RespectAbility for Sunday, 20 April 2014

RespectAbility for Sunday, 20 April 2014
Friend,
At this holiday time and always I wish you and yours great health, happiness and success. I also hope you will check out the news below and make a tax-deductible donation now to enable people with disabilities to achieve the American Dream.
Best to you and yours!
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
President, RespectAbilityUSA
P.S. At times like these we give thanks for our blessings, and give forward. Thanks in advance for your donation to help end prejudice and make our nation and society stronger and better!
  Doubly Disabled in Life
Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities historically have been shuttled far from society’s mainstream into segregated lives and workplace serfdom, earning wages as low as pennies per hour for the most repetitive and menial jobs. The Supreme Court in 1999 pronounced this kind of treatment a civil rights violation under the Americans With Disabilities Act, but abuse and isolation from society have continued to this day.
This week, Rhode Island and the Justice Department took an important step away from that pattern by reaching a comprehensive agreement to direct these people toward community living, minimum-wage guarantees and competitive opportunities.
Continue reading the main story
Jobs for the Disabled
The agreement, a consent decree between state and federal officials announced in Providence, will help some 2,000 developmentally disabled Rhode Islanders obtain community-based jobs over the next decade while 1,250 students with disabilities will receive training for placement in more competitive workplaces. It could serve as a model for the treatment of the nation’s 450,000 developmentally disabled, who are still largely kept in state-run sheltered workshops and segregated day care programs.
According to federal investigators, only 5 percent of the state’s developmentally disabled youngsters are currently guided into integrated job settings after high school. Most of the rest have been shunted into programs — paid for with government money — that offer no opportunities for learning or advancement. Federal investigators examining these programs have also found widespread abuse of a federal law that allows subminimum wages for the severely disabled but not for those capable of doing more. Some of the people in Rhode Island, for example, earned $1.57 an hour for stultifying work like sorting buttons, even though they were found to be suited to more varied and challenging work.
A recent report in The Times laid bare the neglect and abuse of the developmentally disabled, chronicling the lives of a group of men who spent more than 30 years eviscerating turkeys at an obscure Iowa factory. In return, they got room, board and $65 a month. Advocates finally succeeded last year in winning a lawsuit to recover damages and decades of back pay.
The need to end the economic servitude and social exile of people with disabilities has long been clear. The Providence agreement is a promising but overdue starting point. 
  Governor signs Vulnerable Individuals Priority Act
Governor Jay Inslee signed into law the Vulnerable Individuals Priority Act, co-sponsored by Joe Fain of Auburn that will provide developmental disability services to 5,000 people currently on a waiting list.
The measure, which had strong support of advocates for developmental disability services and lawmakers, will provide additional respite care and supported employment assistance.
“Having a job provides a sense of purpose and community," Fain said in a statement. "People with developmental disabilities take great pride when they can share their skills and take on responsibilities within an organization. Under this plan more than 1,000 people who want to work, but require supported employment and assistance would finally get the help they need.”
Washington features an “Employment First” policy providing assistance to individuals with developmental disabilities to help them become and remain employed. Despite expanding state services the VIP Act would not cost the state additional money by utilizing an increased federal match for services provided in the community.
The Senate unanimously approved the legislation, which received overwhelming support in the House of Representatives.
“I’ve had the great privilege to meet many South King County residents with developmental disabilities who have thrived when having the opportunity to work,” said Fain. “We’re fortunate to have supported employment groups like Auburn-based Trillium, SKCAC Industries and Employment Services, Orion, Kent Meridian's TOP program and others who do great work to help find jobs and provide support and training to keep people in those jobs.” 
  State helps developmentally disabled gain jobs by Rita Price
The place is big, busy and neon-lit. Mike Groleau had never spent time at a racino before, much less worked for one. He instantly felt overwhelmed.
“Everything was going over my head,” Groleau said.
