Emmett on Employment

[Guest guest]

Illinois

Parents of Adults with Developmental Disabilities November, 2006 “Ask the Expert”

Summary http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/IPADDUnite/ Guest: Emmett Topic: Employment What follows is a

series of questions posted by IPADD members to Emmett about employment

issues and practical strategies to help create community integrated job

opportunities with local businesses. There are also some Parent Perspective

narratives at the end that are very informative and offer practical advice from

parents who’ve helped their adult children find employment. The material has

been edited for brevity and clarity…if you would like to read the posts in

their entirety please join or visit http://health.groups.yahoo.com/groups/IPADDUnite/. About

: Emmett is a national leader in assisting corporations

in development of outreach efforts to the disability community. He is an

individual with a disability and a parent of three daughters with disabilities.

currently serves as the Senior Vice President of ENSA Healthcare

(www.ensahealthcare.com) and is a Partner in the consulting firm Two Steps

Forward (www.twostepsforwardinc.com). He is a Ph.D. candidate in

Rehabilitation Psychology at Illinois Institute of Technology. recently completed 1.5 years working as

the Disability Program Manager for Walgreen’s setting up the company's national

disability initiative (www.walgreensoutreach.com). He is assisting Easter Seals

National in laying the foundation for their national autism services network

(www.easterseals.com/autism).

has also worked with companies such as UPS, ABN Amro/LaSalle Banks,

Century Tile, and the Brookfield Zoo in developing outreach efforts targeting

the disability community. He served as the Project Director for three award

winning research/demonstration projects examining career development and

transition strategies for individuals with autism and other disabilities

(www.vocationalalliance.com). has presented at over 200 national, state,

and local conferences on issues related to career development, transition, the business

community, and disability. INITIAL

THOUGHTS FROM JAMES: As an

individual with a disability, a parent of children with disabilities, and a

vocational rehabilitation professional - I have learned a ton of hard lessons

about the "system" and its impact over the years. But, below

are some lessons and self-disclosure that I want to communicate to everyone in

this group about the business community and employment. In past

years, I have set up award winning employment service programs for people with

disabilities and have developed and run award winning research &

demonstration projects on that topic as well. So, today, where are most

of these programs & projects? Either struggling for funding or gone

away because of lack of funding to renew. Now, I know that part of

leadership is helping programs and projects continue to thrive after the leader

moves on, so part of the above struggles I think are on my ability to set

programs up for long-term success. But, some of the struggles cut to

lack of funding in the vocational rehabilitation world. Two years

ago, I read and wondered - where is the impact, what is going to make a true

change in the 66.7% unemployment rate of people with disabilities? My

professors in my Ph.D. Program in Rehabilitation Counseling told me it has to

come from government funding & programs. Then, Randy &

Jeannie Hamilton from Walgreen’s came into my life. They told me of their

vision to start a disability outreach initiative that hopefully changes the

company and eventually the world. I do a few days of consulting with them

initially and eventually spend the next 1.5 years as the Disability Program

Manager helping set up the Disability Outreach Program (www.walgreensoutreach.com). What 1.5

years at Walgreen’s taught me is that the future of the field of vocational

rehabilitation and job placement for people with disabilities does not lie with

the government; it lies squarely with the business and corporate

communities. Building Walgreen’s initiative strongly showed me

how targeted recruiting programs focused on the disability community will

have a positive bottom line impact on companies. The reality is

Walgreen’s is doing this not because it is the "good" thing to do,

but it is the "right" thing to do because it will save the

stockholders money and tap into a vastly under tapped labor source. So, what is

the main problem with not-for-profit run employment programs? Well, let’s

use me as the example. Five years back, I helped develop a job

development model that is now used across Illinois

called the "focus business model". The model tries to help job

placement specialists operate more from a "business development"

