Accommodations and Supports for Employment April 28, 2010

1. Accommodations and Supports for EmploymentApril 28, 2010 In Partnership with: HispanosUnidosparaNinosExcepcionales (HUNE): The Mentor Parent Project, Inc.; Parent Education and Advocacy Leadership Center (PEAL); Parent Education Network (PEN)

2. Why do we work? • for security • to participate • to achieve

3. Why do we work? • for identity • to give service • to feel joy • for personal growth

4. Preparing for Employment What can parents and families do?

5. Families • Families are vital to the transition process for any youth and for all transition goals. • Parents and families are often the most helpful historians, providing the transition team partners with essential levels of detail about the background, experiences, interests, abilities and functional needs of the young person. • Family members who can contribute valuable information may include parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, family friends and foster parents.

6. Families • In preparing for an employment goal, family input early and throughout the transition process establishes a solid foundation for planning and building skills, critical connections and experiences. • Learning about work, watching parents and family members work at home, hearing about family member’s work, having responsibilities at home and in the neighborhood can be the foundation for future work experiences. • In addition to home, neighborhood and community experiences, parents can work with their child’s school to help create opportunities for career development and training.

7. So what can a family do???? • Foster independence by assigning specific responsibilities in the home. Build responsibility, choice making, a strong work ethic as well as pride in quality and quantity of work. • Build appropriate social and communication skills that will be needed in a work environment • Explore your neighborhood and community for experiences and training opportunities • Discuss future goals and adult realities with your child • Develop and support a work ethic common to the family culture • Discuss interests, abilities, aptitudes and needs in relation to career goals, personal interests versus avocations

8. More that you can do….. • Attend and participate in IEP meetings with your child. Using the PA Career Standards as a frame work, advocate for career development, exploration and training that align with your child’s goals and needs • Support your child’s efforts to be involved…even to lead their IEP meeting. • Complete parent surveys and needs assessment that are directed toward employment and post school goals and respond to grad surveys. • Encourage your child’s efforts to learn more about work demands and career options. • Help your child understand how their present levels of academic and functional performance relate to their education as well as to their future working and living environments.

9. Universal Truths • Work requires specific job skills, work ethic skills - including presence, social and communication skills, at least basic academic skills, team work, pride in work, ability to solve problems and to ask for help when needed. • Both learned helplessness and independence come from you • There is true dignity in risk but always work to learn from mistakes. • Self-determination is a learned behavior, based on experiences, attitudes and opportunities • In today’s world, individuals with disabilities are working and contributing in employment settings but the demands are high and the competition for each job is fierce. NO SILVER BULLETS

10. Familiescan help their children build skills, a desire to work, develop experiences and set goals that enable them to become contributors.

11. Relish is More than Hot Dogs: Helping Students Make Their Own Sweet Success This guide is written for parents, family members, educators, and service providers who would like to nurture the development of positive self-esteem in children and youth with disabilities. This guide talks about how adults can help young people develop positive self-direction and learn self-determination skills— students of all ages, in any grade or setting, and with any disability. http://www.nichcy.org/pubs/stuguide/ta4.pdf

12. Preparing for Employment What can high schools do?

13. Employment and High School Investing in Employment Post-Secondary Goals • integration of a strong vocational component into the curriculum before high school; • career focused and on-the-job training while in school; • inclusion of self-advocacy and self-determination skills in the curriculum; • assessment of needs before developing a student centered transition plan; • interpersonal skills, and job-related skills training for students;

14. Employment and High School Investing in Employment Post-Secondary Goals • involvement of students, parents, businesses, and community representatives in interagency transition teams; • supervised on-the-job training in the community with continuous support for both the employer and the student; • coordination between school and post-school activities; • inclusion of assistive technology in the academic and work-based learning experiences; • inclusion in general education classes; • coordinated services among vocational, regular and special education teachers, and counselors Source: Transition and Post-School Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities: Closing the Gaps to Post-Secondary Education and Employment National Council on Disability, Social Security Administration, November 1, 2000, http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2000/transition_11-01-00.htm#4

15. Guiding Principles • Provide skills and exposure to the workplace before being placed on worksites/paid internships. • School and work are connected. • Students need daily support and instruction while on worksites. • Transition requires a set of skills which can be taught. • Students enjoy learning about themselves. • Student driven ownership. • Eligibility vs. entitlement.

