Special Education Law Blog

Now is the Time to Think About Workplace Accommodations

As advocates, our goal is to prepare our children with special needs for further education, employment, and independent living.  For many of our students, successful employment may be contingent upon implementation of workplace accommodations.  But how do we know which accommodations will be helpful, or even what they are?

Fortunately, we have tools to help us through the process.  An excellent website I recommend to clients is the Job Accommodation Network (JAN).  Its primary topics of Disabilities, Limitations, and Work-related functions are paired with a staggering array of potential workplace accommodations.

We have all complained about schools offering cookie-cutter accommodations by disability category; thus, we must not repeat this error in requesting job-related accommodations.  Not every student with ADHD requires the same seating preferences as the other; not every student with a hearing impairment requires hearing FM systems, etc.  So how do we avoid this trap?  By skillful use of data collection in our students’ transition plans.  Once our students begin their vocational experience—be it in the school cafeteria, retail store, or other location—we need to consider what accommodations may be necessary for them to be successful and document what works, and more importantly, what doesn’t work, to help them achieve their transition-related goals.  Once the student graduates and is ready to enter the workforce, he or she can assert with confidence what will be beneficial for successful employment. 

 

 

Navigating the World of Social Security

While I do not represent families through the maze of social security benefits, it is an important issue that needs to be a factor in transition planning. Navigating the world of such social security entitlement programs as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is a byzantine process for parents of children and adults with disabilities.  It is challenging even for sophisticated or highly educated parents and requires tremendous amounts of time, patience, and fortitude.  Yet, parents shouldn’t have to re-invent wheels as they enter this labyrinth and try to comprehend the variety of regulations that may or may not apply to their child.  School IEP teams can provide a tremendous amount of support to both the student and the family by developing meaningful transition plans and goals that help shepherd the family through the process.  In particular, schools must be actively involved early in the transition process in identifying and assisting students who are or may become eligible for SSI or SSDI.

Call Congress Immediately to Save Medicaid

The following is a reproduced statement as to the critical need to save Medicaid from Trumpcare.

The American Health Care Act (AHCA) jeopardizes healthcare for the nation’s most vulnerable children: students with disabilities and students in poverty. Specifically, the AHCA reneges on Medicaid’s 50+ year commitment to provide America’s children with access to vital healthcare services that ensure they have adequate educational opportunities and can contribute to society by imposing a per-capita cap and shifting current and future costs to taxpayers in every state and Congressional district.  While children currently comprise almost half of all Medicaid beneficiaries, less than one in five dollars is spent by Medicaid on children. Accordingly, a per-capita cap, even one that is based on different groups of beneficiaries, will disproportionally harm children’s access to care, including services received at school.

Comprehensive Transition Guide from OSERS--Bring It to Your Next Transition Meeting

The U.S. Department of Education in January 2017, just released a very comprehensive guide to transition services. Download Postsecondary-transition-guide-2017-3. Transition planning is one of the most vital functions of having an IEP for all students. An IEP is not an ends in itself, it is a means to an ends--called adult life. Too often schools take a very narrow and parochial view of their responsibilities to transitioning students. Trips to the grocery store several times a week and preparing meals the remainder of the week are too often the beginning and end of transition programming. I firmly believe that students need to master functional schools, but it cannot be one size fits most, and there has to be more content if a student is going to make a meaningful transition to adult life. Parents need to read this guide prior to their next transition meeting and bring it to the meeting to move the discussion towards outcomes and programs that the school will never offer, without significant advocacy from a parent, advocate or attorney. This guide will provide both the legal and conceptual framework needed to solidly ground those arguments. Good luck and keep advocating.

Self-Employment for Persons with Disabilities

Our recent series of articles on the employment rates and work challenges experienced by persons with disabilities paid only a glancing look at perhaps one of the most viable employment options for persons with disabilities—that of self-employment.  According to the US Census Bureau, people with disabilities are almost twice as likely to be self-employed as persons without disabilities (14.7% compared to 8%).  Although the challenges of creating and sustaining a small business may seem daunting to most of us, self-employment actually can make sound sense for many workers with disabilities. It really needs to be part of the discussion in the "transistion process" albeit typically it is not.

