over the threshold for collecting benefits. After the nine-month trial period, he would be stripped of benefits and thus would have only $1,127 in earnings. So by working five more hours a week, he loses $718 a month.

The authors of the paper suggested that many beneficiaries work just up to the threshold in order to maintain benefits. They suggested that a gradual reduction in benefits, rather than an abrupt cutoff, would spur more beneficiaries to work and earn more.

Many disabilities entail “a gradual road to full employment,” Mr. Smith said in a telephone interview. “You’re not going to go from being severely ill to being fully employed in nine months. So we think that the emphasis of the program should be on offering people an easy exit ramp, versus this sudden and dramatic cutoff.”

Since 2005, the Social Security Administration has conducted a pilot program in four states — Connecticut, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin — in which a test group of randomly assigned disabled worker beneficiaries saw their benefits reduced by $1 for each $2 they earned at work above the substantial gainful level for up to six years. That way, they preserved some benefits as they eased back to work, rather than losing them all after just nine months. A control group did not receive the gradual reduction, losing all benefits if their earnings were above the threshold after nine months.

A preliminary study of the pilot program showed that in Connecticut and Vermont, beneficiaries who were given the gradual reduction in benefits were much more likely to work and earn more than the threshold amount. In Utah, the effects were less striking, and in Wisconsin, there were no statistically significant differences between the pilot and control groups.

Mr. Smith said that although the results were preliminary, the data from Connecticut and Vermont suggested that giving beneficiaries a longer-lasting safety net would encourage more of them to work and earn enough to reduce their benefits. Even if Social Security continued to pay out some benefits for the rest of their working lives, Mr. Smith argued, that would be better than paying full benefits to a vast majority of beneficiaries.

With the disability trust fund headed for insolvency by 2018, it’s a thought.

---

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 8, 2011

Because of incorrect information supplied by one of the authors, an earlier version of this post misidentified the journal to which three researchers submitted a study on the effect of Social Security disability policy on work incentives. It is The Journal of Rehabilitation, not The Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation.

For Job Seekers With Disabilities, Glimmer Of Hope

By SHAUN HEASLEY

May 6, 2011Text Size A A

For the first time in three months, the unemployment rate for Americans with disabilities eased somewhat in April.

The Department of Labor said Friday that unemployment fell to 14.5 percent for those with disabilities in April, down from 15.6 percent the previous month.

However, the change could be due at least in part to fewer people with special needs seeking work.

Meanwhile, the general population continued to fare significantly better than those with disabilities as the economy added 244,000 jobs. Unemployment for that group rested at 9 percent for the month.

The Department of Labor began tracking employment among people with disabilities in October 2008. There is not yet enough data compiled to establish seasonal trends among this population, so statistics for this group are not seasonally adjusted.

Data on people with disabilities covers those over the age of 16 who do not live in institutions. The first employment report specific to this population was made available in February 2009. Now, reports are released monthly.

2011 Workforce Recruitment Program for College Students with Disabilities (WRP)

Do you need highly qualified candidates for jobs at your office? The Workforce Recruitment Program can help! The WRP is a recruitment and referral program that connects federal and private sector employers nationwide with highly motivated postsecondary students and recent graduates with disabilities who are eager to prove their abilities in the workplace through summer or permanent jobs. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and the U.S. Department of Defense with the participation of many other federal agencies and sub-agencies, the WRP has provided employment opportunities for over 5,500 students since 1995.

Annually, trained WRP recruiters from federal agencies conduct personal interviews with interested students on college and university campuses across the country. Students represent all majors, and range from college freshmen to graduate students and law students. Information from these student interviews is compiled in a searchable database that is available through this website to federal Human Resources Specialists, Equal Employment Opportunity Specialists, and other hiring officials in federal agencies. You can request a password here. If you are an employer in the private sector, or a student interested in private sector employment, you can take advantage of the WRP program through the National Employer Technical Assistance Center at www.askEARN.org.

Help in the Workplace and Home for Visually Impaired and Aging

By Disaboom Staff

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By Disaboom Staff

You don’t have to be visually impaired to have trouble reading labels, newspapers, menus and instructions. The problem might be that you are over 40. It’s extremely frustrating; especially when you really do need to read the fine print and a magnifying glass is nowhere to be found. For the visually impaired, it’s frustrating to be in a work environment, and have to ask for help. That’s what happened to Maurie Hill, who works for Ai Squared, a maker of visually-impaired assistive technology. Sitting at her desk waiting for a document to print she instead heard a “beep-beep” from the copy/printer machine alerting her to a paper jam. Now, for anyone who could read the LCD screen, they would know to open the draw on the right and pull out the jammed paper, clear the machine and press the start button. But Maurie is visually-impaired and couldn’t see the screen. That was before the ZoomReader iPhone App. Today, Maurie uses her IPhone 4 App to take a picture of the screen, and then listens to a voice-activated message instructing her how to clear the jam.