But he had a strategy, and he reminded himself to stick with it: Be honest. Help them understand your disability. Tell them you’re going to give them 100 percent. They just might have to be a little easy with you at first.
That was five weeks ago, and already Groleau smiles at the memory.
“I’m very comfortable now,” he said of his new job at Scioto Downs Racetrack & Casino.
At 39, the Circleville resident is competitively employed for the first time in his life. He’s among hundreds of Ohioans with developmental disabilities who have received additional help finding community jobs since Gov. John Kasich launched the state’s Employment First directive two years ago.
The policy aims to sharply decrease Ohio’s reliance on segregated settings and workshops by mandating a preference for community employment. State officials set a goal of increasing community employment by 10 percent, to 7,727 working-age adults, by June 30. As of Dec. 30, it was up by about 8.5 percent.
“We’re pretty pleased with that number in terms of ramping up the initiative,” said Kristen Helling, who leads the Employment First project through the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.
Outreach to employers is a big part of the initiative.
Many worry they won’t have enough time to devote to training employees with developmental disabilities. A few hear the word disability “and tend to imagine the extreme,” said Patrick Kilbane, a transition-services specialist for the Pickaway County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
Kilbane works to reveal the benefits to both sides. He helped Groleau and four other board clients get jobs in food-service operations at Scioto Downs, putting together video resumes, a job fair and orientation sessions.
The racino wanted to keep employee turnover rates down. Kilbane explained that Groleau and the others, once settled, were likely to be dependable and loyal.
“Training is the most-expensive process for any company, and they had job coaches. With no high turnover, that kills two birds with one stone,” said Ashley Redmon, the advertising and public-relations manager at Scioto Downs.
Sep Adams, manager of food and beverage operations, said his new employees have handled the racino’s pace and bustle just fine. Groleau works in the employee and customer cafes.
“It’s a casino, it’s busy, and I didn’t want to set anyone up for failure,” Adams said. “But I was totally open to it, and it’s been great. Mike is awesome.”
Kilbane said the match is a score on many levels.
“All five have access to full benefits. In our field, we don’t often see this,” he said. “I was blown away. Benefits are almost never on the table.”
Many programs are under the Employment First umbrella. Groleau is the first from Pickaway County to be hired through a partnership between the state’s Department of Developmental Disabilities and Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, which provides counselors to help people move from segregated settings to community employment.
“A lot of employers turn you down” or they give a “one-day chance” instead of a week or two, Groleau said.
He is glad the racino let him prove himself. “Being in the community is so much better. My co-workers — and the food — are just the best.”
rprice@dispatch.com 
  Rhode Island Settles Case on Jobs for the Disabled by Dan Barry

Steven Porcelli, second from left, worked in a sheltered workshop for about $2 an hour. In an agreement announced Tuesday, Rhode Island will help those with developmental disabilities find better jobs. Credit Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
The Justice Department on Tuesday announced a “landmark” agreement with the State of Rhode Island to free people with developmental disabilities from a decades-old system that kept them unjustly segregated in sheltered workshops and adult day programs, removed from the competitive workplace and the broader community.
The settlement, which addresses the civil rights of about 3,250 Rhode Island residents, also provides a road map to compliance for the 49 other states, federal officials said. They estimated that across the country, 450,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities while away their days in essentially cloistered environments.
The court-approved agreement, known as a consent decree, was announced in Providence at a news conference attended by officials from the Justice Department and Rhode Island, including Gov. Lincoln Chafee, as well as by people with developmental disabilities and aspirations who spent years stuck in sheltered workshops that financially exploited them.
There was, for example, Steven Porcelli, 50, of North Providence. In a telephone interview before Tuesday’s announcement, he recalled graduating from high school, working briefly at a hardware store, and then being sent to a sheltered workshop run by a nonprofit company called Training Thru Placement.
For about $2 an hour, Mr. Porcelli assembled jewelry, packed medical supplies into boxes, grated cheese and stuffed peppers for an Italian food company. All along, he said, “I did want another job, because that’s what it was supposed to be: training through placement.”