standpoint than a "charity" approach when working

with businesses in helping people with disabilities find jobs. What

I now realize is that I was not operating from a business approach, just maybe

more of an advanced "charity" viewpoint. The bottom

line for me is that the disability community has to take back the power with

the American business community. The facts are undeniable: * 54 million

people with disabilities in the US plus families, friends, and supporters represent the most

powerful customer & labor source in the country * People with

disabilities have an annual discretionary spending power of $220 billion * 20 million

of 70 million US families have at least one member with a disability (1 out of 10

families raising children have at least 1 child with a disability) * With the

baby boom generation retiring, people with disabilities are the last untapped

labor source (66.7% unemployment). With the

facts above, you would think that every company in the country would have

recruiting in the disability community as a huge part of their Diversity

Strategy and targeting the disability community as a huge part of their

Marketing Strategy. This is not the case, but a movement is starting

to happen. Go to www.walgreensoutreach.com,

or www.wellsfargo.com to see

Accessibility on the home page, or research Starbuck's "Wake Up

Call" Program that targets individuals with disabilities. Now, a number

of people have come up to me lately and ask “How can you hope in a business

community that has stigmatized people with disabilities for so many years?”

And, I do not deny that there are businesses out there that hold extreme

biases, but most of the businesses that I have come in contact with are

basically afraid to start disability related outreaches because of fear of the

unknown. With a little education, it is amazing how attitudes and beliefs

can change. So, now I am

spending the lion’s share of my time talking with companies on setting up

outreach efforts like Walgreen’s. Consumerism is empowerment. We

hold the power in the disability community and we need to start communicating

to the business world on a "business" level not a "charity"

level. Groups like yours hold the power for change - the next time you go

to the grocery store, to rent a car, stay at a hotel or whatever, ask for the

Manager and ask him or her three simple questions with the acronym RAM: 1)

Recruiting: Does your company recruit workers with

disabilities? How? 2)

Accessibility: What has your company

done in terms of making your services accessible to the disability community? 3)

Marketing: How does your company market to the

disability community? If the Manager

gives a few reasonable answers, praise him or her, say you will tell all your

contacts, and give him/her some sources to get more information and/or a few

facts from above. Then, come back and tell this group about what you

learned. If the Manager

says nothing - then say you would like to see more and give him/her some

sources of information and/or facts from above. Imagine the

impact if we all did this at 5 or 10 businesses a year that we shop at? So in

conclusion, I am not saying that we should end our lobbying for funding from

government and other sources to keep the transition and employment programs

going. What I am saying is that I see a future where it is the business

community that ultimately makes the significant difference in lowering the

unemployment rate of people with disabilities. So remember, WE hold the

power - we just have to help the business community understand the

enormous benefits of partnering with the disability community. Q: Hi . I am a mother of a 14 year old boy with Autism. You have

given me hope that my son can work in the community he has lived his whole life

in. How do we best educate our local communities? Do we get the Chamber of

Commerce members, Vocational teachers from the High Schools and local service

providers together and show them what has been done in other businesses? Or

should we get together a handout with some bullet points and talk to business

owners 1 on 1? How would you recommend spreading the word?

A:

I think the best way to gain the attention

of local businesses is to establish a plan with your local groups that have

interest in this topic and then give companies information at multiple

levels. Remember, the key here is that most businesses are not trying to

exclude people with disabilities, but they have a fear of the unknown and they

hear things like Target & Starbucks being sued for disability related

issues and this piles on to their already established stigmas. We need to

get to businesses and show them why they will WIN with an aggressive disability

outreach. So, I recommend: 1) Calling

your local Chamber of Commerce and asking if they want information to pass out

to members, a story for their newsletter, or to co-host an informational

session on business & disability. 2) Call the

offices of your local leadership (mayor, state reps, US reps) and ask if they

want more information on how to educate the local business community on the

benefits of a disability outreach and ask them to support you moving forward. 3) Going