Doug Hacker, Vice President of Business Development for Ai Squared told Disaboom that the new iPhone App, ZoomReader, is the latest technology from the company who for over 20 years has been the global leader of assistive technology for the visually-impaired. “This new product can take a picture of what you are looking at, and using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Technology and Text-to-Speech Technology, convert the letters in the image to actual text and then read that text back to you.” Doug continued, “And what’s really useful is that it is convenient and portable. Most people have their cellular phones with them at all times. There are other products that do similar things but they cost up to $1,000. What we are trying to do with the iPhone App is make the solutions mainstream and affordable and not something you have to go outside your normal world to buy.”

Disaboom is particularly interested in new products that allow people with disabilities to return to the workforce, or help those who are already working advance in their careers. We believe that assistive technology is the key. So we asked Doug Hacker what else Ai Squared was doing in this area.

“Ai Squared’s flagship product, ZoomText and other products we make such as our large print keyboard are getting people back to work,” answered Doug. “Turns out that visually impairment is one of the easiest disabilities to “solve” in the workplace. We see people who use our technology being 100% as effective in their job as those who don’t need the assistive technology. Interestingly, there have been studies done that show that people who need assistive technology in the work place, have more retention than other people. They have better morale because they value their position in the workplace. We see the ZoomReader iPhone App being an extension.” Hacker continued, “People with visual impairment want to do all the same things other people want to do. With the technology we have on hand, we can make those things possible.”

If you would like a chance to win a ZoomReader, you must own an iPhone4. Please send your name, address, email address, and age to Cheryl@nteractiveevents.com. We will draw the winning entry on May 2, 2011.

Employing veterans: why is it so difficult?

Conclusion: Written by JOHN BOERSTLER

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Part 1 of this article identified the problem of translating military skills to civilian professions and part 2 tackled the issue of networking for private sector employment. With veteran unemployment running at 10%, solutions to these problems are keys for presenting the best possible scenarios for gainful employment.

Problem: The stigma of behavioral and physical health issues in returning veterans.

Disabled veterans are at an immediate disadvantage when compared to their civilian counterparts. Whether vets suffer from post-traumatic stress or from a back condition sustained from their service in the Armed Forces, they’re limited in their ability to fully-function. On one side you have the employer who might be more reluctant in hiring a veteran diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because they simply don’t understand the condition. On the other you have a veteran who may be limited in what they can do at work because of their disabilities and is therefore unemployable. Both are challenges for the veterans to overcome when searching for a position that’s right for them.

We’ve identified the problem, what is the solution?

Disabled veterans can benefit from existing hiring preferences in federal, state and local government.

Many private corporations and non-profit organizations have disabled or protected veteran status on their entrance questionnaires that sometimes translate into specific preferences for those seeking employment. However, when addressing the need to overcome the stigma of hiring these heroes, larger information campaigns are needed to set the record straight. For example, the Real Warriors campaign is a Defense-funded program that addresses the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) through marketing, social media, and public service announcements via their interactive website. More information on the federal, state and local hiring preferences for disabled veterans can be found by logging onto their websites:

Feds Hire Vets

Veterans Preference in Texas

Veterans Preference in City of Houston

Copy of Executive Order

Although there are many great employment assistance resources and services available to our community of returning veterans and their families, it seems as if the word is still not getting out despite major pushes at the national, regional, state and local levels. As much as it is the responsibility of each service man and woman to take charge of their own transition, civilian employers need to pull their weight as well. Doing more to understand the benefits of hiring veterans and learning about how their disabilities, both emotional and physical, can impact their ability to function in a work setting are both critically important. The numbers are an indicator of how our transitioning veterans are faring nationally but I guarantee it’s worse at the grass roots level because many cases go unreported. Many employers and veterans have stepped up to overcome this great challenge and more will continue to as awareness grows. Be sure you’re part of the solution as opposed to being part of the problem and we’ll work together to get vets employed.

Join John for a discussion on our blog at www.disaboomlive.com. Or visit us online at www.disaboom.com.

John@LoneStarVeterans.org