Some of the most exciting and creative progress is community integration of people with severe disabilities is now being make in efforts to place and support people in regular jobs in the community where they earn a decent wage and have opportunities to interact with nondisabled people. As is always the case in fast moving fields, the literature lags behind the exciting progress being made in this area. With this in mind the following reviews provide basic information to those who are interested in supported work. There is a vast amount of literature in this area. The material here does not represent a comprehensive coverage. Instead, we have selected a sampling of literature in the field.
TITLE: Supported employment: A community implementation guide
AUTHORS: Bellamy, G. T., Rhodes, L., Mank, D., & Albin, J. M.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1988
This book begins with an introduction to key supported employment issues and an overview of program models and organizational accomplishments. According to the authors, the five key organizational accomplishments are: (1) paid employment opportunities are available; (2) work performance meets employer requirements; (3) employees are integrated; (4) ongoing support needs are met; and (5) organizational capacity is maintained. The chapters that follow describe strategies for implementing a supported employment program, from planning, to staff training, business participation, the role of families and friends, and the role of state leadership.
TITLE: Consumer advocacy and supported employment: A vision for the future
AUTHORS: Brooke, V., Barcus, M., & Inge, K. (Eds.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1992
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Supported EmploymentThis manual was written by the editors and some co-authors, including a number of self-advocates who took part in a consumer focus group. The first part of the book, written by the editors, introduces some issues related to consumer advocacy and supported employment. They discuss both the parallels between consumer advocacy and supported employment, as well as some of the challenges. The second part, written by members of the focus group, discusses issues and concerns raised during the focus group. These include: (1) career development; (2) choice; (3) systems barriers; (4) families; (5) consumer and professional partnerships; (6) qualifications not education; (7) affordable and accessible housing; (8) access to assistive technology; (9) consumer feedback to professionals; (10) supported employment group options; and (11) referral and/or resource system. The third part of the manual, entitled "A Consumer Empowerment Approach to the Design of Human Service Systems: Implications for Supported Employment," is written by John Kregel. This includes discussion of the concept of consumer empowerment, implications for supported employment, and recommendations for systems change. The fourth and final section of this book, by Ed Turner, presents strategies for effective consumer advocacy. This is a good resource for consumers and for service agencies that are striving to provide more individualized, person-centered supports.
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842011
Richmond, VA 23284-2011
TITLE: Supported employment handbook: A customer-driven approach for persons with significant disabilities
AUTHORS: Brooke, V., Inge, K. J., Armstrong, A. J., & Wehman, P. (Eds.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1997
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Supported EmploymentThis first chapter in the book lays out a description of a customer-driven approach to supported employment, including discussion of values, best practices, role of the employment specialist, and other issues in implementing the customer-driven approach. Subsequent chapters focus on organizational marketing, developing a customer profile, job development, employment selection, job site training, and long-term supports. The final chapter discusses quality in relation to supported employment services, including quality indicators, assessing quality, and successful partnerships.
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842011
Richmond, VA 23284-2011
TITLE: The Madison strategy for evaluating the vocational milieu of a worker with severe intellectual disabilities
AUTHORS: Brown, L., Udvari Solner, A., Schwartz, P., Courchave, B., Kampschroer, E. F., VanDeventer, P., & Jorgensen, J.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1991
TASHThis volume's purpose is to delineate a strategy that can be used to evaluate the vocational milieu of a worker with severe intellectual disabilities. It offers an alternative to many of the currently used vocational evaluation strategies and is based on the assumption that all people with severe disabilities can work in integrated environments. This volume has been underway since 1986, and has gone through four revisions. It was sent out for review to selected agencies, service providers, and public schools that are involved in vocational training, and was extensively revised based on their input. The latest version has been field-tested with 45 local individuals, and contains a checklist covering the evaluation areas.
29 W. Susquehanna Avenue, Suite 210
Baltimore, MD 21204
TITLE: Keys to the workplace: Skills and supports for people with disabilities
AUTHORS: Callahan, M. J., & Garner, J. B.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1997
The introductory section of the book discusses the issues of: values and employment, individualized planning, the dynamic nature of support, the role of family, and the importance of social relationships. The second section describes a seven-phase sequence for fostering natural supports: (1) communicate natural ways (of job performance, etc.); (2) promote natural means (of job training, etc.); (3) utilize natural people (supervisors, co-workers, etc.); (4) facilitate successful performance; (5) support/assist/substitute for natural people; (6) reconsider natural means; and (7) adapt/modify/change natural ways. Detailed descriptions and strategies are provided for each step. The final section of the book presents some specific strategies for systematic instruction in the workplace.