“I was there for 30 years,” Mr. Porcelli added. “I was doing piecework most of the time, which I didn’t like too much.”
Jocelyn Samuels, the acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, cited Mr. Porcelli’s case, among others, in unveiling what she called the “landmark settlement” to address the “unnecessary segregation” of sheltered workshops and day facilities.
“We cannot wait another day to change,” Ms. Samuels said. “And we won’t.”
Under the agreement, Rhode Island — which federal officials praised for recognizing and embracing the need for reform — has 10 years to do the following to resolve violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act:
■ Help state residents with developmental disabilities obtain typical jobs in the community that pay at least the minimum wage and offer the maximum number of hours consistent with the employee’s abilities and preferences;
■ Provide support for nonwork activities in the mainstream, including community centers, libraries, and recreational and educational facilities;
■ Prepare high school-age students with developmental disabilities for competitive jobs in the community through internships and mentoring programs, among other efforts;
■ Redirect the “significant” public funds that are used to support segregated settings toward encouraging services in integrated settings.
In other words: inclusion, rather than exclusion, as upheld by the 1999 Supreme Court case known as Olmstead v. L.C., in which the court determined that the unjustified segregation of people with disabilities constituted discrimination.
The filing of the consent decree “is an opportunity to move forward,” said Peter F. Neronha, the United States attorney for Rhode Island. “To recognize, finally, that we are better, stronger, when all of us — all of us — are interwoven into the fabric that is Rhode Island.”
The seeds for the agreement were planted more than a year ago, when federal Labor Department officials determined that Training Thru Placement, in North Providence, had abused a federal law that allows the payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities. The employees were being paid, on average, about $1.57 an hour, with one earning as little as 14 cents an hour.
An investigation by the Justice Department found that most of the people receiving state- and city-funded employment and daytime services, through segregated programs like Training Thru Placement, yearned for more integrated surroundings. Some had been requesting to join the competitive work force for years, but had been ignored.
Investigators also determined that a vocational program at Mount Pleasant High School in Providence — where some students were “doing tasks like sorting buttons,” Ms. Samuels said, “instead of being taught or prepared for work life after graduation” — had become a kind of feeder system into the Training Thru Placement operation. Officials said that the program was shuttling young people with disabilities into a segregated work world, and using state and federal funds to do so.
Last June, the State of Rhode Island and the City of Providence entered into an interim settlement agreement with the Justice Department to resolve these violations. But federal investigators continued, broadening their scope of inquiry to include the entire state.
They determined that Rhode Island had “overrelied” on segregated settings, to the exclusion of integrated alternatives. About 80 percent of the people with developmental disabilities who were receiving state services — about 2,700 people — were placed in segregated sheltered workshops and facility-based programs.
In addition, only about 5 percent of the young people with developmental disabilities leaving secondary schools from 2010 to 2012 went on to jobs in integrated settings — even though many were capable of working in the competitive workplace.
Federal and state officials said they had received a positive response from businesses to the reforms. They said that the U.S. Business Leadership Network, a network of Fortune 500 companies, and Walgreens would sponsor a business summit meeting in Rhode Island in June to explore ways to expand the training and employment of people with development disabilities.
Ms. Samuels explained that those employed in sheltered workshops would be exposed to other opportunities, but would be allowed to remain in the workshops if that is their preference. “We are not shutting them down,” she said.
Mr. Porcelli, though, has moved on to a new job, doing office work and some computer training at Automated Business Solutions, a small business in Warwick. He said he enjoyed being in competitive employment because, he said, “I feel more accomplished.”
He also earns the minimum wage of $8 an hour. When it was noted that his pay was now four times what he had earned at the sheltered workshop, Mr. Porcelli said, “Tell me about it.”
  Disabled see increase in employment rates through city initiatives
Dane County and Madison agencies are seeing gradual but steady growth in employment numbers of disabled individuals following recent investment in a number of social programs.
