Welcome to summer and your monthly electronic Southeast TACE Serving Individuals with Most Significant Disabilities Network News Flash (MSD Network News Flash). Here you will find the latest information about employment for people with the most significant impact of disability, including job development innovations, relevant legislation, upcoming training sessions, and exciting new web sites.This month our focus will be on self-employment. 

Please forward this MSD Network New Flash to agency staff, parents, individuals with disabilities, and anyone else you think might find the information useful. Invite them to subscribe by joining the Southeast TACE Employment Listserv. To join the listserv, they simply visit the Southeast TACE MSD Network web site and follow the MSD E-Mail-List link. We'll take it from there!   

Please visit the TACE MSD Network web site regularly to learn about current events in the world of employment for individuals with the most significant impact of disability.

Vocational rehabilitation counselors and community rehabilitation providers (CRPs) must effectively interest employers in hiring their clients. In our current economy with unemployment over nine percent, businesses are inundated with individuals seeking employment. Many employers have little time or interest in hearing from us. The rehabilitation system needs new job development skills and tools in order to successfully create employment options.

The Job Development Exchange is designed to provide vocational rehabilitation counselors and CRPs with the wealth of information they need to successfully engage both large and small employers. It will offer a range of strategies, techniques and tools needed to insure that all individuals with disabilities obtain employment outcomes. The Exchange will focus on what a counselor needs to know, whether they are buying job development services or doing it themselves.

Exchange participants will be able to tap into the rich expertise of colleagues, businesses, jobseekers and national authorities via multimedia products and networking tools. The Exchange will launch with an "Online Toolkit for Job Placement and Employment Professionals" and a series of webinars, to be followed by an evolving menu of timely resources, tools and interactive learning opportunities.

The first six months' webinar topics will range from core competencies to practical tips to cutting edge practices, including:

#1: Job Development Overview

#2: Tools for Job Development

#3: Distinguishing Employment Relationships: Competitive and Customized Employment

#4: Job Development in Rural Areas

#5: Developing Sales Tools for Customizing Employment: The Portfolio and Visual Resume

#6: Preparing for Negotiations with Employers

#7: Employer Networks: Creating, Maintaining and Managing Employer Relationships and an Overview of Types of Employer Networks

#8: Building Employer Networks

#9: Employer Needs Analysis

#10: Basics of Negotiation

All webinars will be supplemented with discussion groups, downloadable tools and invaluable access to national experts, peers and leaders in the field.

Check out the Job Development Exchange right now...

- Take a look at The Online Toolkit!

- Webinar series begins July 13, 2011 - Register now

Look for further details at www.tacesoutheast.org. 

The State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) has created an updated list of Employment First resources [PDF] from across the country.

Job Seekers with Disabilities at One-Stop Career Centers: An Examination of Registration for Wagner-Peyser Funded Employment Services, 2002 to 2009 examines trends over time on a national and state-by-state basis in the percentage of job seekers with disabilities who register for the Wagner-Peyser Employment Service and identify as having a disability.

"Lois' career as an artist has taken off. Initial support from a U.S. Department of Labor customized employment grant in 2004 drew advocates to her side that resulted in several one-woman exhibits and recognition within the arts community for her uninhibited artistic expression. One painting was recently auctioned for $1,400."

Asset building occurs on a wide array of levels, it is impacted by a host of factors ranging from individual choices, to resources available, to public policy. The same rules apply for individuals with disabilities; but frequently they are more restricted by public policy and have had fewer options due to dependence on public benefits. The steps below are meant to convey a conduit for Vocational Rehabilitation counselors (VRCs) to lay the foundation for economic self-sufficiency through vocational counseling. The role of public rehabilitation is to assist people in "obtaining or maintaining employment", not assisting individuals with economic self-sufficiency. However, every VRC knows employment does not magically address all problems. It does not break down the array of barriers poor and disabled individuals face: poor credit, limited or no assets, falling victim to predatory lending, a lack of rudimentary understanding of how public benefits are connected, inadequate medical insurance and poor money management skills. The above factors impact a person's ability to "obtain and maintain" employment. If economic self-sufficiency is not viewed as a component of public rehabilitation's job then many consumers will, at best, remain working poor and recidivism will remain high.

Money is a tricky subject in our society and it is one of the last taboos. Often people do not feel comfortable discussing money. There are many judgments connected to money. Respect, power, connections, having value are all associated with having money. Frequently, the reverse is associated with not having money. There may be a tendency on the part of the customer to be less than forthcoming until trust is established. Trust is established over time by sharing all information in a non-judgmental manner. Our non-judgmental language will be a significant factor.

Step One: Carefully think about the language that is used. It is essential that VRCs think about how to frame the conversation. Consumers must think about their relationship to money. How concerned is the consumer about losing what he or she has to gain more in the long run? What strategies can be implemented to make them feel secure? Most people form their emotional perspective to money over time and will change that perspective with new experiences.

Step Two: Help the person understand what he or she needs to know. Money is an abstract concept. To realize this, one need only to look at the collapse of the banking industry. Money becomes concrete when one can secure goods with it, i.e., purchasing or saving for future purchases.

Many individuals with cognitive disabilities have not had enough control over money to embrace this concept. I once worked with an individual who quit his job and next month went to his bank to withdraw some money. The bank teller told him he didn't have any money in his account. He told the teller his social security check was always deposited each month for doing nothing, so why wasn't his paycheck? No one had helped this man understand the connection between work and money. Based on his experiences, his perspective made sense. Helping someone understand what he or she wants and needs to know about money is necessary.

Step Three: Integrating Financial Expectations into the plan. VRCs are good problem solvers. They help consumers figure out employment options that highlight contributions and minimize challenges. The focus of counseling and guidance is stronger in the arena of helping consumers obtain jobs that fit their skills and abilities then meeting consumers' financial aspirations.

There is a common perspective that everyone starts somewhere, so a low wage is acceptable because it is a starting point. When consumers have more complexities in securing employment then frequently the focus on wage expectation is not even discussed. Because public dollars support the services of public rehabilitation it is reasonable to demand that the employment secured laid the foundation for economic self-sufficiency. VRCs need to both connect the planning process with not only the financial information needed but with financial expectations.

Finally, prior to closure, the VRC should meet with consumers to review their financial expectations. Help them think through what systems are vital to continue achieving economic self-sufficiency. Provide the consumer a suggested list of community resources that are available to assist consumers.

Autism 101 

42nd Autism Society National Conference and Exposition

July 6-9, 2011
Orlando, Florida

This conference addresses the range of issues affecting people with autism including early intervention, education, employment, behavior, communication, social skills, biomedical interventions and others, across the entire lifespan.