"How to Get People to Like You" and Revisiting the Transition Plan

The Behavioral Analysis Program in the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division is responsible for the “thoughtful process of creating a positive interaction and possible relationship between two individuals, whether the goal is an interview, confession, or development of a confidential source.”  You may be asking, “Why am I reading about this in a special education blog?”  Because Robin Dreeke, who managed the FBI program for more than 25 years, has published a book entitled, “It’s Not All About ‘Me’:  The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone.”  In a nutshell, Mr. Dreeke is talking about the development of social skills, which is a critical piece of the special education puzzle for many of our students.  As we have discussed in previous blogs, social skills, or the lack thereof, is what trips up many of our students/children as they enter young adulthood.  Rick Lavoie, a social skills training expert, stated:  “Social skills deficits are the ultimate determining factor in the child’s future success, happiness, and acceptance.”  It’s not enough to be book smart in this world; you also need to have emotional intelligence and people savvy. 

Most of Mr. Dreeke’s suggestions, which are crystallized in a Time magazine article, may seem obvious to most of us.  Yet, they may not be to our loved ones with disabilities. Admittedly, most of Mr. Dreeke’s strategies are well beyond the scope of most of the client’s in my practice who are still dealing with communication basics:  vocal intonation, making eye contact, respecting personal space, etc.  But for students who are much higher functioning and capable of abstract thought and introspection, Mr. Dreeke is providing a blue print a la Dale Carnegie on how to make friends and generally succeed in life.  To quote the list provided by Time, Mr. Dreeke recommends:

1. The single most important thing is non-judgmental validation.  Seek someone else's thoughts and opinions without judging them.
2. Suspend your ego. Focus on them.
3. Really listen, don’t just wait to talk.  Ask them questions; don’t try to come up with stories to impress.
4. Ask people about what’s been challenging them.
5. Establishing a time constraint early in the conversation can put strangers at ease.
6. Smile, chin down, blade your body, palms up, open and upward non-verbals
7. If you think someone is trying to manipulate you, clarify goals.  Don’t be hostile or aggressive, but ask them to be straight about what they want.

These strategies are reminders of what many of our kids may need.  For some students, particularly those with autism spectrum disorders, the lack of social skills (as well as other functional living skills) can be deal breakers for them as they move into young adulthood.  As we have discussed elsewhere, many of these bright, young adults matriculate at colleges or in jobs and yet fail.  They simply don’t have complete skill sets to navigate independent living or post-secondary education. These points could be useful in thinking about and developing goals both in high school and in transition programming.

Emily Iland, an advocate and leader in the autism community, recommends going back to the transition plan for these higher functioning students.  Because they have been navigating high school on a college prep academic track, these students haven’t had room to address many of these communication and independent living skills and school districts may not even recognize that they are lacking.  Ms. Iland reminds us that these students don’t have to be handed their diplomas at 18; they can continue receiving services until they turn 21. 

It is during this transition period that perhaps many of Mr. Dreeke’s  recommendations can be integrated into solid transition goals that address pragmatic language deficits, including nonverbal body language, reciprocal speech, and initiating conversations as well as other functional and adaptive skills.  Keeping higher functioning 18-year-olds in high school may be a challenge—school districts are not used to not graduating 18-year-olds who have the requisite academic skills—and these higher functioning 18-year-olds, who legally are their own educational decision makers, may utterly balk at not graduating with their peers.  However, graduating from high school is a change in placement, and if appropriate can be challenged through due process and the accompanying stay put regulations.  It is possible that the student/family can demonstrate that the young adult is not ready for young adult life and needs additional transition services.   

I’m not necessarily recommending that every 18 year old with an ASD should continue into a transition program, but I am suggesting that families and school districts consider the student’s needs outside the academic curriculum.  The basis for this is of course, a strong and solid transition plan, which unfortunately receives very short shrift for the highest functioning special education students.  Mr. Dreeke’s recommendations for “How to Get People to Like You” simply reminds us of some of the skills our students will need as they transition into adulthood.

 

 

Top Jobs for the Disabled

This post is the third in the series related to employment for people with disabilities. All too many of the students I represent have unrealistic career goals.  Students who have never been on a Little League baseball team think they are going to play in the major leagues, and students obsessed with their electronics blithely think they will be video game designers although they have no idea of how competitive and challenging the field is.  No one wants to torpedo a child’s hopes, but we need to help them develop realistic and attainable goals that will lead to a meaningful life and hopefully self sufficiency.  But what are the jobs that will help them achieve these goals?     