TITLE: A working relationship: The job development specialist's guide to successful partnerships with business
AUTHORS: Fabian, E. S., Luecking, R. G., & Tilson, Jr., G. P.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1994
The basic premise of this extremely worthwhile book about supported employment is that job development specialists need to form working partnerships with employers, to replace the "beg, place, and pray" approach that has characterized job placement agencies in the past with "...a new ethic of quality service and customer satisfaction" (p. 4). The authors rely on business concepts to "reinvent" the role of supported employment staff in relation to business. The new role which they promote is a very practical one. Speaking from their own experience with using this approach, the authors attest to its great potential for success. This is a good handbook for agencies that are attempting to move to a more partnership-oriented model.
TITLE: Toward supported employment: A process guide for planned change
AUTHORS: Gardner, J. F., Chapman, M. S., Donaldson, G., & Jacobson, S. G.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1988
Conversion from sheltered to integrated employment is a major change for an organization. This valuable book's premise is that such change can be managed successfully. The book begins by concisely summarizing existing theory and knowledge about change, including methods for introducing change, design of strategic and long range action plans, and coping with internal and external resistance to change. It emphasizes involvement of all affected parties in the change process, including board members, staff at all levels, people with disabilities, parents, and community organizations. This book goes on to apply the conceptual material to conversion more specifically to supported employment, discussing such areas as leadership, organization readiness, market analysis, assessing staff needs, skills, and capabilities, organizational structure needed to maintain supported employment, and coordination with other human service providers and private sector organizations. The authors insist that the values and norms of the organization are critical to the change process, and properly emphasize the need to clarify and communicate these throughout the process.
It is up to the reader, however, to define the values used to drive the change process, as the authors only suggest some general values. This may but does not need to present problems for readers who prefer the individualized placement approach.
TITLE: Vocational education for persons with handicaps
AUTHOR: Gaylord-Ross, R. (Ed.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1988
Mayfield Publishing CompanyThis comprehensive textbook describes the multifaceted process of career preparation for students with disabilities. It is divided into four major sections having to do with vocational special education. The first part, dealing with policies and professional roles, contains chapters on legislation and policy, career education, professional roles and practices, and community living. The second section, on vocational assessment and preparation, looks at assessment, programming, and secondary vocational training. The third section describes and explores economic issues, the business perspective, the ecology of the workplace, and adult employment programs. The last section contains four chapters that look at vocational education for persons with different lives or types of disabilities--mild disabilities, severe disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory disabilities. While the authors of these chapters include well-known writers in every aspect of the field, readers may have difficulty with their complexity. Several chapters are excellent, however.
1240 Villa Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Ian Pumpian, Elizabeth West, and Holly Shepard, for example, contributed a chapter entitled "Vocational Education and Persons with Severe Handicaps." This chapter starts by raising some fundamental value questions that provide the basis for developing and evaluating services for people with severe disabilities. The authors argue that consistent answers to such questions are essential to understanding the current direction and debate concerning training and employment. The authors also criticize some of the current supported employment practices, for example, for either excluding people with the most severe disabilities or selecting pseudointegration models, as has been the case with some enclave and work crew programs. The chapter reviews some of the school trends and initiatives that have contributed to the evolution of supported work and discusses current trends and initiatives in adult services.
TITLE: Vocational education for students with handicaps
AUTHOR: Gaylord-Ross, R.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1989
In D. Biklen, D. L. Ferguson, & A. Ford (Eds.), Schooling and disability: Eighty-eighth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II (pp. 203-231). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.In this chapter the author describes a qualitative study of vocational integration of people with developmental disabilities in five European countries: Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, and West Germany. Based on five months of travel through these countries, where the author conducted numerous site visits; completed over 250 interviews; and reviewed 500 documents, the author describes patters of vocational integration in these five countries, as compared to efforts underway in the United States. The author concludes by identifying and discussing five important variables which can facilitate social change toward integrated work: (1) "political will," (2) the presence of a "charismatic leader(s)," (3) the presence of a "model demonstration program," (4) the level of "instructional technology" among staff, and (5) the "economic state" of a particular country.
TITLE: The social integration of supported employees: A qualitative study
AUTHOR: Hagner, D.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1989
This study examines the social interactions that occurred within supported employment settings in Syracuse, NY, between workers with disabilities and their co-workers without disabilities. It also examines the job supports at these work settings, to understand the relationship between formal support services and natural job supports.
This study should affect the supported employment field profoundly. Its major finding was that even though employees were physically integrated on their jobs, they were often socially isolated, not because of their disabilities but because of how their jobs were set up. That is, their jobs tended to be structured in ways that inhibited natural social customs. The author, who spent hundreds of hours observing co-worker interactions on jobs, found that workers talk, joke, and give assistance to each other on a regular basis, and that there is often an informal mentoring system by which new workers are socialized into jobs. He concluded that job coaches sometimes bring a human service perspective and a narrow job task focus to a work setting, being unaware of or ignoring the wider "culture" of a workplace. Many supported employment services will recognize themselves in his descriptions of practices that tended to exclude supported employees from participating in the workplace culture, which could have been a powerful source of natural support.
