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
22 June 2007
Good morning everyone,
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 Farah
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 ]
[The full announcement is located under the section heading "Publications of the Week."]
Many Disability Program Navigators are members of their local Youth Councils and work to ensure that youth with disabilities are a priority for these coalitions. It would be beneficial to share this brief with your Youth Council members, which emphasizes that the pathway into the adult world for the more than 3 million young adults diagnosed with serious mental health conditions is extremely challenging. Youth and young adults who have been diagnosed with a Serious Emotional Disturbance or Serious Mental Illness (SED/SMI) such as major depressive or anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, or conduct disorder face a number of risks and challenges as they struggle to become adults. This brief examines the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Partnerships for Youth Transition Initiative, which brought together systems and resources in five sites to serve transition-age youth. It also looks at what’s next for federal and state policy, and what communities can do to support these youth.
Community safety is everyone’s concern. Research shows that offenders working in the community are less likely to recidivate. However, individuals with a criminal record face significant barriers to finding sustainable employment. On July 25, 2007, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) will assemble a diverse panel of experts working in community corrections, faith-based, victim services, and workforce provider environments during its 3-hour live broadcast to address this issue as it relates to community safety. The panelists will introduce participants to NIC’s systemic model for building bridges to employment for offenders.
This broadcast is available without charge to any agency or facility nationwide with access to the Internet or a satellite dish or downlink (both analog C-Band and digital KU-Band transponders). If your agency does not have its own satellite dish, check to see if a local college, federal prison, or hotel in your area has a downlinked meeting room. If you cannot find a site locally or need information on viewing the broadcast using the Internet then contact Ed Wolahan for assistance.
Participating sites that register by July 23, 2007, will be able to download satellite coordinates and Internet access information as well as the Site Coordinator and Participant Guides, and recommended reading materials from NIC’s web site at www.nicic.org. Local site coordinators will download and make copies of the Participant Guide for each participant. It is suggested that participants download the recommended reading material for their own information. Coordinators are strongly encouraged to convene their groups at least one hour before broadcast time and to continue discussions after the broadcast.
For more information, visit the NIC web site or contact Ed Wolahan at toll-free telephone 800-995-6429, ext. 4419 or 303-365-4419, or via e-mail at E–mail ewolahan@bop.gov. CLOSED CAPTION IS AVAILABLE.
Learn how to leverage workplace diversity in your organization at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Workplace Diversity Conference & Exposition. This is an excellent learning and networking opportunity for all professionals with responsibilities in diversity. Keynote speakers (including Marlee Matlin, the Deaf actress) will motivate and inspire you, and educational sessions will discuss current issues, best practices and contemporary research. You will leave this conference with a clear understanding of corporate diversity programs and their implementation.
The SHRM Diversity Initiative, established in 1993, seeks to foster awareness and appreciation of workplace diversity issues among HR professionals, their employers and other business leaders. The primary purpose of the initiative is to assist SHRM members by managing a diverse workforce by providing diversity-related research materials, workplace-applicable tools, publications and linkages with organizations. Making the business case for diversity and valuing individual differences are the cornerstones of SHRM's Diversity Initiative. For more information visit www.shrm.org/diversity.[ Get free Adobe Reader ]
Access the website for more information on the conference including registration and the agenda.
Data show that people with disabilities are consistently less likely to be working than their non-disabled counterparts. The Institute for Community Inclusion’s (ICI') Data Note #10 compares the employment rate for working age people with and without disabilities. According to the publication, in 2005, employment rates for people with disabilities averaged 37.4%, from 25.4% in West Virginia to 54.2% in North Dakota. Employment rates for people without disabilities ranged from 70.4% in West Virginia to 82.7% in North Dakota. The gap in employment rate between people with and without disabilities ranged from 24.2% in Utah to 45.3% in Kentucky, with a national average of 37%. Access the URL to see more employment information to discover trends among states, especially those with high employment rates.
CareerVoyages.gov is a website that enables users to explore career options. Offering information about high-demand, high growth jobs, this website gives the user useful information about what education and training would be required to pursue certain careers. CareerVoyages.gov helps the job-seeker by offering a list of hot jobs that can be searched for by state, by degree, or the top 50 in-demand occupations. CareerVoyages.gov is not simply a database of in-demand jobs; it also helps career-searchers plan their route to success. The website offers information for:
Disaboom.com is the revolutionary solution to the difficulties faced by an untapped market of more than 100 million adults worldwide living with disabilities and a valuable resource for their caregivers, families, rehabilitation providers and employers. People who have suffered from stroke, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, brain injuries, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, arthritis, knee replacements, hip replacements and back surgery have unique needs. Founded by J. Glen House, M.D., who is currently the Medical Director of Penrose Hospital’s Center for Neuro & Trauma Rehabilitation as well as a quadriplegic and leading voice for the disabled community, Disaboom.com is designed by doctors and fellow Disaboomers and is the first online company dedicated to providing a comprehensive resource to meet this market’s specific needs with customized expertise.
