Agencies Serving People With Intellectual Disabilities Finding Success With 'Micro-Businesses'

http://articles.courant.com/2011-11-28/news/hc-disabled-jobs-1128-20111125_1_favarh-firewood-crew
By Julie Stagis
In the month since the Oct. 29 snowstorm that damaged countless trees throughout the state and knocked out power for some towns for up to 12 days, The Arc of Farmington Valley's wood-bundling crew has worked nonstop to supply local businesses and residences with packaged firewood.
"We were getting calls left and right. … It was a real motivating factor for the crew," said Stephen Morris, executive director of the organization, which is commonly known as FAVARH. "They took an ordinary job and it allowed people to stay in their homes, which was … really a critical need."
The wood-bundling crew is one of several "micro-businesses" run by FAVARH, known as such because it was originally called the Farmington Valley Association for the Retarded and Handicapped.
FAVARH, like many other organizations throughout the state and nation that help people with intellectual, cognitive and developmental disabilities, has developed in-house, small businesses to provide jobs for those who want to work.
"Small businesses here are how we've responded to the economy," Morris said. "I like to think we're helping to right-size the economy. There aren't jobs for everyone who wants one."
"The folks that we support are the last hired and the first to go," Morris said. "In a down economy, it's even more obvious."
Some clients still work in groups, rolling silverware in restaurants or organizing magazine racks at the grocery store, and others are able to be employed individually, many as cashiers or store greeters. But organizations have found success in creating unique opportunities for those they help.
Hartford's Oak Hill, formerly known as the Connecticut Institute for the Blind, runs the New England Assistive Technology (NEAT) Disability Equipment Center, where used medical equipment is refurbished and sold at a steep discount to people who might be uninsured.
When it started nine years ago, 54 pieces of equipment were sold, according to Vice President Bruce Stovall. Last year, more than 1,500 pieces of equipment were sold.
"We're not just employing people with disabilities, we're helping them," Stovall said.
FAVARH has found success in recent years with a firewood operation, a landscaping crew and with shredding, bulk mailing and scanning businesses.
Last year, the wood crews sold more than 10,000 bundles of firewood to local gas stations and stores. The bundles are sold for $6 each, or $4 each when a store buys 50 or more, with free delivery included. After the storm, the crews sold 2,000 bundles in two weeks.
Using agencies like FAVARH for such services is beneficial to all involved, Morris said.
"It's cost-effective to use FAVARH, and it creates jobs for people with disabilities," he said. "People who use their services are playing a small part in balancing the economy to create jobs for everyone who wants them."
The agencies are finding niches in important jobs that companies sometimes don't want to pay their own staff to do — document scanning, for instance — and are also creating jobs based on their clients' abilities and interests.
At the Arc of Meriden-Wallingford, the Arc Eatery and Dot's Thrift Shop were both born from clients' dreams.
The restaurant was started as a pie-making enterprise years ago because it was hard for the individuals to find jobs in food service and, for many, "it's their real love," according to Pamela Fields, the agency's executive director.
When the agency moved to its 24,000-square-foot facility on Research Drive in Meriden in 2007, the full-scale, state-of-the-art kitchen opened.
The restaurant employs 17 people, has a full menu and operates from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. And it has "regulars," many from surrounding businesses.
Chef Joe Berg oversees the operation and works with people like Ray Weise to help them reach their goals.
Weise, 21, dreams of going to culinary school and eventually opening his own restaurant.
As recently as 10 years ago, much of the employment at places like FAVARH and the Arc of Meriden-Wallingford consisted of what was called sheltered workshops — generally, piecework from factories where clients would sit in a room and put together nuts and bolts, or whatever the factory needed. At the time, the Meriden Arc had 107 people doing that type of work, according to Fields.
Today, there are 10 people doing piecework there.
"The goal [today] is to get them out in the community," Fields said.
The state Department of Developmental Services, the national Arc and other organizations have started to steer agencies toward getting individuals more independent work, Fields said.
In addition, the economy has forced many of the factories and other businesses that used to employ those with disabilities to either close or cut back.
"Individuals used to be able to get a piece of a job," like only operating a cash register or fryer at a fast food restaurant, Fields said. "A lot have lost jobs because now they're expected to multitask."
When hundreds of people are going for a job, Fields said, people with developmental disabilities have a much smaller chance now because disabled people tend to need "set tasks."
"They look at us, and then at someone who has a family — they're going to hire the person who has a family," said Charles Monti, job developer for Cheshire-based Abilities Without Boundaries.
So the agencies have to get creative, because those they support "want to work," Monti said. "It's gnawing at them."