We’ve already established in other blogs that persons with disabilities are either frequently unemployed or underemployed.  We also know that disabled workers earn less money than their non-disabled counterparts.  (According to the 2006 American Community Survey the median income for persons with disabilities was $17,000 versus $28,000 for workers without disabilities.)  The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has identified the 10 largest occupations in which 21% of the labor force work as well as the mean incomes in these fields:

• Retail salespersons--$25,760
• Cashiers--$20,640
• Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food--$19,110
• Office clerks, general--$30,820
• Registered nurses--$69,790
• Customer service representatives--$33,890
• Waiters and waitresses--$21,640
• Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand--$27,180
• Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive--$34,500
• Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners--$25,460

Excluding registered nurses, the mean annual wage for these occupations ranges from $19,110 for combined food preparation and serving workers to $34,500 for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical and executive.  Compare this average salary to the mean average salary for all occupations of $47,230.  

We don’t actually know what percentage of workers in these particular 10 job areas is disabled.  But we do know from other BLS data that persons with disabilities are more likely to work in production, transportation, and material moving occupations than workers without disabilities (15% compared with 12%).  Workers with disabilities are less likely to work in management, professional, and related occupations than workers without disabilities (31% compared with 39%). 

So which career paths will help our family members achieve economic security and independence?  Tony Lee, who publishes the online job listing and advice site CareerCast, did the research for us and provided a list of well paid jobs with strong growth outlooks that would be appropriate for employees with disabilities.  Mr. Lee started by scrutinizing the top 200 of the most populated jobs as compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  From there, these jobs were examined for not only for income and growth potential, but also for other factors that could represent either positives or negatives for job seekers with disabilities.  For instance, how competitive the job or field is, the degree of physical demands required by the position, or other such stressors as amount of required travel, deadlines, physical risks, or degree of social contact were all considered from the perspective a disabled job seeker. 

In no particular order, Mr. Lee arrived at the following list of Best Jobs for Persons with Disabilities along with their average salaries, which were published in Forbes and on CareerCastDisability (Best Jobs for Candidates with Physical Disabilities) (the lists and salaries are slightly different in the two publications):

Accountant/auditor                         $64,000

Management consultant                   $78,600

Market research analyst                   $60,300

Pharmaceutical sales                       $56,620

Vocational counselor                        $53,610

Pharmacy technician                        $29,300

Physician assistant                          $90,930

Software engineer                           $85,430

Wholesale sales rep                         $74,970

Financial analyst                              $76,950

Pharmacy technician                        $29,300

Computer support specialist             $49,000

According to Mr. Lee, some of these jobs may be appropriate for disabled workers because they may place few demands on social skills, such as software engineers.  Other positions may benefit greatly when filled by an employee with a disability.  For instance, a vocational counselor with a disability may be uniquely qualified to counsel other clients with disabilities.  This list, though clearly not encompassing of all potential careers, provides guidance for vocational planning for students with disabilities.

Now that we have identified a number of well-paying positions that may be appropriate for persons with disabilities, we need to discuss next what skills are needed for persons with disabilities who are looking at these positions, which will be a subject of a different blog.  It is not enough to possess technical competence to get a job.  Unfortunately many qualified workers with special needs find that their disabilities interfere with both their job searches and ability to keep a job despite their qualifications.  Thus, we need to create a different game plan.

 

 

Jobs for Persons with ASDs

This post is the second in the series related to employment. Springtime graduations are exciting times in a family’s life. Whether the student is exiting high school or receiving a college degree, the family’s pride follows their loved ones as they venture out into young adulthood where they either begin post-secondary education programs or step into their careers.  Yet it is still an anxious time for parents, even when their child is “typical” and appears to possess both the academic and social savvy to progress through young adulthood.  How much more fraught with angst is it when parents know that their child is not ready even though the diploma has been awarded and dutifully framed in the family home.  Parents know that the deck is stacked against their children with disabilities, even when they are higher functioning, such as those students with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).

Why Companies Hire the Disabled

This post is the fourth and final in this series of posts related to employment for people with disabilities. Most of us are familiar with the grotesque inequities which confront persons with severe disabilities in sheltered workshops where due to federal waivers employers are allowed to pay sub-minimum wages of as little as 22 cents an hour.  According to the National Disability Rights Network, more than 400,000 disabled workers are in sheltered workshops where they earn on average only $175.00 per month.  These workers are segregated with other persons with disabilities and receive little to no training to enable them transition to more meaningful work.  Many of these sheltered workshops are no more than daycare.  However, different disability groups are tackling head on ways to change what some advocates deem outright exploitation of disabled workers in sheltered workshops. 

