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Employment

UCP’s Employment Channel provides information on public policy, legislation and options for persons with disabilities seeking employment, as well as information for disability employers who are sensitive to people with disabilities and provide jobs for the disabled.

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Employment: Employment Supports

Job Development for People with Disabilities: Overview

Assisting people with disabilities to find employment is in many ways not much different than working with any other customer. Like anyone else, people with disabilities need to:

  • have a clear idea of the type of job they wish to pursue
  • consider what type of work environment would be the best fit for them
  • use their personal and professional networks as a key component of their job search.
The biggest difference for people with disabilities is that they may need some support and assistance as they go through a job search, and that some of the steps are somewhat more planful, intensive and deliberate. There also may be some considerations that must be addressed as a result of their disability, such as disclosure of disability to employers. Many of the techniques used to assist people with disabilities are also effective with other individuals who are considered to have "barriers" to employment.

Job ready? Jobs now! The issue of job readiness and job matching

Programs and services for people with disabilities have often focused on the concept of "job readiness", spending months and even years getting an individual "ready" for employment. However, one thing that has been proven consistently is that professional "experts" are poor predictors of who will and won't succeed in employment.

Instead of worrying about job readiness, focus on "job matching": finding a job environment and description that suit the current interests, support needs, personality, and skills of the individual with a disability. Starting with the belief that anyone can work, provided that they have a job that's a good match, will go a long way towards assisting people with disabilities to find employment. Once people are done with their formal education, they are for the most part as "job ready" as they are going to be. As advocate Gerry Provencal has said, "We're far too patient with the passage of time for people with disabilities. Time is as precious for a person with a disability as it is for all of us."

  • A woman who is loud and boisterous gets a job working in a warehouse, where other people are loud and sociable. Another person with a similar personality gets a job in a "bargain basement" sales floor which is full of activity.
  • An individual with limited physical movements, who uses a wheelchair, gets a job doing data entry. He enters data by hooking his augmentative communication device (a computerized device through which he "speaks") into a computer.
  • An individual who is quiet, and prefers not to interact with others, gets a job doing filing and other solitary clerical tasks.
  • A man who has issues with hygiene gets a job in a recycling plant.
  • A person who needs periodic assistance gets a job in an office environment where people work in an open space with a good deal of interaction.
  • A person whose disability is cyclical in nature gets a job in an environment that offers flexible hours and time off policies.
  • A woman with mental retardation, who needs periodic monitoring, gets a housekeeping job in a hotel cleaning the public areas (the lobby, offices, hallways). She uses a picture book to keep track of her tasks.
The role of further education and training

The emphasis on job matching does not preclude consideration of additional job training and education (possibly through the use of an ITA to enhance an individual's job skill). People with disabilities, like others, may need such training to attain work goals.

Job development where to begin

In assisting a customer with a disability to find employment, the One-Stop system staff should begin by working with the individual as they would with any other customer, selecting the most useful options from the full range of services and resources that exist within the center. What classes, assessment tools, and activities are available? Does the person need to work on their resume or interview skills? Will there be on-site employer presentations and interviews in which the person can participate? During this process, One-Stop staff should work with the individual to determine:

  • the types of assistance and accommodations the person will need to fully access and benefit from One-Stop services.
  • the additional supports and resources—beyond the typical One-Stop services—the person needs to find and keep a job.
Use ALMIS

As with any other customer, One-Stop staff should assist people with disabilities to use the resources of America's Labor Market Information System (ALMIS) and America's Career Kit. Among these resources are:

  • America's Job Bank, the world's largest pool of active job opportunities.
  • America's Learning Xchange, which provides information on career exploration, training, education, testing, assessment, and other career tools.
  • America's Career InfoNet, which includes a wealth of information on job trends, wages, and national and local labor markets.
  • O*NET Online, a database that describes a wide variety of occupations, their requisite skills, and earnings potential.

The assessment and career exploration tools of O*NET (Interest Profiler, Work Importance Locator, Ability Profiler). Additional information on these O*NET tools is available at: http://www.onetcenter.org/product/tools.html

Get beyond task skills

Job development for people with disabilities tends too often to focus exclusively on an individual's task skills. Yet many people (with and without disabilities) succeed or fail on a job based not on their skills but how well they fit into the social environment of the workplace. When developing successful employment opportunities, consider:

  • What environments does the individual enjoy?
  • In what environments have they succeeded?
  • What social skills do they bring to the work environment?
  • In what environments would their personality & social skills be considered an asset? For example, a customer service director would value a friendly, outgoing applicant; a quiet person might be better off doing clerical work.
  • What types of work environments should be avoided?

Source: NWCD