Helping student with Autism navigate college

A radio program about how Eastern Michigan University is accomodating students with autism.
http://michiganradio.org/post/helping-autistic-students-navigate-college-life

College Urged For ‘Glee’ Character With Down Syndrome

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2012/07/24/college-glee-down-syndrome/16092/

By Michelle Diament July 24, 2012 Text Size A A

When students on Fox’s “Glee” graduated this season, many considered college. Now a Twitter campaign is calling on the show’s writers to make the same plan for a character with Down syndrome.
Using the hashtag #College4Becky, a social media push launching this week is encouraging the “Glee” writers to send Becky Jackson to college at the end of the show’s next season. Though the character is believed to be a rising high school senior, little has been said about her future.
“All of Becky’s friends on the show are heading off to college next year. That’s something she can do too — but we haven’t yet heard what her plans are after graduation,” reads an open letter to the writers of “Glee” from the campaign’s organizers at Think College, a national clearinghouse on college options for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities that’s housed at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
“If you make college plans for Becky, you’ll be raising the expectations of all your viewers with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities,” the letter reads.
Currently, Think College’s database lists 199 postsecondary programs at colleges and universities across the country specifically for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Nonetheless, awareness of college options for this population often remains limited.
“We want to plant a seed,” said Meg Grigal, the co-director of the group behind the campaign. “College is a real option for people with intellectual disabilities.”
Lauren Potter, 22, the actress with Down syndrome who plays Becky Jackson on “Glee,” attends Irvine Valley College in Irvine, Calif. in real life.
“I know she will love the idea (of Becky going to college) because she loves the idea that she is in college,” Potter’s mother, Robin Sinkhorn, told Disability Scoop, adding that she had not yet had an opportunity to discuss the campaign with her daughter who was traveling Monday. “It would be a great storyline.”
Potter’s character has long been a fan favorite in the disability community and the actress has not shied away from taking a stand. She’s used her platform as a “Glee” cast member to raise awareness about bullying of people with disabilities among other issues and currently serves as a member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
Officials at Fox did not respond to a request for comment about the Twitter campaign.
“Glee” returns Sept. 13 on Fox.
Correction: This article has been corrected to reflect the fact that not all characters on “Glee” indicated plans to attend college.

Federal Government Works to Hire Workers with Disabilities

www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/federal/bs-md-federal-disabilities-20120713,0,1553346.story

baltimoresun.com

Government falls short of goal for hiring of the disabled

Government behind pace to meet Obama's goal

By Alison Knezevich, The Baltimore Sun

10:30 AM EDT, July 14, 2012

When Christopher Booher opens his email at work, a robotic voice rapidly reads the words to him.

As a blind employee at the National Institute of Mental Health in Rockville, Booher relies on the screen-reading software. But the 33-year-old says it's not just technology that makes him comfortable at work. When he interviewed for a job as a grants manager four years ago, the supervisor was open to working with someone who is blind.

"That sort of drew me toward this," Booher said.

After a decade in which employees with disabilities made up fewer than 1 percent of the federal workforce, President Barack Obama pledged in 2010 to make the federal government a "model employer" of people with disabilities. But hiring is behind the pace needed to meet the goal of 100,000 new workers to which he committed the nation.

The Government Accountability Office reported in May that the government had taken on 20,000 new employees with disabilities since Obama issued his executive order in 2010.