TITLE: Getting employed, staying employed: Job development and training for persons with severe handicaps
AUTHORS: McLoughlin, C. S., Garner, J. B., & Callahan, M. (Eds.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1987
This excellent and practical book investigates the processes involved in developing jobs in integrated settings, and methods for facilitating employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities. The first part deals with the problems of sheltered work. Based on an analysis of cost effectiveness and programmatic ideologies, the first chapter demonstrates how these workshops are inherently inadequate. The authors suggest that sheltered work environments should be systematically phased out in favor of employment in integrated settings. The rest of the book serves as a practical manual for job development, placement and training for people with severe disabilities. This book provides unusually valuable guidelines for people who are interested in developing integrated individualized jobs for people with severe disabilities.
TITLE: Helping persons with severe mental retardation get and keep employment: Supported employment issues and strategies
AUTHORS: Moon, S. W., Inge, K. J., Wehman, P., Brooke, V., & Barcus, M. J.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1990
This book was written to address the exclusion of persons with severe and multiple disabilities from supported employment training and placement programs--an exclusion that is well documented at this point in time, despite the fact that this is the
group for whom supported employment was intended. This book provides information specifically related to helping people with the most severe disabilities get and keep real jobs in regular work places.
The first half of the book examines a variety of issues, including strategies for assessment, present performance outcomes for people with severe mental retardation, and job placement for students in transition to adulthood, and should challenge the reader to recognize what remains to be done in implementing supported employment. The last five chapters are more technical in nature, and can serve as a day-to-day guide for persons directly involved in programs. These chapters describe methods that have worked and that can be replicated. This is an excellent resource for program administrators and staff as well as parents and people in state decision-making positions.
TITLE: Closing the shop: Conversion from sheltered to integrated work
AUTHORS: Murphy, S. T., & Rogan, P. M.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1995
This excellent book about conversion of sheltered workshops to integrated employment begins by talking about the history of workshops and goes on to present a detailed case study on conversion. The authors describe the conversion of Pioneer, a small workshop for people with visual impairment (and, often, other labels as well), into supported, community employment. Comprehensive interviews with workshop participants spanning six years are utilized to gain insight into their perspectives on working in the shop, leaving it, and working in the community. The authors conclude that "...nearly every workshop participant demonstrated that he or she could achieve significant employment and community living success," which "...in fact stood in marked contrast to participants' files, which contained reports that were overwhelmingly negative, highlighted shortcomings, portended community failure, and often neglected participants' perspectives" (p. 110). Other examples of successful workshop conversions are given in an informative chapter entitled, "Leadership for Change," and the book concludes with some practical lessons that can be applied by those seeking to convert workshops and the policy reasons why such conversion is critical.
TITLE: Achieving success in integrated workplaces: Critical elements in assisting persons with severe disabilities
AUTHORS: Nisbet, J., & Callahan, M.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1987
In S. J. Taylor, D. Biklen, & J. Knoll (Eds.), Community integration for people with severe disabilities (pp. 184-201). New York: Teachers College Press.This chapter provides an overview of the elements of successful job placements for people with severe disabilities. Specifically the authors outline the rationale for a fully individualized approach to job placement, including methods for coordinating services across the various agencies which are usually involved in the life of a person with a severe disability. The authors also address key issues related to supports and skill development with special emphasis given to natural supports and the development of on-the-job relationships.
TITLE: The process of supported employment and quality of life
AUTHORS: Pedlar, A., Lord, J., & Van Loon, M.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1989
Centre for Research & Education in Human ServicesThis report contains the results of a qualitative research study examining the issues of supported employment and quality of life. It is based on in-depth interviews with 12 individuals with developmental disabilities who were involved in supported employment, as well as additional interviews with others who knew these people well. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the study; Chapter 2 focuses on supported employment experiences; Chapter 3 presents quality of life issues; and Chapter 4 summarizes the research findings and discusses implications for the future of supported employment. Two of the key factors in positive supported employment experiences were: (1) the employer communicated in a direct and straightforward manner with the employee; and (2) the employment support worker facilitated the process of work integration by ensuring that it was the employee who took ownership of the position and that others in the workplace related directly with the employee. Other critical issues raised by study participants included: concerns about getting beyond entry-level jobs; and ongoing financial uncertainties.
