Employment is an important factor in an adults life. It allows people to be financially independent, opens up opportunities for relationships and helps us find a sense of meaning and belonging in our day to day lives. It isn't easy to just pick a career path; you have to know what your interests in correlation with your strengths and weaknesses. Jobs must fit our interests, needs and schedules. To find jobs you have to know where to look, how to apply and how to get the job once you have gotten the interview. There is a constant learning curve when in comes to being successful at getting a job.
This blog focuses on the resources available for people with disabilities in terms of employment. We will talk about different community agencies that can help place you in the right as well as local employers who have given great job opportunities to people with disabilities. There is an interest survey to help people with disabilities understand the type of jobs that fit their personal beliefs, personalities and interests. We have posted a video with helpful hints on how to make a good first impression during the interview process. We know that it is difficult for anyone in today's world to find a job, especially one that they love and find fulfilling.
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One issue that some individuals
with moderate to severe disabilities may run into is receiving fair wages once they
become employed. Many people with disabilities are not paid fair wages and are
instead paid by the rate that they produce which can result meager earnings.
Competitive employment is work performed by
a person with a disability in an integrated setting at minimum wage or higher
and at a rate comparable to non-disabled workers performing the same tasks.
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There are many resources that can assist
students with disabilities seeking jobs obtain this goal of competitive
employment such as Goodwill and Respect of Florida. Both of these programs help
in assisting individuals with disabilities gain meaningful and useful
employment at competitive wages. In the year 2011-2012 1,268 Floridians with
disabilities were employed by RESPECT programming and over 50 partner employment centers
participate in the program.
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In the United States,
The U.S Department of Labor recognizes employers known as “sheltered
workshops" or "work centers,” which are authorized to employ workers
with disabilities. These facilities generally offer vocational training or
rehabilitation for individuals, followed by minimum wage employment
opportunities. As a U.S public policy, corporations
have integrated administering services, programs and activities to best suit
the needs of the individuals with disabilities. The most integrated setting
would be one which enables individuals with disabilities to interact with
non disabled individuals to the fullest extent possible. This would be like the
least restrictive environment when looking at a school setting.
The
following list includes various sheltered workshops or work centers throughout
the state of Florida:
(City Of Refuge)
15556 Verona Avenue Apartment B, Clearwater FL
Job Training and Vocational
Rehabilitation Services
(Eagle Wings Transitional Housing)
742 NW 3rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale FL
Job
Training and Vocational Rehabilitation Services
2868 Mahan Drive # 1, Tallahassee FL
Job
Training and Vocational Rehabilitation Services
2102 Helen Street, Melbourne FL
Job
Training and Vocational Rehabilitation Services
7507 Little Road, New Port Richey FL
Job
Training and Vocational Rehabilitation Services
County Road 229, Raiford FL
Job
Training and Vocational Rehabilitation Services
76347 Veterans Way, Yulee FL
Job
Training and Vocational Rehabilitation Services
SWS INC
http://swsinc.org/
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Ability-one
is a non-profit agency that provides numerous services to people with
disabilities. They have over 75% of the total labor hours performed by people
who are blind. This organization works on Federal contracts to perform many
duties from working at call centers to making the uniforms for the United
States Army.
The portion of the agency that specializes in accommodating
people who are blind offer occupational therapy, career counseling, transportation,
mobility, employment training and health services. The portion of the agency
that handles accommodating people with other disabilities offers employment
opportunities by securing Federal contracts for the people who are seeking
work. To be qualified for a position a person must go through a separate agency
such as NIB (National Industries for the Blind) or the NISH (an agency that
serves people whom have a range of disabilities).
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Supported
Competitive Employment
Supported
employment trains employees on the job site and assists them in acquiring,
learning, and maintaining community based employment. Throughout the training process and
employment process, ongoing supports and services are provided to individuals
with disabilities and are tailored to meet the interests and needs of the
individual. Training is primarily
conducted using a one-on-one format.
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Project SEARCH provides individualized supported employment training for students with disabilities. Focusing on employability in the field of health care, internships are first offered to students with disabilities in order to uncover the best job match for the student’s skills, abilities, and interests. Mastering various skills sets and overall employability of the student are some of the goals reached by this organization.