individually to local businesses as a customer and asking about their

recruiting/marketing efforts to the disability community and being able to give

them more information if they ask. 4) Going to

local and state industry associations and asking them how/if they are including

the disability community into their planning. One important

thing to remember is that for companies who have worked with special education

or vocational rehabilitation professionals in the past, they often report a

lack of follow through or "false promises" from these

individuals. I think it is important to develop a packet of information

and/or partnerships with your local transition program/community based

organization so businesses can gain the follow-up that they need. So, if

you find a manager who says, "I really want to do more outreach to the

disability community" - you can give information, support, and resources

to help them do just that. Q: On the subject of getting community businesses on board, let's

say a mom approaches her local Chamber and they say 'yes!! we'd like more

information about

hiring people with disabilities'...then what does she do? A: I think it is a good idea to

put a small packet of information on business & disability together.

Q: When you talk about local groups

partnering, who are you referring to?

A: I am thinking about your local

Transition or Voc Rehab people, the individuals that can help you follow-up

with services if a business is interested. So, in Naperville, for example… you

may speak with Cornerstone, Spectrum, your local DRS office, or maybe the

Transition Programs at the school districts.

Q: And am I understanding you -- that because we are residents of the

community as well as consumers/customers, hearing from us could potentially carry

more weight with a Chamber than having a Voc Rehab or agency professional

approach them? A: Yes, you all have the power -

as a customer group you are so valuable to businesses which make you valuable

to the Chamber. Q:

What are some 'global truths' about employment that you wish all parents of

middle & high school-aged students knew? What are some of the most

important things to be working on while the kids still have services in school? A: Well, a few global truths from my

experience: 1. In school,

we often work in our IEP & Transition Plans on developing goals that focus

on improving the child's deficits, and that is ok, but NEVER forget to develop

your child's strengths and interests. It will be these strengths and

interests that guide his/her career. 2. The adult

service world can be a tough place so it is critical that you work with your

school team to help your son/daughter gain actual, real life work experience

while still in high school or transition program. The statistics say that

if a person has a job coming out of high school/transition, the chances for

short-term & long-term success shoot up dramatically. 3. Don't

forget about social communication skills. It has been my experience (and

research tells us) that most individuals with dd’s (particularly autism) lose

their jobs not because they don't have the skills to do the job, but because

they can't fit in from a social & communication standpoint. A middle

school & high school classroom are like a simulated workplace with teacher

as supervisor and classmates as co-workers. The time to experiment with

social communication supports is in the classroom where mistakes can happen,

but your son/daughter will still return. Q: Do you know of any mentally impaired adults working in an elementary

school? My daughter has been volunteering. She is 20. I would

really like any suggestions you may have. A:

I know of a few individuals with disabilities who work in

different parts of schools - library, kitchen, the front desk- it is a great

foot in the door to volunteer. Q: About a year ago, I heard one of your

associates speak about the use of portfolios in place of resumes. As my oldest

is starting high school in a year, I believe we would start building this

shortly. I would like a little clarification on the process as well as some

ideas as he is non-verbal and fairly low functioning on the spectrum. A: Yes, the portfolio

is key to organizing information so it is in one place when it is time to start

the job search process. In my opinion, you want to keep information that

will aid the job search process as well as aid job placement professionals in

getting to know your son. You can simply use a three ring binder to place

information in and you want to keep things like information on any job, job

training, or volunteer experience that your son has. You want write ups

or job descriptions related to these experiences as well as letters of

references from supervisors of these experiences. You also want to keep

important information about your son in here. What are his skills? Interests?

Future dreams? What are some of his barriers? What are

strategies that have been used by school to address these? Put any sample

social stories or scripts or other social supports in there. The

portfolio should be a representation of who you son is, what he wants to do,

what he has done, and how to support him best. Q:

I would like some advice on how to proceed helping my son who has ASD and who

is a senior at Dominican University prepare for employment. He has no

work experience except for tutoring on a volunteer basis. He was pursuing an

education degree until an advisor told him this week that he was not doing well

in that

discipline. He has the opportunity to graduate in May with an English degree

with honors. He is feeling like he is at zero in terms of job opportunities.

