Is employment working well for people with intellectual disabilities?

In our current economic time the state of employment opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities is not in a good state. According to the United States Department of Labor the statistic is 22% of the population of people with intellectual disabilities being employed in the United States. That is not good and employers, businesses, non-profits, and governments can do better. It is more a matter of better and strengthened colloboration between partnerships, agencies, governments, and businesses. Politicians and businesses can say all that they want to say to try and change the situation but it is our actions that will ultimately determine the course.
In a research article by Grant Revell of Richmond Virginia he stated that there needs to be 10 key indicators for employment to be measured by for people with intellectual disabilities. The 10 indicators are: 1. Meaningful competitive employment in integrated work settings 2. Informed choice and control 3. Level and nature of supports 4. Employment of individuals with truly significant disabilities 5. Amount of hours worked weekly 6. Number of individuals from the program working regularly 7. Well coordinated job retention system 8. Employment outcome monitoring and tracking system 9. Maximizing integration and community participation 10. Employer satisfaction. These are the 10 indicators that Revell has suggested that both supported employment and standard employment programs for people with intellectual disabilities should be measured by for ultimate successful outcomes.
Are we following these indicators as agencies, governments and businesses? Probably not as good as we should be following them because our success rate is only at a meager 22% which is in fact dismal compared to the 79% of individuals without disabilities or intellectual disabilities who are employed. In our current marketplace of services for people with intellectual disabilities we tend to be way too dependent of government grants to solve all of our problems. This is not the answer.
The answer is to become way more creative in our approach to dealing with the situation of employment for people with intellectual disabilities for grant money is finite and if grants run out there is no more money. Alternative approaches and systems need to be applied to our situation such as Michael Linton's LETS model which is the Local Exchange Trading System which uses hours of time as units of money. In a system like LETS money does not run out and is created on the spot and is made between people who need goods and services from each other. The system works by consent of the parties involved. This system is much more popular in Europe but can be adopted to the USA for employment opportunity for people with intellectual disabilities by using hours as units of money and trading them on a database. Clients should not have to be seen as not capable of working due to an illusion of finite money resources for money always exists no matter what the media tells you.

Hirevue for more effective job interviews

HireVue

Hirevue is an online video interviewing platform in which job candidates can sign up for an account for an affordable price and can interview candidates live. Hirevue is a good way for people to evaluate how they are answering questions and people of intellectual disability can see themselves on this yet their care takers can evaluate them on how they answered questions. Also the interviewees can show their skills on video to a respective job recruiter. Job recruiters can evaluate their performance live and show their support for the candidate and also tell them or show them visually with graphics and images on how to improve. The format is up to the care taker and interviewer and can be negotiated based upon learning style. The cost savings for a hiring manager are substantial as well. Video bridges the gap between the interviewee and the interviewer because you can see the expressions, emotions, and characteristics of who you are hiring without having them have to come to your office for the interview. Regarding the transportation issue with your clients with intellectual disabilities this advantage is a good one.
What is a Virtual Video Interview?
Live Interviews are video interviews that allow you to meet face-to-face with the hiring staff at your potential new employer via online video conference. You will be asked to meet with them one-on-one or with a panel of up to 3 interviewers. Like the virtual interview, your responses will be recorded along with the questions and conversation of the interviewers.
A virtual video interview is an interview where you will be responding to questions entered into the system by the requesting company. For example, imagine the first question being "Tell me about yourself". In a HireVue Recorded Video Interview, you will have 30 seconds to read the question and then up to three minutes to respond. Your response is being recorded, securely, onto HireVue servers. Once you have finished your interview, the hiring managers or recruiters at the requesting company can login to watch your interview. Below is an interview with Hirevue's CEO Ryan Money on a basic overview of the benefit of using his internet interviewing technology.
http://www.hirevue.com/content/for-candidates

• Reduced one hiring manager's interview costs 77%.
• Improved a third-party recruiter's success rate by over 50%.
• Reduced one Internet company's time-to-hire by two weeks.
• Raised one financial services company's new hire retention by 25%