16. Guiding Principles • Real work for real pay. • Job maintenance skills are crucial to future success. • Self determination. • Link work based curriculum, instruction and assessment. • Curriculum infuses responsibility, communication skills, flexibility, self monitoring, problem solving skills, time management skills, teamwork skills and career development.

17. Continuum of Instruction • A critical element of the program design is the continuum of instruction. • Effective instruction for employment is: • Delivered in the classroom. • Skills are transferable to a variety of settings, including the workplace.

18. Essential Program Elements

19. Career ExplorationAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Why work? • Dreams and aspirations • Interest Inventories • Preferences and learning styles • Learning strategies • Self assessment • Understanding my disability and rights under the law • Understanding and requesting accommodations

20. Career ExplorationAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Class-based/school-based businesses/activities that teach work readiness • Extra-curricular activities to teach work readiness skills • Vocational assessment • Functional assessment • Situational (on the job) assessment • Portfolio development • Knowing and understanding my benefits

21. Understanding the Various Definitions of EmploymentAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Competitive Employment • Pays at least minimum wage • Integrated community setting • Full-time or part-time • Not set aside for people with disabilities • Supported Employment • Mainstream job in community • Pays at least minimum wage • Work setting includes people who don’t have a disability • Service agency provides ongoing support ; such as a job coach

22. Understanding the Various Definitions of EmploymentAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Sheltered Employment • Job in a segregated environment • Usually pays below minimum wage • Work setting includes mainly people who have a disability • Service agency provides direct support • Customized Employment • individualizing the employment • Meets the needs of both the individual and the employer • Based an the strengths, needs, and interests of the person with disability, • designed to meet the specific needs of the employer. • May include models such as: job carving, self-employment or entrepreneurial initiatives, or other job development • Provides reasonable accommodations and supports necessary for the individual to perform the functions of a job that is individually negotiated and developed

23. Work Readiness Skill DevelopmentAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Career Planning • Problem Solving • Decision Making • Teamwork • Social Skills • Interpersonal Skills • Follows instructions and completes tasks • Demonstrates positive attitudes and behaviors

24. Work Readiness Skill DevelopmentAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Being punctual and attends consistently • Time management • Appropriate appearance • Travel Instruction • Shows initiative • Learning/gathering pertinent information i.e. social security cards, birth certificates and legal Identification Cards [non driver ID] • Labor market knowledge

25. Work Readiness Skill DevelopmentAssessment Activities/Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Leadership • Understands wages and fringe benefits • Resumes and cover letters • Interviews • Applications and references • Follow-up/thank you letters

26. Work Based LearningAssessment Activities/ Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Job shadowing/job tryout (unpaid) • Career day (unpaid) • Service learning (unpaid) • Job tryouts (unpaid) • Non-paid training experiences (unpaid) • Internships (unpaid and paid) • Mentorships (unpaid and paid)

27. Work Based LearningAssessment Activities/ Goal Setting/Progress Monitoring • Training Experiences (paid) • Diversified Occupations (paid) • Cooperative Work Experiences (paid) • Apprenticeships (unpaid and paid) • Part time Work (paid) • Summer Work (paid) • Full time Work (paid) • Peer mentoring

28. Employment and the Law

29. Legislation Impacting Employment There are five important federal laws that protect individuals with disabilities from discrimination in employment and the job application process:

30. The Rehabilitation Act (Employment) The Rehabilitation Act authorizes funding for various disability-related purposes and activities: • Vocational Rehabilitation • Centers for Independent Living • Rehabilitation Research • 3 Sections that Prohibit Discrimination • Federal agencies, includes those who receive federal contracts and/or financial aid.

31. Americans with Disabilities Act (Employment) The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities and guarantees equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities in: • Employment • Transportation • Public accommodations • State and local government services, and • Telecommunications.

32. What is a Person’s Rights under the Employment Provisions of the ADA? The ADA makes it unlawful to discriminate in all employment practices such as: • recruitment • firing • hiring • training • job assignments • promotions • pay • benefits • lay off • leave • all other employment related activities

33. What Does the ADA Require an Employer to Do? Employers covered by the ADA have to make sure that people with disabilities: • have an equal opportunity to apply for jobs and to work in jobs for which they are qualified; • have an equal opportunity to be promoted once they are working; • have equal access to benefits and privileges of employment that are offered to other employees, such as employer-provided health insurance or training; and • are not harassed because of their disability.