In 2014, Dane County has spent $12.5 million people to serve 1,180 people with disabilities, Doug Hunt, developmental disabilities program specialist at Dane County’s Department of Human Services, said. Additionally, $235,000 was spent on serving 98 to 100 people with mental health problems, he said.
The county puts in $16 million county funds into adult mental health and developmental disability services overall, including employment services, Fran Genter, division administrator for Dane County Adult Community Services Division, said.
One of the initiatives the county has started involves training students with disabilities at the University of Wisconsin and Middleton Memorial Veteran hospitals to promote job training for the health field, Hunt said. This collaboration is “especially innovative” because it gives students the opportunities to practice in real hospitals, he said.
A reason the county has made such gains in the employment of individuals with disabilities is because of partnerships with UW’s Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Psychology, Hunt said.
Genter said disabled workers will often have unique advantages in certain lines of employment.
“They often work routine tasks with a lot of repetition,” Genter said. “Employers will tell us that people with disabilities do the task better than non-disabled employees because they are not distracted, they enjoy their work. They tend to stick around longer, it’s an interesting match.”
Hunt said employers often say work morale increases with the hiring of individuals with disabilities, as they bring a positive attitude to the workplace and add vibrancy to the culture of the workplace.
The county has made commitments to promoting employment for those with disabilities, despite limited capacities and funds, Hunt said. For example, the county partnered with Madison schools.
If the school assists a disabled student with obtaining employment, the county will continue to provide support services for maintaining the employment, Hunt said.
In doing this, Hunt said the county adds 50 to 60 new people with disabilities to the workforce every year.
Sarah Cutler, executive director of Community Works Services, said her agency helps people with developmental disabilities to obtain and maintain jobs in their community after they graduate from high school. Community support services vary depending on the individual needs of the client with a disability, she said.
“Some need one-on-one support where they need a job coach on site with them while others need a lot less support where we just spot check to see how things are going although the client can pretty much do the job independently,” Cutler said. “The amount of support we provide just depends on the individual and the needs that they have.”
Cutler said clients with disabilities see numerous benefits from these services along with their coworkers, employers and communities.
The clients get a great sense of belonging, they know that they are working and they have a sense of accomplishment, Cutler said.
“The coworkers get so much from our clients, in terms of the relationships and their work atmosphere, their sense of humors,” Cutler said. “For everybody involved, it’s a great thing.”
  Goodwill helping young disabled people find jobs in the metro by Sean McDowell
<script src="http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?height=365&video_pcode=o3ZXA6AW_ODSH73PHaEhBxcqUpwq&embedCode=13bGY2bTpU9cDtYq_JJG8Qq6KMfes13V&width=650&deepLinkEmbedCode=13bGY2bTpU9cDtYq_JJG8Qq6KMfes13V"></script>
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A disability doesn’t have to mean inability. People in the metro with disabilities are getting their chance to hold a normal job, thanks to a project sponsored by Goodwill.
Every person is a potential hire.
That’s the mission of Project SEARCH, an extension of Goodwill which helps young people with disabilities find new leases on life.
Take for example 19-year-old Cliff Rush, who’s been working at Children’s Mercy Hospital for the past six weeks as a groundskeeper, after Project SEARCH helped him find a job.
“I think about how it’s going to look when i get done,” Rush said, while weeding a bed of kale plants.
What looks like a chore to some people is a moment of pride for Rush. He has lived with neurofibromatosis all his life. That’s a genetic condition that affects his brain and speech patterns.
“They offered me this,” Rush said. “They showed me what to do, and I took it and it was a good choice. It helped me in a lot of ways.”
Rush was involved in Project SEARCH’s classroom sessions at Oak Park High School, but after graduation, Project SEARCH matched Cliff’s job skills with employers to find the best fit.
“He had to start out basic on the things we do,” Clay Rader, grounds manager at Children’s Mercy Hospital, said.