When the Disaboom.com site launches in September of 2007, it will transform the way people with disabilities live their lives. Every tool they want or need from finding medical information written in easy-to-understand language to buying disability specific products, from taking a vacation to building relationships with other Disaboom members, from travel tips and reviews to entering athletic events or checking the weather, will be in one place. It’s an all encompassing community that meets basic needs, but also educates its audience about their conditions and strives to improve the overall quality of their lives. Disaboom.com’s goal is to become the single most important website for those living with disabilities.
Moving from adolescence to adulthood — leaving home, going to school or work, buying a house, perhaps starting a family — is a significant transition for anyone. For the more than 3 million young adults diagnosed with serious mental health conditions, the pathway into the adult world is even more challenging. Youth and young adults who have been diagnosed with a Serious Emotional Disturbance or Serious Mental Illness (SED/SMI) such as major depressive or anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder, schizophrenia, or conduct disorder face a number of risks and challenges as they struggle to become adults.
This brief examines the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Partnerships for Youth Transition Initiative, which brought together systems and resources in five sites to serve transition-age youth. It also looks at what’s next for federal and state policy, and what communities can do to support these youth.
[The following is excerpted from the article.]
People with disabilities are rarely looking for sympathy, but the overwhelming majority of them are searching for jobs, which can be hard to find as they face an extremely high unemployment rate and are often stigmatized. “Seventy-five percent of people with disabilities who are of working age are unemployed,” said Ken Skord, project manager for AbilityLinks.org in Wheaton. “Two-thirds of those who are unemployed are actively looking for work and express a willingness to do so.”
For years, these individuals have faced this problem as they attempt to enter the workforce; many times they do so after a life-altering accident. And while many of them have achieved the highest levels of education and have a wealth of experience, they find that it is a different job market they face under these circumstances. There are approximately 51 million people with disabilities, or 18 percent of the nation’s population. Yet while they comprise a rather large pool of workers, many are never afforded the opportunity to showcase their skill or talent. Many simply can not get job interviews because companies are afraid of asking the wrong questions in the process and being subjected to lawsuits, while others are afraid that an employee with a disability would cost them significantly in terms of workplace accommodations.
While these beliefs have been proven to be untrue, they still inhibit many able people from obtaining work that would not only benefit themselves but also their potential employers. “In our society value is often determined by productive gainful employment,” said Kathleen Yosko, president and CEO of Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton. “People with disabilities are not an exception and they want to work. They want to be valued for their contribution.” Yosko has been in the rehabilitation field for 35 years, but when she began at Marianjoy she knew that she wanted to take the process beyond rehabilitation and reintroduction to the community. She wanted to make it a unit for advocacy as well. “I didn’t want to speak on behalf of people with disabilities, because they are capable of doing that for themselves,” said Yosko. “But we did want to become partners with them in the process.”
[The following is excerpted from the article.]
"This project reaffirms that having the right contacts creates opportunities," says Janet Samuelson, president and CEO of ServiceSource, Inc <http://www.ourpeoplework.org/>. The project is a unique pro bono study undertaken by Booz Allen Hamilton that assessed employment trends for persons with cognitive disabilities. And the opportunities are being found in hundreds of potential jobs for disabled workers, in markets that have largely been overlooked. ServiceSource helps individuals with significant cognitive disabilities find employment in businesses and government agencies. But declining federal funding, competition from for-profit companies, and technological innovations have seriously undermined job options for the non-profit's clients.
Samuelson acknowledges the dilemma in placing people with disabilities. “The labor force has changed,” she says. “Technology has displaced the data handling jobs we had been able to place before. Manufacturing and data management jobs have gone offshore. We needed a broader approach to how to find job matches for people with particular needs.” So she turned to a long-time ServiceSource board member for ideas: Booz Allen Chairman and CEO Dr. Ralph Shrader. "With Booz Allen's dedication to diversity and our accomplishments in promoting employment for people with disabilities, we were well positioned to address those concerns," says associate and project co-lead Cindy Coogan. The Booz Allen team conducted more than 80 interviews with employers, government officials, and disability employment experts. They spent four months researching industries that included banking and finance; biotechnology; communications; IT; consulting; professional services; healthcare; hospitality; legal services; associations; restaurants; retail; telecommunications; and transportation.
Access the article to read a summary of the conclusions from the co-lead of the project, Bob Rudney.