jobs for people with disabilities

Tag: jobs for people with disabilities

27
Jun
2018

Fair Wages

Many workers living with a disability receive low pay from their jobs. There is a law called the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA. The FLSA helps protect workers from their jobs. Most people do not know that the FLSA has a section called 14 (c). Section 14 (c) lets jobs pay low wages to people living with disabilities

Many people living with a disability in the United States are paid under $4 an hour. Workers who are paid low cannot afford to pay rent. They cannot afford to pay their bills. They cannot afford to buy the things that they need.

Activists and lawmakers are working together to change the FLSA law by:

Fighting for higher pay
Fairness in the workplace
Better benefits
More jobs

The costs in America are going up every year to live here. People living with disabilities have a right to fair wages

If you would like to know more about the Fair Labor Standards Act, please click below

Many people with disabilities are being paid low wages and its perfectly legal

04
Apr
2018

Employment for Adults with Autism

categories: Employment

Jobs. We each expect to find a job when we are adults. Some people know exactly what they

want to do for a job. Many people try different jobs to find one that fits. For my son with

Autism Spectrum Disorder, (or Autism), a job is more like a hope or idea. He is now an adult.

He has skills that would be useful in different work places. The challenge is to find a work

place that will even let him try to work.

Is he the only person with Autism who is not able to find a job? I wanted to find out. So, here

is what I learned about employment or jobs, for people with Autism. There are not a lot of

data on this topic. Data are collected for people with disabilities. But data are not often sorted by diagnosis.

This chart shows what I did learn about jobs for young adults with Autism. The chart shows

the employment rates for young adults who

have ever worked after high school. It specifies

rates by category. The rates are learning

disability, 95%, Speech/language impairment,

91%, Emotional disturbance, 91%, Intellectual

Disability, 74% and Autism, 58%. It confirms

that my son is not alone in being unemployed.

There are companies looking to hire. Dell EMC in Central Massachusetts is

one of them. According to an article in the Worcester Business Journal on May

15, 2017, Dell EMC will have a hiring program. This hiring program will work to bring more

people with Autism into the company. They want to hire people with Autism for their skills.

It is good to read about a company that wants to hire people with Autism. This company needs

very specific skills. We will keep working on developing my son’s skills that might be useful in

future jobs. We will talk with our friends and families about hiring people with Autism. We

hope that there is a work place that will welcome our son in the future.

There is an article that summarizes the existing research about hiring an adult with Autism. (1.)

This article surveyed all the published articles that considered the costs and benefits to society,

to the person with Autism and to the employer. The first finding is that there is not enough

research being done on the costs and benefits to employers. It did find some results showing

that it costs society less to have people with Autism employed rather than not employed.

There are indications that people with Autism are happier and busier if they have jobs. The

hope is that more research will be done in the future. This research may show that it is not too

costly to employ people with Autism. Then, maybe more companies would be willing to

interview, train and hire people with Autism. It would make the hope or dream of a job,

become a real job for my son and his peers.

The Costs and Benefits of Employing an Adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Andrew Jacob, Melissa Scott, Marita Falkmer, Torbjörn Falkmer

PLoS One. 2015; 10(10): e0139896. Published online 2015 Oct 7. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139896

PMCID: PMC4596848 Article PubReader PDF–1.3M Citation

21
Mar
2018

Abilities at work

categories: Employment

My name is Scott Janz. I am a Job Coach. I help adults find jobs.

Disabilities at Work

People with disabilities can work. Disability does not mean not able. I help many adults get hired. People with disabilities take pride in making a change. Jobs are important for all. I believe biases can be broken. Breaking barriers is vital. I help people reach fairness. Everyone deserves the same chance to get a job.

Strengths at work

Hard work ethic
Low turnover
Increased diversity
Inclusion
Loyal
Productive
Consistent
Structured

Bias at work

Bias exists at work for many adults. Bias can take many forms. Bullying and stigma are examples. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects against bias at work. I work with adults at their jobs. I support their skills. We need to make work fun.

16
Nov
2016

The Key to Success!

categories: Employment

STRENGTHS

The teenage school years are a great chance for students with disabilities to find jobs they enjoy. However, the focus is often on what the student can’t do and still needs to work on.
Imagine if we:

focused on the student’s abilities
looked for what student’s CAN do
helped students try more new things
looked for jobs that match the student’s strengths and interests

A STORY

I heard a story once about a young man named Ken. He could not move any part of his body. Ken wanted to work. His team thought about what he was good at doing. One friend said, “Ken is really good at sitting still!” Ken’s career was started from that idea. He became a hand model! Now he is able to support himself on the money from his modeling job. This story is a great example of what can happen when we focus on strengths.

THE KEY

The teenage years provide a chance for students to begin jobs and follow their interests. I believe focusing on what people can do instead of what they can’t do during these years is the key to success and happy futures for our students.
For more information please visit: abilityawareness.com

07
Nov
2012

Employment Support Makes a Difference for People with Disabilities

categories: Employment

My name is Amelia Robbins-Cureau. I have the privilege of being a vocational rehabilitation counselor with The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC). Most people do not know what I mean when I say I am a “vocational rehabilitation counselor.” But when I say, “I help people with disabilities get jobs,” that catches their attention.

In today’s economy, we are even more focused on the topic of jobs than ever before because unemployment rates are extremely high. For people with disabilities, unemployment is around 80% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Yet in my job I meet so many people with disabilities who want to work, but are facing challenges that make it more difficult to compete with others for jobs.

Advocating for employment

I joined the Commission because employment is something I am passionate about. I wanted to be an advocate for individuals with disabilities to achieve their goals. Having a job is beneficial in so many ways.

In my job, I often work with individuals who come in to my office feeling discouraged, confused and nervous about what is to come. They may not know what my role is or how I’m going to help them find a job. I like to start by asking what they hope to accomplish, what their strengths are and who is in their network.

Building on strengths

For so many people with disabilities, work seems out of reach.

Sometimes people are not sure what kind of work they want to do. People with disabilities are often told what they can’t do but they need to think about what they actually can.

Other times, they know what they want to do, but they need the skills and experience to apply for a job. At MRC we help individuals get those skills through things like participating in job training programs, 1:1 employment counseling, and job seeking skills groups.

Other challenges faced

Sometimes, because of mental illness, physical injury or trauma, my clients have had to leave many jobs to get healthy again. Their work history may be scattered, and they are not sure how they will ever get hired.

At MRC, we work with individuals to create a resume that reflects their talents, experience and accomplishments, not their limitations. I work together with clients to make sure they are allowing time to care for themselves and talk with mental health counselors or doctors in order to stay healthy and ready for the job search.

As you can see, my job at The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission is to help people with disabilities gain the skills and connections they need for employment. We work together to figure out what kind of work they want to do, and what kind of skills and experiences they need to become qualified for the job.

Then we help people go out and actually get a job.

For me, there is no better feeling than helping a person with a disability become more confident, get a job, and feel proud of the work that they do.