The GAO, the watchdog arm of Congress, said better planning is needed to meet the hiring goal.

An Office of Personnel Management review found that 29 of the 66 agencies that submitted hiring plans did not set numerical goals for new employees with disabilities, investigators wrote. Nine of the agencies did not identify a senior-level official responsible for their plans.

OPM itself, meanwhile, has not finished developing required training programs for the hiring managers and human resources personnel, the investigators found.

Veronica Villalobos, director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at OPM, said the agency agreed with the GAO's recommendations and is working to implement them.

"We are proud of the progress made to increase the number of individuals and veterans with disabilities in the federal workforce and are continuing to work hard to meet the goals of the executive order," she said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.

'Set an example'

Nick Pezzarossi says he always wanted to work for the federal government.

"I have a family to support," said Pezzarossi, the father of an infant. "I like to work … for the good of people, and the federal government offers that."

Pezzarossi, a human resources specialist with a Rockville office of the National Institutes of Health, is deaf. He uses a video phone to make calls at work. When he needs an interpreter, he can make a request online.

The 37-year-old called the NIH "very progressive." But Pezzarossi, who is vice president of the group Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government, says deaf people elsewhere in the federal government don't have access to interpreters or feel they can't grow in their careers.

"Some of them feel quite isolated," he said.

Pezzarossi and Booher hope the government will focus on putting people with disabilities in top management positions.

Booher says some employers don't know about all the resources that are available.

"They don't really understand how someone who's blind can come in and do work on a computer," he said.

Helena Berger, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Association of People with Disabilities, speaks of other obstacles. Employers might think a person with disabilities will call in sick more, or that it will be too costly to accommodate his or her needs.

She said those attitudes can be much tougher for workers to handle than physical challenges.

"Many times, those are the barriers that need to be broken down," she said.

Valerie Gill, director of the client services division of the NIH's human resources office, said the Bethesda-based agency has worked to train managers on how to reach out to people with disabilities.

For the past two years, NIH has held hiring events for people with disabilities and for military veterans. Another is scheduled for August.

"It's basically a talent pool that's largely untouched," she said.

Unemployment is a major concern for the disabled, Berger said.

The unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 13.3 percent last month, compared to 8.2 percent for the general population.

Berger said the federal government, as the largest employer in the U.S., "should set an example and be a benchmark" on hiring.

The proportion of federal workers with targeted disabilities — including deafness, paralysis, blindness and mental retardation — fell from 1.1 percent in 2000 to 0.88 percent in 2010, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The overall number of federal employees grew during the same period.

The opportunities

The GAO examined four federal agencies, including the Woodlawn-based Social Security Administration, to assess progress toward Obama's goal of 100,000 new hires.

Investigators reported that Social Security has shown commitment from top leadership on meeting the goal. The agency has set concrete goals, they said, and "accountability for results related to the executive order is included in the performance plan of the senior-level official responsible for implementing it."

Social Security spokeswoman Kia Green said the agency recruits nationally for people with disabilities, offers career counseling and maintains "a robust reasonable-accommodation program with centralized funding."

The agency developed a five-year plan for hiring and supporting employees with disabilities three years ago, Green said.

The Arc of Maryland, a statewide advocacy organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, plans to work with Social Security this fall on a career development program. The Arc also participates in a federal contracting program in which people with disabilities maintain the grounds at the agency's headquarters.

"There are so many different opportunities that they have," said Doug McQuade, the Arc's assistant executive director. "They have so many jobs with so many diverse skill sets."

But he said the application process itself can be an obstacle. Often, the first step to starting a career, whether with the government or in the private sector, is submitting an application electronically.

"We're not just someone looking for a job," he said. "We have a story. For someone to take the time to listen to that story and to know you makes all the difference. … [With] kiosks and websites, somehow you lose the story."