P.O. Box 3036, Station C
Kitchener, ON N2G 4R5
CANADA
TITLE: Employment for all! A guide to employment and Employment for all! A guide for employers
AUTHOR: People First of Canada
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1996
In March of 1996, People First of Canada hosted a national employment forum called Employment for all! Included in the many results of this forum were the above two guidebooks. The first guidebook is a guide for people with disabilities on how to find a job. Written with the help of People First members and using their own stories as examples, this monograph discusses employment issues such as, finding a job, keeping a job, why would you want to get a job, why some people do not want to have a job, having a job, working, applications, and resumes. The second guidebook provides members' advice for employers on hiring a person with a disability. Topics discussed are: why should you hire someone with a label, how to give someone a job and how to help him or her keep that job, having an employee with a label, and giving people a chance.
TITLE: Supported employment: Models, methods, and issues
AUTHOR: Rusch, F. R. (Ed.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1990
Sycamore Publishing CompanyThis is a comprehensive book (25 chapters) covering many aspects of supported employment, with an emphasis on support as the hallmark of the approach and integration as its most defining contribution. This first 14 chapters, which deal with historical developments, experiences in several states, characteristics of programs, and methods, include some good discussions of worker-directed placement and promoting natural support and social acceptance. The chapter on worker-directed placement, for example, emphasizes the importance of organizing services so that workers with severe disabilities are assisted to achieve employment and other life goals, that are personally defined, rather than controlled or established by the service provider. In this discussion, the worker provides the guidance and the professional the technology the worker uses to realize his or her choices. The difficult process of transformation of traditional supported employment services to a program that understands and supports consumer choices is explained and a model for doing so is proposed.
P.O. Box 133
Sycamore, IL 60178
The next 7 chapters focus on issues in supported employment, including incentives and disincentives, cost-benefit analysis, conversion from adult day care, current national issues, and future opportunities, questions, and concerns. A final section focuses on the transition from school to work, looking at secondary vocational training, community planning, personnel preparation, and state planning.
TITLE: Future frontiers in employment of minority persons with disabilities
AUTHORS: Walker, S., Belgrave, F. Z., Nicholls, R. W., & Turner, K. A. (Eds.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1991
Howard UniversityThis monograph presents proceedings from a national conference on the future of employment for minority persons with disabilities that was held in 1990. It looks at four areas: policy implications, new frontiers in multicultural approaches, the future in assistive technology, and advancing frontiers through collaboration. Each section offers a number of articles illustrating the issues in relation to a variety of minority groups as well as raising national policy issues.
Research and Training Center for Access to
Rehabilitation and Economic Opportunity
2900 Van Ness Street, N.W.
Holy Cross Hall, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20008
TITLE: Building bridges to independence: Proceedings of the national conference
AUTHORS: Walker, S., Fowler, J. W., Nicholls, R. W., & Turner, K. A. (Eds.)
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1988
Howard UniversityThis report documents "...the first nationwide meeting focusing on issues concerning the employment of Black Americans with disabilities" (p. v). These written accounts of some of the major presentations which were made at the conference are of great interest with regard to understanding the particular issues involved in assisting African Americans with disabilities to obtain and keep good jobs.
Research and Training Center for Access to
Rehabilitation and Economic Opportunity
2900 Van Ness Street, N.W.
Holy Cross Hall, Suite 100
Washington, DC 20008
TITLE: Employment opportunities and career development
AUTHOR: Wehman, P.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1993
In P. Wehman (Ed.), The ADA mandate for social change (pp. 45-68). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.This chapter focuses on the implications of the ADA for employment opportunities and career development for people with a range of disabilities. It discusses the services that presently exist and how they can be improved as new opportunities are developed. The chapter is based on three themes: (1) the impetus for equal work opportunity promulgated by the ADA; (2) appropriate values of normalization (i.e., real work for real pay with a focus on careers for people with disabilities); and (3) existing research, which provides for an underlying empirical base for the type of adult/vocational service. A rationale for work and full employment for people with disabilities is the overriding theme of this chapter. In addressing full employment, numerous types of work options, including consumer driven alliances with local business and industry, are described. Also, the combined efforts of different local and state agencies, which can greatly influence vocational outcomes in respective states for persons with disabilities, are discussed.
TITLE: Supported employment and opportunities for integration
AUTHOR: Wehman, P.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION: 1993
In P. Wehman (Ed.), The ADA mandate for social change (pp. 69-88). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.While the ADA does not specifically address the concept of supported employment in the law or its regulations, the author feels that the underlying theme of the ADA, competitive work in a nondiscriminatory work environment, is highly consistent with supported employment. "The ADA does not focus on specific support mechanisms but instead requires a broader framework for business and societal change to develop reasonable accommodations." The chapter begins with a brief overview of the concept of support employment. Following sections discuss the ADA and supported employment, models of supported employment, and individual examples of successful supported employment. The final parts of the chapter focus on consumer advocacy and supported employment.
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