Ability Alliance of West Alabama's Strategic plan

Below is the Ability Alliance of West Alabama's Strategic plan. I am a part of the Americorps VISTA addition to the over all strategic plan in which there was a federal grant given to AAWA from Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services. The Ability Alliance of West Alabama has been working to help people with intellectual disabilities integrate into communities in Bibb, Pickens, and Tuscaloosa Counties since 1994. Yet as of September 2009 the AAWA has received their federal grant for supported employment in which I concentrate my efforts in currently. Below you will see the original press release by the Executive Director Vicki Turnage and also our strategic plan for reference on what our main goals are for the next two years of operation. It is an exciting time yet currently according to the US Department of Labor that the employment rate for people with intellectual disabilities is only 22% as compared to 79% for typical Americans. My goal is to help the supported employment case manager Felicia Roberts at the Ability Alliance of West Alabama to gain 50 new jobs for our clients served with intellectual disabilities from Bibb, Pickens, and Tuscaloosa Counties of West Alabama. Although our efforts will largely be focused on Bibb and Tuscaloosa Counties and contacts will continue to be made within those counties as well.
Vista Project Release Stronger Together



Strategic Planning 2009-2011 for Services to Individuals With Intellectual Updated 91509

Examples of Job duties and work schedule for employment VISTA

This is just an example of how job duties are to be worked out for clients we represent. I make a simple Excel spread sheet duties list and then provide a building layout for them to follow and I train them on where to go in the building to do the work that they need to accomplish for the day. That is some basic job coaching and training on my part.
Copy of Book1
Copy of Building Layout2-3

Tuscaloosa One Place interviewing and resume classes VISTA

Another element of my volunteering for Americorps VISTA is with going to resume and interviewing classes with clients that the Ability Alliance of West Alabama represents. The classes are given by Tuscaloosa One place which is a family resource center that educates the community on resume writing, work ethics, interviewing skills, and barriers to successful employment. Also Tuscaloosa One Place has GED classes and offers reading, writing, social studies, science, and mathematics classes for the preparation of the GED diploma.
Yet with Americorps VISTA I will focus my efforts on the job classes portion of what Tuscaloosa One Place does. I will be going to Tuscaloosa One Place with clients that are getting work soon thereafter and need assistance with resume writing and interviewing skills. I am currently doing this in Tuscaloosa at the ARC of Tuscaloosa in the mornings and then will be going to interviewing and resume classes with two of our clients starting next Tuesday March 9th. It will take a good amount of patience and work but it will pay off once work is acquired for our clients. The time frame in which I will be working with the clients is six weeks and then by mid April the goal is to get them employed.

Supported Employment VISTA

Currently I am working on supported employment with a new case management worker Felicia Roberts of the Ability Alliance of West Alabama. We are focusing our efforts in the counties of Bibb and Pickens primarily and some of Tuscaloosa County as well.

What is supported employment?
Supported employment is employment in which there is:
Case managers that ensure consumer job stability through provision of continual support
-Job coach training will be administered
-Monthly tracking reports are conducted
-Employment is paid and competitive in wage
-On site job training
-No fee to any employer
This is the basic understanding of what supported employment is and the Ability Alliance has 25 job referrals for people who are ready to work from Bibb and Pickens County. The referrals that we have received needing employment are in need of supports such as job coaching, training, job task management, and also medicaid/medicare health coverage. Supports can from many areas such as family, co-workers, bosses, case managers, etc. I also can be a support for the clients of Ability Alliance as a VISTA member and will be a supported employment volunteer to assist people in their work schedules. I make up work tasks for people with pictures within the tasks so that people with intellectual disabilities that are working, but can't read will be able to understand what they need to do with proper job coaching and training. I am getting certified as a job coach this month and go for job coach training on March 24th along a couple other case managers from the Ability Alliance of West Alabama. I will learn about on the job training which is job training by co-workers directly working with employees with intellectual disabilities but not needing to give them job coaching. I also will learn about on the job employment which is when employers will directly train their employees with intellectual disabilities until they no longer need the support or for the duration of their employment. Below are a few videos on how supported employment works and information on the job coaching training seminar that I will be participating in for three days.

Choosing Supported Employment

Certificate Based Job Coach Training

This training is designed for Counselors, Social Workers, Job Coaches and other rehabilitation professionals working in supported employment and other disability related fields.

TRAINERS: Howard Green, Master of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling
Vicki Brooke M.Ed., Special Education
March 24 – 26, 2010
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TRAINING SITE: Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, Conference Room
1305 37th Street East, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35403
205-554-1300
This program is offered for 16.5 Continuing Education Credits (16.5 clock hours)
This program is co-sponsored by the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, by Alabama APSE(Associated Persons for Supported Employment), The Network on Employment and the Alabama Council for Developmental Disabilities. The Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation is an approved provider of continuing education for Social Workers in the State of Alabama through the Alabama State Board of Social Work Examiners; is an NBCC Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEPTM) and a co-sponsor of this event/program. The Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation may award NBCC approved clock hours for events or programs that meet NBCC requirements. The ACEP maintains responsibility for the content of this event.