This is a brief
synopsis of the supported services offered by Project SEARCH and some of their
student success stories.
http://www.projectsearch.us/OurPROGRAM/StudentAlumniProfiles.aspx
Project Search Website focuses on student profiles and detailing the hiring successes of students trained through this program.
Project Search Website focuses on student profiles and detailing the hiring successes of students trained through this program.
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Publix offers supported
employment to students and adults with disabilities through individualized
coaching and training. This is a direct
link to the Human Resources department and details the strategic
initiatives of providing appropriate training of all Publix employees. It also displays information pertaining to
current employment opportunities, interview tips, Question and Answer forums,
and much more.
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iseek offers an accurate career
survey that takes about 10-15 minutes to take and through an interests
survey. This survey looks at the person’s
activities, personal interests and interest in school subjects. The survey then compiles your responses and
gives you a career cluster, identifying careers that you would be most interested
in.
This video gives interviewing tips for first time
job seakers.
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LAPEER provides placement services and employment training. Some of the jobs Lapeer provides are but not limited to: custodial, envelope stuffing, housekeeping, and mass mailing. According to Lapeer Website, “the Mobile Work Crew experience provides our consumers many benefits such as increase to self-esteem, community integration, increased stamina, social interaction and working relationships.”
http://lapeerteamwork.com
*Mobile work crew experience provides individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities possibilities to work in the community.
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Sunrise group not only provides placement services and employment training but provides residential and habilitation services.
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The resources provided in this blog are only a few of the available resources people with disabilities can utilize during the job inquires. We believe that these resources are some of the best available resources at this time and can help people who utilize them get in contact with many other amazing organizations and community resources. We hope that the resoureces provided will give students with disabilties and their families the information necessary to start them on the path to their perfect job.
Alphabet Soup,
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy reading your blog each week. We thought this week’s blog on employment was very useful. You did a great job finding resources to help students and their families. We liked how you did not just focus on the Jacksonville area but you found resources all over Florida and outside of Florida too. Not everyone will be staying in the Jacksonville area after high school and it’s good to know that there are resources provided all around the country. We thought your introduction was written well and it is obvious that you put a lot of time and effort into your work.
Your blog provided us with great information and as teachers we would bookmark all these resource’s websites in our computers to use to help our students find employment. The “I Seek” survey is a great resource to find out what career fields a student will enjoy due to their personal interests. We all agreed that we would use this survey or another survey similar to this to find out what our students were interested in. The survey’s website had other great tips and could help people find employment in the state of Minnesota. We completed the survey and it took us under ten minutes to complete, which we thought was convenient. Nobody wants to spend a lot of time answering questions, even though it is beneficial to them. As teachers, it is our duty to prepare our students for life after school. Knowing their interest will help us help our students find work or what post-secondary school that would be best for them.
Thank you, Alphabet Soup, for providing us with great resources and a well written blog each week. We are saddened that your next blog will be your last entry since we enjoy the content.
Sincerely,
A Diamond in the Rough
Alphabet Soup for the Transitioners’ Soul,
ReplyDeleteWe really loved the title, it is so true about how employment is a group effort and not individual. It’s so important to make sure you are one the path you want to be on when deciding a career. We were glad you focused this blog on the student. We really felt that for them this information would have been the most beneficial.
You guys had so many great resources for this topic. We loved the places you had listed here in Florida that provided workshops. A lot of students may not know about these workshops that they can take advantages of, so this would be something we would definitely include in information we give students.
We also really liked the survey you include. We really liked how it was not too lengthy. We could definitely see ourselves using this survey in the future. Sunrise was also a great one we didn’t know much about before this blog. They provide some many Services: Adult Day Training, In-Home Support Services, ICF/DD Intermediate Care Facility for the Developmentally Disabled, Residential Habilitation, Respite Care, Supported Employment, Supported Living Coaching. This resource really seems like they are out to really help everyone they can.
Overall we really like this blog. This would be a great site to introduce students to the issues and ideas of employment.
Great Job,
Flux