“It may have taken him a little bit longer to learn, but he’s able to learn and do as good a job as my permanent staff.”
“It makes me happy to make other people want to come here,” Rush said.
Jennifer Owens works with Goodwill’s human services division. She calls the program a “win-win situation” for employers and disabled people.
“The employer is gaining an employee who is wanting to work, ready to work, willing to work, showing up to work every day and enjoys that,” Owens said.
The hospital isn’t alone. Owens said Ameristar Casino and the Kansas City Zoo are also participating and putting disabled young people to work. Owens said eight students are already signed up for next year’s Project SEARCH, and there’s still room for more.
Click here for Sean McDowell’s FOX 4 Facebook page. New LIKES are appreciated.
  Intern program equips graduates with job skills by Hannah Poturalski Staff Writer
‘Project SEARCH’ helps young adults with disabilities adjust to adult life

Tori Fox, of Hamilton, stocks a nurse server cart in the medical supply room at West Chester Hospital, Friday, March 21, 2014. West Chester Hospital has been partnering with Butler Tech’s program “Project Search” since summer 2013. Project Search is a one-year program for students with disabilities designed to provide entry-level job experiences in a business setting

Tori Fox, of Hamilton, works in the gift shop at West Chester Hospital, Friday, March 21, 2014. West Chester Hospital has been partnering with Butler Tech’s program “Project Search” since summer 2013. Project Search is a one-year program for students with disabilities designed to provide entry-level job experiences in a business setting.
BUTLER COUNTY — An internship program for young adults with disabilities is connecting high school graduates with real-world skills and job placement.
The nine-month internship program — called Project SEARCH and hosted by Butler Tech — includes 36 interns per year between the ages of 18 and 21 with intellectual or physical disabilities.
The international program is made possible locally through partnerships with Butler County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, and local school districts and businesses, said Tony Huff, director of special services for Butler Tech.
“The biggest thing is we’re trying to help them enter the workforce in entry-level jobs,” Huff said.
West Chester Hospital is the latest business to join the venture, currently hosting 11 interns across areas of the hospital, including food services, emergency department, sterile processing, housekeeping, imaging, materials management and gift shop, said Tom Daskalakis, chief operating officer of West Chester Hospital.
Daskalakis said it was a natural fit to join Project SEARCH because the hospital already partners with Butler Tech’s health care, culinary and cosmetology students.
“It’s really made a positive influence on our staff and patients,” Daskalakis said. “We’ve seen a higher level of morale in our departments.”
Miami University in Oxford and Atrium Medical Center in Middletown are the two other internship sites in Butler County since the program started in 2006, Huff said. Interns complete three 12-week rotations and some classroom time to learn various job skills.
Mollie McIntosh, job training instructor for Project SEARCH, said the program teaches problem solving, multitasking, time management and communication skills. The interns also gain independence and social interactions, Huff added.
West Chester Hospital has already hired one of its interns to a full-time position in food services, and a second intern is expected to be hired in the near future.
Tori Fox, 20, of Hamilton, who graduated from Hamilton High School in 2012, went through Butler Tech’s Project Life program — an introduction into adulthood and the workforce — before starting as an intern at West Chester Hospital last August.
Fox is in the midst of a week-long job trial in housekeeping and is on her way to part-time employment at the hospital. Fox said her duties include stripping the beds after a patient is discharged, sanitizing the room, making the beds and mopping the floors.
Fox has a cognitive disability that makes it hard for her to read and write.
“I’ve learned a lot. … It’s mostly work and focusing on your job,” Fox said. “My most fearful thing right now is stepping into the world now and people not being there; growing up and becoming more independent than I was before.”
Daskalakis said the internship is like a “year-long interview,” and when job vacancies arise the hospital already has a pool of candidates to pull from. He said this will become even more important as baby boomers continue to age and the demand for health care rises.
“These individuals have shown their responsibility and ability to contribute,” Daskalakis said.
-------