Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/dpn/
and
The Burton Blatt Institute
Syracuse University
http://bbi.syr.edu
One–Stop Toolkit
Resources of the Week Technical Assistance Project E–Mail listserv
2 May 2008
Good morning everyone and Happy May,
Below please find the web site and publication of the week, as well as other resources that we hope will be useful as you work on systems change activities to help improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
To subscribe and / or view past resources of the week archives, access: www.onestoptoolkit.org and click on the link to "Resources of the Week" on the right hand side of the home page.
To view an indexed list of the resources of the week by subject matter, visit the L.P.H.D.C. web site at http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/resources/wig/default.asp. It currently includes 20 categories, covering over 300 annotated references. Each category opens to a new window with each Resource of the Week which covered material in that area.
Have a good day and weekend!
Laura Gleneck
Program Associate
Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
P: 617–489–0086
F: 617–489–1374
[ E–mail Lgleneck@mail.law.uiowa.edu ]
[ E–mail LFarah8@aol.com ]
[ http://www.onestoptoolkit.org ]
Hello Navigators,
Well, this week is really hard for me to select just one or two resources to highlight that I felt were of special interest to Disability Program Navigators. There really is a little of something for everyone depending on what you might be working on and with at the moment. So, instead I think I will provide a little synopsis and you can pick the ones that have relevance to your current work and check them out in more detail…so, here goes.
Hopefully, you will find something useful to make your job, and those you work with, just a little easier!
Our mission is to provide an overview of select national surveys used to generate key disability statistics.
The joint Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics (StatsRRTC) and Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) Web Conference provides a high-quality online overview of select national surveys used to generate key disability statistics. The presenters will discuss and illustrate the relevance, availability, and quality of existing data sources for centers for independent living and state disability public policy advocates. This course will additionally outline how participants can use these data to enhance grant and funding application preparation as well as target outreach to unserved and lesser-served communities in their states.
Full participation in this web conference series requires access to email, a telephone line and a computer with internet access. A high speed internet connection is recommended but not required. The webinar will be captioned for the hearing impaired.
MELISSA J. BJELLAND, PhD, is a Research Associate at the Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell University in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Extension Division. She is currently the Project Manager of an employment disability nondiscrimination study using the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commissions Integrated Mission System. Dr. Bjelland additionally serves as Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director in examining the impact of environmental factors on disability and the decision to work using the American Community Survey. In this capacity, she works with teams to plan and conduct analyses of cross-sectional and longitudinal research files using national survey and administrative datasets to evaluate the impact of changes in policies that advance the employment of people with disabilities.
RAYMOND CEBULA III, JD, is a member of the Extension Faculty of Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute. As a faculty member, he has provided technical assistance and training to Protection and Advocacy program attorneys and paralegals in 16 states and territories covered by Cornell’s Work Incentive Support Center and written extensively on matters of concern to disabled individuals who are attempting to return to work. He is the principal instructor of EDI Online; a series of Social Security related certificate courses offered by the Institute. As an experienced social security disability attorney Mr. Cebula practiced with the Disability Benefits Project as a Senior Staff Attorney with the Disability Law Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He has also served as a Managing Attorney of the Disability and Medicare projects at Southeastern Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. He is a graduate of Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, NH and received a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship upon graduation. He is also a graduate of Merrimack College and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. His practice has concentrated in the area of social security practice and has brought several pieces of significant litigation on behalf of low income, disabled social security beneficiaries. While working with the Disability Law Center, Mr. Cebula taught at Harvard Law Schools Legal Aid Bureau for a period of three academic years. He is the co-author of the MCLE publication An Advocates Guide to Surviving the SSI System, several SSI practice manuals published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, and an extensive listing of Policy and Practice Briefs housed in the ILR School Library. He is a regular presenter of social security related programs at local and national conferences of social security practitioners.
BILL ERICKSON, MS, is a Research Specialist with the Employment and Disability Institute (EDI) at Cornell University and has been actively involved with disability research for the past seven years. Since 2003 he has been providing high quality Technical Assistance regarding a wide variety of disability statistics for the Cornell University Disability Demographics and Statistics RRTC. He was the project manager for the 2006 Disability Status Report series and developed all the estimates used in the 2005 and 2006 Status reports. He is the coauthor of A Guide to Disability Statistics from the 2000 Decennial Census and has worked extensively with the American Community Survey Public Use Microdata files. He has Census Bureau Special Sworn Status that allowed him to perform analysis on US Census Bureau restricted datasets of Census 2000 and the ACS 2000-2005 under a NIDDR funded FIR. He is intimately involved in design and content of DisabilityStatistics.org and developed the Census 2000 data available on that site. He is co-PI and Project Manager of a NIDDR funded Project regarding web accessibility and usability for persons with disabilities and has been responsible for the management and analysis of several disability related surveys of federal and private employers.
THOMAS P. GOLDEN, MS, CRC, is the Associate Director of the Employment and Disability Institute in the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell University and has been on faculty since 1991. As a faculty member he has been a contributor to the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Economic Research on Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities and the Disability STATS RRTC at Cornell sponsored by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Partly in his capacity with the RRTC he has trained and disseminated relevant information and statistical data nationally and internationally co-authoring the foundation paper for a joint U.S.-U.K. symposium sponsored by the Department of Labor focusing on a comparative analysis of return to work best practices with an emphasis on evidence-based research and prevalence statistics and most recently a few book chapters building off this work. In addition, he has directed the Center for Educational Achievement and Training, the Work Incentives Support Center and several other state initiatives focusing on community participation and inclusion of people with disabilities.