What he does best is write and he is extremely knowledgeable in history and

English literature. While his

academic abilities are very good, his social skills are not.

How would I pursue helping him find a job? If he could pick, it would be at a

museum, library or other places where learning is relished and he would be

surrounded by people eager to learn everyday.

We are trying to work with the university internship program but it has been

made quite clear to us that it is not a placement office and he will have to

seek the opportunities, get interviews, pass interviews and negotiate a

contract on his own. A: First thing that I would look at for your son - is this

advisor right about Education? How does your son feel about switching out

of his major? Does he agree that Education is not the right field - jobs

in Education are plentiful and growing? If a switch

of majors is the best thing for him and a Library may be desired employment - I

would contact the on-campus library and local libraries to see if there are any

part-time jobs available to help him build his resume and if no jobs are

available - is volunteering an option? Volunteering is often a path to

employment in the Library system and an interview for this role is usually less

intense. Now, in terms

of social skills and interviewing, the question is, will your son be able to

represent his skills in an interview after practice with you & other

support people? He does not necessarily have to blow them away in the

interview. But, if he & you feel that he will be at a huge

disadvantage at an interview, then it is time to request an accommodation from

the Library or other employer. This may be receiving a copy of the

interview script ahead of time so he can practice, or setting the interview in

form of a questionnaire where your son writes the answers, or does more of a

"job trial" in place of the interview. But, with

this being his final year, whether it is education or a library, it will be key

to help him contact places that will build his resume. Q: In your experience, what are some of

the social skills you see as most important to getting and keeping a job? And are there any that you consider MOST

critical? A: I think the below

listed social skills are critical to keeping a job: 1) Ability to

ask for help 2) Ability to

say I don't understand 3) Ability to

request a break Those three

skills can be "make or break" on the job. So often,

we see people losing their jobs because they did not communicate "I need

help" or "I am not sure what to do here". Remember these

things don't have to be communicated verbally, it may be through sign,

pictures, gestures, etc. But, learning to self-manage around these

3 skills is critical to start as early as possible in school. Q:

So interesting that those are the top three social skills. As a parent, I am so focused on the behaviors

e.g.; the nose picking, pimple picking and bleeding all over, and a few others

along those lines that I forget about the communication. A: Well,

those sound important as well, but communication is always a key part. Q: How

realistic is it to expect that we can develop natural supports at a job? A: Developing natural supports involves a team

that works together - your son, you, the employer, the job placement people,

etc. - I think natural supports can be developed, but it takes the help of

people who: 1) Know the worker (your

son, you) 2) Know the job

(employer) 3) Know how to create

natural supports (job placement professional) By working together, it

can happen. Q: What

does that entail? A: Planning & being

creative - the best natural supports come from a team who analyzes the work

barriers and comes up with the most efficient way to navigate them. Q: How

can people with the most significant disabilities be supported without costly

job coaches? A: Mentoring, visual

supports, personal assistants, work routines, job carving, supervisor/co-worker

training, etc - a good job coach will be setting the worker up for independence

from the very start no matter the significance of the disability Q: We

give lip service to employing ALL individuals with disabilities, but, aside

from developing a business (which is certainly one way to go), can we

realistically obtain competitive employment for individuals with more

significant challenges? A: I believe we can, but

it takes planning, advocacy, and creative supports. Also, now is a great

time to start truly changing business attitudes on a large scale basis. Q: Thank

you very much for your insight and information during this week. As a job coach

with a school transition program, I have found your responses immediately

applicable to my work with students. I am interested in your thoughts about

self-advocacy skills in the workplace. Are there important factors about

appropriately using these skills that you think young adults entering the workforce

should know about? Also, can you relate anything about opportunities for self-employment

for people with developmental disabilities? Thank you again. A: I think basic

self-advocacy skills are so VERY critical to job & career success.

