New! Impact: Employment and IDD
The fall issue of Impact explores the movement to end subminimum wages paid to people with disabilities in group settings and offers strategies for boosting employment rates in the competitive job market. The launch of this issue coincides with National Disability Employment Awareness Month .
Fewer than one in four people with disabilities were employed last year, and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have made slow progress in transitioning from sheltered workshops to competitive, integrated employment, issue editors Staci Jones and Danielle Mahoehney note in their article in the issue. They urge employment service providers to blend their employment and community engagement services into a broad strategy for helping people with IDD achieve their life goals.
“There is an understanding that having a job can help people build their social connections, gain a sense of purpose, and increase their independence, all of which can contribute to a more robust community life,” the authors write. “By the same token, people being active in their community through volunteerism, participating in social activities or joining local groups can help people develop skills, build networks, and gain experiences that may improve their chances of finding and keeping a job.”
The issue also highlights promising programs and studies working on employment advancement and stories written by people with disabilities about the work they do and how it has affected their lives.
“This work is important to me, and not only because I need to earn money,” said Dupree Edwards, who served as an issue editor, along with Mahoehney and Jones, and who contributed his personal story of working several jobs before coming to the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. Edwards is a co-trainer at ICI who works on technical assistance efforts related to the Minnesota DHS Systems Change project, among other roles.
“One of the programs highlighted in this issue, and a program we’ve worked with at ICI, is Rise, Incorporated,” Edwards said. “They’re a great example of an organization trying hard to transition their employment services.”
Jones, a senior technical assistance and policy associate at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston , said the issue comes at a critical time, as the field faces broad, national momentum for making competitive, integrated employment a standard.
“If we’re going to support people with disabilities to achieve their fullest potential and move the needle on employment, services and systems must allow for flexible and holistic models that foster full inclusion in all aspects of community life,” she said.
The articles in the issue represent the range of innovation and progress happening within employment services for people with disabilities, said Mahoehney, a community living and employment specialist at the Institute on Community Integration.
“I was struck most by the personal stories in the issue,” she said. “The people with disabilities who shared their stories of working in their own words most clearly illustrated the importance of this topic in the lives of individual people. Having a job can mean financial security, a sense of purpose, and a connection to build relationships with others. Working changes lives.”
All three issue editors participated in an episode of Impact, The Conversation, the magazine’s new podcast. Another podcast episode features an interview with Julie Sowash, executive director of Disability Solutions, a firm that helps companies with their hiring processes.
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