For questions or assistance, please contact:
Melissa Burress, Cornell University
Employment and Disability Institute
201 ILR Ext. Bldg., Ithaca, NY 14853
Phone: 607-255-7727 Fax: 607-255-2763
Email: E–mail mb376@cornell.edu
On the “Forms & Publications” section of the Social Security Administration’s Work Site, you can access marketing materials for the Ticket to Work Program. Click on the link to “Marketing Materials” and you can download and view the following documents:
While on the website, check out the other links to access more information about disability and working.
According to government statistics, between October 2001 and February, 2008, more than 30,000 veterans serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and surrounding duty stations have been wounded in action. Many of them have lost a hand or limb or been severely burned or blinded. Others have been diagnosed with hearing loss, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and other service-connected disabilities. Despite their injuries, many veterans who leave active duty are able to work.
This guide answers questions that veterans with service-connected disabilities may have about the protections they are entitled to when they seek to return to their former jobs or look to find their first, or new, civilian jobs. It also explains changes or adjustments that veterans may need, because of their injuries, to apply for, or perform, a job, or to enjoy equal access to the workplace. Finally, this guide includes resources on where veterans can find more information about the employment rights of individuals with disabilities.
Each year, thousands of military personnel stationed around the world leave active duty and seek to return to jobs they held before entering the service or look to find their first, or new, civilian jobs. According to government statistics, between October 2001 and February, 2008, more than 30,000 veterans returned home with service-connected disabilities (e.g., amputations, burns, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injuries).
At least two federal laws provide important protections for veterans with disabilities. The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), which is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), sets forth the requirements for reemploying veterans with and without service-connected disabilities. Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces, prohibits private and state and local government employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating against individuals on the basis of disability. Title I of the ADA also generally requires covered employers to make reasonable accommodations – changes in the workplace or in the way things are usually done that provide individuals with disabilities equal employment opportunities. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act applies the same standards of non-discrimination and reasonable accommodation as the ADA to Federal Executive Branch agencies and the United States Postal Service.
This guide briefly explains how protections for veterans with service-connected disabilities differ under USERRA and the ADA, and then describes how the ADA in particular applies to recruiting, hiring, and accommodating veterans with service-connected disabilities.
For many people, an explanation of how assistive technology applications can provide access to the electronic and information environments is helpful, but experiencing how the technology actually works enhances the learning experience. For this reason the Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) has developed closed-captioned video demonstrations of voice recognition software, screen magnification software and refreshable Braille technology.
For more information, contact CAP at 703-681-8813, 703-681-0881 (TTY), CAP@tma.osd.mil, or contact CAPTEC at 703-693-5160, 703-693-6189 (TTY), CAPTEC@tma.osd.mil.
What tools, technology, and related skills are needed to be a success in today’s world of work? Get answers with the new Tools & Technology Search on O*NET OnLine. Find related in-demand occupations by searching on a specific machine, equipment, tool, or software used on the job.
[The following is excerpted from the Introduction.]
Improving the employment and other vocational outcomes of individuals living with a disability has long been a goal of policymakers, program operators and individuals living with a disability. In recent years, to advance this goal, the U.S. Social Security Administration has embarked on several major initiatives such as the Ticket-to-Work program and the Youth Transition Demonstration project that aim to improve the employment outcomes of individuals living with a disability.
These projects build on earlier research that demonstrates that the most effective way to increase employment among individuals living with a disability is to help them obtain employment directly rather than providing treatment or lengthy pre-employment assessment, training, and counseling. This approach is consistent with the employment focus of state Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. Because TANF recipients living with a disability sometimes lack credentials such as a high school diploma or work experience, they are not always successful in finding paid competitive employment, even with extra job search assistance. To provide work opportunities when the paid labor market fails, some TANF agencies have implemented special initiatives to create targeted work opportunities for TANF recipients living with a disability. Jobs may take the form of unpaid work experience positions (where the clients continue to receive TANF benefits and work for no additional compensation), paid subsidized employment positions (where TANF funds are used to pay clients’ wages for the hours they work), or unsubsidized employment positions (where the TANF program provides support to clients, but the employer pays clients’ wages).
This practice brief is designed to be a resource for policymakers and program administrators interested in creating work opportunities for TANF recipients. The first section describes some of the potential benefits and challenges associated with creating work opportunities. The second section presents case studies of three programs that illustrate how these programs are designed and structured. Finally, looking across the case study programs, we identify the key program elements that may be considered in creating similar programs.
This is one of four practice briefs examining strategies TANF agencies may consider implementing to help TANF recipients living with a disability to realize their full employment potential. Other briefs in the series include: Conducting In-Depth Assessments, Creating TANF and Vocational Rehabilitation Agency Partnerships, and Providing Specialized Personal and Work-Based Support. These briefs draw on case studies of nine programs that have been implemented by states or county welfare agencies to provide specialized services to TANF recipients living with a disability who have not succeeded in traditional job search programs. None of these programs has been rigorously evaluated, thus, their effectiveness remains unknown. Still, they provide important information on program design and implementation that program administrators can use to craft strategies that take into account their program goals and the unique features of their TANF caseload. These briefs were completed by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. under contract to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration for Children and Families. Links to the three other briefs in this series can be accessed at http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/enews/.
The National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) is pleased to announce the release of a new online publication: Emergency Management Research and People With Disabilities: A Resource Guide. This resource guide is the culmination of cooperative efforts by NIDRR, the Department of Education, the Research Subcommittee of the Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities (ICC), and the New Freedom Initiative Subcommittee of the Interagency Committee on Disability Research.
The guide provides a listing and description of research projects funded by the federal government and nonfederal entities, research recommendations that have come out of conferences on emergency management and disability, and a bibliography of relevant research publications. It is our hope that this guide will facilitate the development and implementation of a nationwide research agenda on emergency management and people with disabilities, so that we can develop a strong evidence base about the best ways to ensure the safety and security of people with disabilities in emergency and disaster situations.