What we know from practice & research is that most people with disabilities

lose their jobs not because they can't do their jobs, but because they have

trouble with social and communication issues on the job. As I had stated,

I think the foundation of self-advocacy in the workplace is being able to

request help, say "I don't understand", and request a break.

These sometimes may seem "too basic", but I have seen so many

individuals leave high school before they could fluently do 1 or all 3 of

these. Mastering these 3 will also allow movement to the next level of

self-advocacy (expressing your rights, understanding your responsibilities,

etc.). Self-employment

can be awesome as a training ground or long-term employment. My advice

here is clearly you want to match the person's skills & interests to the

self-employment opportunity, but remember that opportunity has to be viable

from a business standpoint as well. For example, a lot of people seem to

be setting up "paper shredding" businesses, but this is a harder

& harder market to break into with many companies now developing this

service. On the other hand, the pet & personal service industries are

booming - dog walkers, pet groomers, personal concierge = all seem to be in

high demand and can be great self-employment opportunities. SOME FINAL

THOUGHTS: Thank you for

giving me the opportunity to answer your questions this week. I have

learned a lot from you all over the past week. Let me conclude with a few

points: 1) My list of

Top 20 Reasons Why a Company Should Pursue a Disability Outreach Initiative Below is a

list of why a company would want to initiate a disability community outreach -

not every reason is applicable to every company - I believe each company should

have a DAAP (Disability Accessibility & Action Plan) that integrates all

these benefits with the company's goals and needs: 1) Decreased

Turnover 2) Decreased

Recruiting Costs 3) Training

Incentives & Tax Credits (* note = Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is

still waiting approval for this year) 4) Revenue

Potential from "Ticket to Work" Program 5) Increased

Accessibility/Support to customers 6) Insuring

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance 7) Risk

Avoidance (decreased chances of ADA or

accessibility lawsuit) 8) Enhanced

Marketing (strategically targeting the 54 million consumers with disabilities

and their families) 9) Enhanced

Cause Marketing (enhancing the company's image through a positive initiative) 10)

Demonstration of "good faith effort" towards disability community

required of federal contractors or sub-contractors & EEOC 11) Improved

development of Job Training Programs 12) Job

Candidate Pre-Screening & Follow Along Support 13) Job

Analysis/Essential Functions Analysis Support 14) Improved

Diversity Plan by adding workers with disabilities 15) Improved

Disability Management/Ergonomic strategies 16) Improved return-to-work

process from workers compensation because of reasonable accommodation

understanding 17) Personnel

Competitive Advantage because all other labor pools are shrinking and the

disability community is growing and untapped 18) Support

with worksite Visual Management 19) Job

carving/modification can improve overall productivity 20) Improved

communication with local community & schools for company 2) I think

there are 2 major ways to develop employment opportunities for people with

significant disabilities: a) Continue

to advocate and work with the business community as I feel companies like Walgreen’s,

Starbucks, IBM, & Wells Fargo are the tip of the iceberg & we will be

seeing many more companies undertaking major disability initiatives. Develop

businesses & self-employment opportunities that can compete in today’s

economy and provide work opportunities. ENSA, one of the companies that I

work for, is developing a set of franchises that will partner with community

based organizations, provide job opportunities to people with disabilities, and

hopefully compete and grow in today’s economy. The first of these

franchises is opening in Naperville, IL on December 1st and is called Supreme Concierge (please check out

www.supremeconcierge.net for

details.) 3) I am

working with a few companies based in Illinois that

may want to follow in Walgreen’s footsteps and undertake major disability

initiatives soon. If this happens, I may call on groups like yours

to support these efforts as much as possible from a hiring and customer

standpoint. 4) Lastly,

the interactions with this group have got me thinking about the possibility of

developing Local Action Groups that use the power of consumerism & connections

to help influence businesses to be more aggressive on pursuing disability

related initiatives. More on this to come..... Thanks again. Emmett From our

IPADD MEMBERS: Parent Perspective #1: When Annie graduated from

her young adult program at 21, we thought we had done everything we needed for

a smooth transition to adult services. When she ended up sitting at home, we

began to realize that it was not the transition process that was at fault, it

was the lack of appropriate adult services.