Employment is also challenging for persons with moderate to mild disabilities who wish to engage in competitive employment. Whether because of outright discrimination or employer fear, persons with disabilities are often overlooked in the hiring process.  But this situation may be slowly changing as different corporations are exploring ways to hire the disabled and creating win-win situations for everyone. What these corporations are discovering is that hiring the disabled makes sound business sense and is not merely an act of charity. 

In 2007, Walgreens developed a goal to ensure that 30% of 800 employees at one of its high tech distribution centers would be employees with disabilities who would receive equal pay, equal jobs, and an inclusive work environment.  The initiative was wildly successful and to its delight, Walgreens realized that this site operated 20% more efficiently than its other locations. As of 2012, Walgreens is now employing 1000 employees at its 17 distribution centers in the United States and Puerto Rico.  One of its distribution centers now has 40% of employees with disabilities.  Other major companies, such as Best Buy and Toys R Us, are likewise following this model to increase their hiring of disabled workers.

In the past few years, the Kessler Foundation has developed a “Transition to Work” grants program, which funds initiatives to develop programs that address the persistently high unemployment rates of the disabled, by providing grants to enable service providers and businesses to develop new ways to foster employment programs for the disabled.  One such grant was made to the National Organization on Disability (NOD) in 2009.  The NOD recognized that although well-meaning companies wanted to create a more diverse work force, they did not always speak the “same language” of the service providers for the disabled.  “Success” was understood differently by potential employers and service providers.  As a result, the NOD created the “Bridges to Business” program in 2009 to provide project management and oversight to help these two sectors work more collaboratively together to improve employment outcomes for the disabled.   NOD worked closely with Lowe’s, which similarly to Walgreens was committed to creating a more diverse work force, was able to hire over 120 persons with disabilities and train 375 managers over an 18-month period.

The Federal government is ensuring that there are sound financial benefits to companies to hire employees with disabilities. For instance, employers must always maintain compliance with the anti-discrimination employment practices of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the hiring of employees with disabilities obviously protects against such litigation, lowering a business’ legal costs.  Employers can also benefit from the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which is a federal tax credit program that can reduce an employer’s income tax liability by up to $2,400 per qualified new hire (individual from one of 9 targeted groups).  Similarly, small business owners can apply for tax credits for expenses incurred creating eligible accesses for employees.  Businesses of any size can deduct up to $15,000 per year for qualified expenses involved in the removal of architectural and transportation barriers to the disabled and elderly. 

Employees with disabilities are loyal employees as demonstrated by their retention rate.  The average turnover rate of employees with disabilities is 8% compared to 45% in the general population, thereby reducing the costs of hiring and training new employees.   And the additional time spent training disabled employees can benefit all employees.  The whole idea of universal design for learning—the concept that all students can benefit from the specialized instruction afforded students with disabilities in educational settings—can translate to employment situations.  All employees, not just the disabled, can benefit from the specialized training and education afforded workers with disabilities.

Finally and harder to quantify are the intangible benefits a business can generate by hiring the disabled such as seen at Walgreens.  Not only are the people with disabilities loyal employees, but their friends and families can also be loyal customers.  All of us who advocate for and love our family members with special needs will certainly choose to patronize a business that supports employment of the disabled?  The good will generated by the presence of disabled workers is simply good public relations for any business. 

 

Employment and the Disabled: Extent of the Problem

I am publishing a series of blogs on employment related to people with disabilities. This is the first of 4 posts. The Code of Federal Regulations states that the purpose of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 is to prepare students with disabilities for further education, employment, and independent living (CFR 300.1[a]). So what happens for students with disabilities once they either receive high school diplomas or complete their transition programs?  Are they employed?  Are they under-employed?  What kind of incomes are they earning?  We, and our children with disabilities or those students for whom we have advocated, have all worked too hard, exerted too much energy, and shed too many tears to have everything we’ve struggled for end when the school bus no longer picks up our children.  We need to look at what we are preparing our loved ones for once they no longer receive special education services.  With these thoughts in mind, we are exploring in different blogs what the employment outcomes are for persons with disabilities.  Although some of the data is extremely discouraging, there are bright spots that we can all hope will translate to rewarding careers/work lives for our loved ones with special needs.