34. ADA: Leveling the Playing Field (Employment) Reasonable accommodations are intended to ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities have rights in employment equal—not superior—to those of individuals without disabilities. Myth Under the ADA, employers must give people with disabilities special privileges, known as accommodations. Fact

35. Roles & Responsibilities of an Employer • The purpose of the ADA is to level the playing field, NOT to provide special privileges or charity. • Ensure there is NO job discrimination. • Identify ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE JOB. • It is NOT the responsibility of the employer to discuss the person’s disability. It is the person’s responsibility to request accommodations to meet the essential functions of the job.

36. How Do You Know if a Person is Protected by the ADA? (Employment) The first part of the definition makes clear that the ADA applies to persons who have impairments and that these must substantially limit major life activities. An individual with epilepsy, paralysis, HIV infection, AIDS, a substantial hearing or visual impairment, mental retardation, or a specific learning disability is covered, but an individual with a minor, non-chronic condition of short duration, such as a sprain, broken limb, or the flu, generally would not be covered.

37. The ADA Only Protects a Person Who is Qualified for the Job s/he Has or Wants • The individual with a disability must meet job-related requirements (for example, education, training, or skills requirements). • S/he must be able to perform the job's essential functions (i.e., its fundamental duties) with or without a reasonable accommodation.

38. What is a “Reasonable Accommodations” under the Employment Provisions of the ADA?

39. What is a “Reasonable Accommodations” under the Employment Provisions of the ADA? • In general, an accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities. • Under the ADA, employers are required to provide "reasonable" accommodations for employees with disabilities. Therefore, you can request any accommodation that is considered "reasonable."

40. Test of Reasonableness under the ADA An employer is required to make a reasonable accommodation to the known disability of a qualified applicant or employee if it would not impose an "undue hardship" on the operation of the employer's business.

41. When Does a Reasonable Accommodation Become An Undue Hardship? Undue hardship is defined as an action requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of factors such as an employer's size, financial resources, and the nature and structure of its operation. Undue hardship means that an accommodation would be unduly costly, extensive, substantial or disruptive, or would fundamentally alter the nature or operation of the business. An employer is not required to lower quality or production standards to make an accommodation; nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items such as glasses or hearing

42. Questions to Consider in Determining Employment Accommodations In seeking the answers to accommodation questions, it is essential to obtain input from the individual with the disability to achieve a successful accommodation outcome. The following questions may be helpful during the accommodation process:

43. Questions to Consider • What symptoms or limitations is the individual experiencing? • How do the individual's symptoms or limitations affect job performance? • What specific job tasks are problematic as a result of these symptoms and limitations? • What accommodations are available to reduce or eliminate these problems? • Are appropriate resources being used to determine accommodations?

44. Questions to Consider • Has the individual been consulted regarding possible accommodations? • Once accommodations are in place, would it be useful to meet with the individual to evaluate the effectiveness of the accommodations and determine whether additional accommodations are needed? • Do supervisory personnel and employees need disability awareness training or training on the Americans with Disabilities Act?

45. Tools to Determine Employment Accommodations

46. Requesting an Employment Accommodation requires Disability Disclosure • In order to request an accommodation, a person must disclosure his/her disability. This requires self-advocacy skills. • To Disclose or Not to Disclose …

47. Why to Disclose: • Obtain information on career plans • Disability-specific employment services • Employment requirements • Job requirements • With or without accommodations • Supports available • Mentoring and peer support

48. What and When to Disclose • When a person makes a disclosure about his disability, what is most important and helpful is to provide information about: • How his disability affects his capacity to learn and perform effectively, and • The environment, supports, and services he’ll need in order to access, participate in, and excel in his job. • The individual must decide what and how much of this sensitive information is necessary to reveal in order to obtain the needed accommodations.

49. What to Disclose: • Here is some information a person with a disability may choose to present to his employer, supervisor, work mentor, or co-workers: • General information about his disability; • Why he’s chosen to disclose his disability, including its impact on his job performance; • The types of job accommodations that have worked for him in the past (in school, previous jobs and in training situations); • The types of job accommodations he anticipates needing in the workplace; and • How his disability and other life experiences can positively affect his work performance. • Most importantly, keep the disclosure conversation focused on the person’s abilities, not his disability.

50. To Whom to Disclose Information A job seeker with a disability might disclose information to the following individuals: • Career counselors • Disability-specific adult employment services personnel • One-Stop Career Center personnel • Prospective employers or human resources personnel • Workplace mentors