Despite all our advocacy and efforts for Annie to have a community job at the

outset, our service provider begins by "assessing" a person's needs

(Even if they just had a complete reevaluation upon graduation, which Annie

did.) After several months of assessment, they offered her a permanent job in

the workshop, with always the stated intent of

"getting her ready" for the workplace. She was, in short, never ready

in their eyes.

Annie worked 30 hours a week and never brought home more than $40 for a weeks

work. She complained about having to do the same task all day every day until

the job was done. Stuffing envelopes, packaging various products and other

tedium. She wasn't thrilled with the job, but looked forward to going everyday

because it was better than staying home alone, and she had friends there.

At the end of seven months we got a call from the workshop administrator to

tell us they suspected that another "client" had sexually assaulted

and possibly raped Annie during an unsupervised break. She ended up in the

emergency room experiencing her first pelvic exam at the hands of the sexual

assault nurse. That was traumatic enough, particularly since we had NO time to

prepare her for the experience, but she also had to undergo an interview with

the police. Fortunately, they were able to conclude that Annie had not

been raped, but that other types of assault were possible.

We responded by pulling her from the workshop, and informing the service

provider that it was extremely important for her to have a community job. Within

a week, the provider made us an offer. (I'd like to think it was because they'd

seen the light and were now willing to do what it took to make Annie successful

in a community job, but it seems that they were trying to keep us from suing them

for negligence.) They provided funding through our newly-formed developmental

disabilities board which gave Annie access to about

$1500 per month to hire a job coach/personal assistant for up to 20 hours per

week. The funding could also be used to pay mileage reimbursement for travel.

Time and miles could be used for a variety of things: Work, errands,

recreation, going out for dinner with friends, adaptive equipment, clothing or

materials for the workplace.

Since there was not yet a job in sight, the assistants we selected and hired

took Annie somewhere everyday. She went shopping, out for lunch, dinner or

movies with her friends, and to sports events. We were using the funding, but

not for a community job. The provider did nothing that we knew about to make

that happen. The job came from tip

given by a friend who is an active member of our local rotary club. We ran into

him at a school event and told him about Annie's experience at the workshop and

the need for a job. He mentioned that a new coffee shop was opening in town,

and that the owner seemed to be the type of person who would be open to hiring someone

like Annie. He suggested that I email her and explain the situation - including

the access to job coaching, which I did the very next day. That evening, the

owner called me to tell me she would "absolutely be interested in hiring

Annie". Both fortunately and

unfortunately the shop opening was delayed for months. It never opened until

the end of September. Annie still went months without a job, but she did have

time to get to know the people that would be working for her as coaches. The

other positive was that she had lots of time to prepare herself for the change.

The owner asked that she and her job coaches spend time learning about kitchen sanitation.

Although they didn't take a course (which I thought was a great idea) they did

buy the textbook and spend time every week talking about the book and

highlighting the finer points with her.

At the end of June - still well before the shop opened - we were informed by

the service provider that Annie's funds would be reduced by 75% - enough to pay

for 5 hours a week of job coaching for a year. We appealed the decision and

lost. In the meantime the shop prepared to open. Annie attended a week of paid

training along with all the other shop employees. There are currently three

areas to work in the shop - Making coffee, express, etc., making sandwiches, or

making pastries in the bakery. After discussion with the owner, she decided to

put Annie to work in the bakery. Although we were confident she could do the

job well, there were safety and sanitation concerns. The owner didn't want her

shop shut down by the health department because there was an employee not

following correct procedures – and she had many employees to train. Annie would

need 1 on 1 coaching

until the owner was confident that she could do the job independently - at

least for short periods of time.