Career Week at a Camp

Via West's Career Week in Cupertino caters to special needs campers

By Molly Vorwerck

mvorwerck@mercurynews.com

mercuPosted: 07/09/2012 02:05:29 PM PDT

July 13, 2012 10:56 AM GMTUpdated: 07/13/2012 03:56:58 AM PDT

In a serene alcove of the winding Cupertino foothills, the Via West campus, complete with a horse corral, two swimming pools and a hiking trail, presents itself as a state-of-the-art summer camp facility.

But for the 82 developmentally disabled adults, their experience at the campus was much more than a chance to go swimming and ride horses. They attended the inaugural session of Via West's Career Week.

Although Via West hosts themed summer sessions and weekend respites throughout the year that teach life lessons to camp participants, Career Week marked the first time a session was devoted entirely to cultivating valuable skills that one day might grant them the ability to hold a job -- and attain some measure of independence.

Sandy Keefe has been working at the camp for 11 years after first taking her daughter, Allie, who has Down syndrome, for a weekend respite. In September, Keefe, longtime health care manager of Via West, was promoted to associate director. She thinks that these camp sessions have taught Allie, who is participating in Career Week, how to be a leader within this community.

"They come here and they develop leadership skills," she said. "It's really hard for our children and our young adults to develop leadership skills in the developing world, because they're almost always the followers, the ones who need support. When (Allie) comes here, she's a leader, and that's a really good feeling."

As part of Career

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Week, camp participants ranging in age from 17 to 82 spent five days learning the abilities necessary to succeed in situations that might accompany them on their paths to employment.


During the session, attendees learned such skills as how to use public transit, handle money and read maps. Participants even prepared DVD introductions for potential employers in an effort to showcase their social skills. In the past, Via West campers have attained jobs at Starbucks and Safeway; one has even become a full-time counselor at the camp.

Via Services, the mother-organization of Via West, was established in 1945 as the Crippled Children's Society of Santa Clara County Inc. by a group of local women with the goal of improving the quality of life for special needs children. The program, which changed its name to Via in 1995, has expanded to include a multitude of resources to address developmental delays experienced by young children, as well as provide year-round outdoor education retreats, like "Career Week," for both children and adults.

While the camp caters to individuals with all sorts of conditions, the most common disabilities are autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. Since their ailments often prevent them from caring for themselves, participants have personal counselors.

According to Leslie Davis, the director of Via West, the main goal of the counselors and staff during Career Week is to teach campers how to cultivate necessary life skills so they can one day function semi-independently, if not independently, in the real world.

"You want them to be able to do as much as they can for themselves without assistance, without their parents, without their caregiver," she said. "You want them to be able to live their own lives."

Since Davis has taken the helm, the facilities have undergone major renovations, including installing a horse corral and a walk-in freezer as well as repainting several lodges, the results of grants and donations from the community. The dining staff has even implemented a menu based on proper nutrition developed by "Deli-Dave" Gilbreth, the new services manager, to cater to the health needs of the participants, who often suffer from physical ailments in conjunction with developmental ones.

Beyond teaching these life lessons, however, Via West provides a community for the participants, many of whom return year after year.

Mike Montague, 49, has been attending Via West camps since 1996, after a car accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. "We're increasing our abilities," he said. "We all have special needs -- those are not ignored -- but they're not paid so much attention to that we can't grow and do more stuff."

Ultimately, however, he says that the greatest part of his experience has been developing "a feeling that I'm important because I am who I am."

Special education graduation rules could increase dropouts

July 12, 2012

http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/531809/Special-education-graduation-rules-could-increase-dropouts.html?nav=5008

By JESSICA COLLIER - Staff Writer (jcollier@adirondackdailyenterprise.com) , Adirondack Daily Enterprise

TUPPER LAKE - School officials are concerned that new graduation requirements for special education students could lead to more students dropping out before finishing high school.

Kelly Wight, director of special programs in the Tupper Lake Central School District, told the school board Monday night that soon, the state plans to phase out diplomas that special education students are currently able to get, called Individualized Education Program diplomas, or IEPs.

Now, students with disabilities have the option of graduating with an IEP diploma if the district's Committee on Special Education decides that it would be very difficult or impossible for a student to graduate with a regular diploma. They instead create a plan for students with specific goals outlined that need to be met in order for them to graduate.