At that point we made the decision to use what little funding we had left to

focus on supporting Annie in her job - essentially doing what it took to make

her as successful as possible. What we have gets us through the end of December

- maybe into January. Then the money runs out. That is why we have applied for

the home-based support money

that I mentioned in an earlier post.

I'd love to be able to tell you that there is this fabulous service provider

that made Annie's job happen, but it wasn't. It was friends, connections, good

communication, persistence and advocacy that made the difference. It means not

accepting the status quo, because the

status quo, in short, sucks.

Even with discretionary funding, parents and families will ultimately still be

the ones who make a positive difference for their children. I'd like to tell you different, but I honestly

can't.

That's why I think this listserv is so important. We need to share our

experiences, thoughts and ideas, and work together to change the system of

adult services from a take it or leave it bureaucracy to one that really and

truly responds to the needs of the individual and

family. Parent Perspective #2: Our youngest daughter is

24 years old. She is a young woman with Down Syndrome, is hearing impaired

(binaural hearing aides) and has an extensive health/medical history. She works

5 days a week and takes the Pace Para transit bus to and from work daily. For

almost the past 7 years she has worked out in her community for paid

employment. While in middle school,

we started to address some of her vocational goals. In an effort to balance her

academic needs (she was fully included with supports in the regular classes) as

well as her vocational/job development goals, worked at various school

jobs, media center, the pre-school at the school district, office ,etc. The

struggle for us was always to keep a balance so that her other academic goals

would also be met. In short, during middle school she learned some valuable

skills, as well as developing interests in certain areas and not in others.

These experiences were helpful on a resume. During her transition

from 8th grade to high school, she was hired for a summer job (just a couple of

hours a day) to assist in a summer school class for high risk 5-6 year olds. I

had heard about this opportunity for employment of "high risk youth"

thru some research and networking and pursued this with . She was paid minimum

wage and gain valuable experience.

During high school, we continued to focus on balancing academics but also working

with

the vocational coordinator to seek out further work experience during her

junior year in

high school. These "work experiences” were during her 8th period study

times, so as to

stay as fully involved in the high school as possible. This is what worked for

her. From

junior to senior year, with the assistance of the vocational coordinator,

started working at paid employment in the community (Jewel). Again, this was

during the last period of the day while we still had the availability of job

coaches as needed initially. Her

additional work hours were not during school hours, but on week-ends. Not only

did she gain valuable work experience, but she also started to accumulate the

much needed credits in order to be eligible for SSDI based on her own work

record which then made her eligible

for Medicare. After over 3 years at

this job and following an unforeseen surgery, medical leave, and changing job

requirements, she had to resign from her job at Jewel. we started to

"pound the pavement." We updated 's resume, compiled information

about Work Opportunity Credits (when hiring someone with a disability) to

give/share with potential employers. All

in all, we encountered more "no” than "yes." More often than not,

employers wanted

someone who could do ALL aspects of a job, not just certain components (carved

out position). Just when we started to

feel discouraged, was called for an interview by the

general manager of the company that now works for. It was thru networking

that he knew that she was home recovering from surgery and would need another employment.

We also knew him. continues to be successfully employed, initially

receiving job coaching. She still receives support, mainly weekly check-ins, or

when needed to teach new skills. The "natural

supports" at work have been supportive. As we all know, none of

this comes easily and the challenges are ongoing. I have developed a renewed

respect for all the individuals in the job development /vocational field. In retrospect,

rather than working at various "work experience sites", I would

advocate for paid employment right from the get -go, since most of the work

experience sites remain just that, without opportunity for future employment.

Carol in IL AIM doihavtasay1 GigaTribe doihavtasayMom to seven including , 7 with TOF, AVcanal, GERD, LS, Asthma, subglottal stenosis, and DS.My problem is not how I look. It's how you see me. Join our Down Syndrome information group - http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DownSyndromeInfoExchange/ Listen to oldest dd's music http://www.myspace.com/vennamusic

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