But because No Child Left Behind, the federal education act, dictates that all children should graduate high school with a standard diploma, the state has been working to get rid of the IEP diploma in order to keep getting federal funds.

This year, the state Board of Regents voted to eliminate the IEP diploma entirely. Next year's senior class will have the last students who can graduate with an IEP diploma, Wight told the school board.

"I think that this is the one of the biggest changes in special education since - in the last 20-plus years, really - since the laws for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were passed," Wight said.

Students must have 22 credits and pass Regents exams in math, science, English and two social studies to graduate with a Regents diploma.

There was also an option for a local diploma, which was given to students who could pass a Regents Competency Test but not all the other Regents exams. That option was ended with students going into grade nine in 2011, Wight said. Juniors and seniors next year will be the last ones who can get local diplomas.

In the future, the only other option for students will be to earn a "skills and achievement credential." Wight said that option will be limited to students with the highest level of special needs.

"These are students typically who don't have language skills, don't have the ability to write and to do all the things to take a test," Wight said. "So a very, very small window of the population that would qualify for that," only about 1 percent of students, Wight said.

So almost every student, regardless of special needs, will need to meet those Regents diploma requirements to finish high school.

"It really means that in a very short period of time, essentially every student has to achieve every single standard and has to be prepared for the same outcomes as their non-disabled peers," Wight said.

To achieve that, Wight said the Tupper Lake district will need to move its special education resources more into the general education classrooms. That's something the district has been working toward in recent years.

School board members asked if the change would have an effect on the special education budget, but Wight said that since she's been working in that direction with staffing changes in the last few years, she doesn't think it will have a significant impact.

School board member Paul Ellis speculated that the change may keep students in high school for more years, costing the district more to accommodate students with special needs. Wight said that's possible, but she doesn't see it as likely.

"There are so few students who even see a fifth year of high school as something they're willing to commit to," Wight said.

Instead, it could lead to students dropping out before finishing high school.

"Before this affects budget, it's going to affect graduation rate," said district Superintendent Seth McGowan.

"That is my biggest fear, because we don't want students to see this as a hurdle they can't get over," Wight said.

Out of the 65 students who graduated this year, 15 had special needs. Four of them graduated with IEP diplomas, eight with local diplomas and three with Regents diplomas.

"It would significantly impact that group of kids," Wight said.

Ireland Concern over Disability Services

Concern over disability services

12th July 2012   

http://www.ireland.com/breaking-news/concern-over-disability-services/666356

One in four young adults with an intellectual disability or autism who left secondary school this year will have no further education, training, or day service placement in September.

The HSE said there was currently no place for 153 out of the 650 school leavers with an intellectual disability or autism who need further support from the disability services.

Several disability advocacy groups have demanded that Minister of State with responsibility for mental health Kathleen Lynch immediately address the issue and ensure a service is available for all young adults who require it in September.

Inclusion Ireland chief executive Paddy Connolly said the situation was not a new one. “This situation has repeated itself annually since 2008, yet young adults with disabilities and their families are again facing a summer of uncertainty and stress as they wait to be told whether a service will materialise in September,” he said

Mr Connolly claimed the development highlighted “disjointed leadership” and that Ms Lynch must take responsibility for it.

The Department of Health said in a statement that “the HSE is currently working with all relevant service providers to maximize the use of the available places”.

The HSE and disability service providers agreed that notifications would be issued to families from July 10th onwards if a place became available or if the young person was to be placed on a waiting list.

They acknowledge that the waiting period is a “difficult time for individuals and their families.”

“Every effort is being made to achieve an equitable and sustainable outcome.”

Tony Murray of the National Parents and Siblings Alliance, for family members of people with intellectual disability or autism, said even those who do secure some form of placement in September may not receive the service that best supports their needs.

“Many will get a three day service, when a five day service would better support them. When people are being squeezed into any available placements, then questions must also be raised about the quality of service,” he said