‘Employment First’ for Persons With Disabilities

‘Employment First’ for Persons With Disabilities

State Senator John Kefalas is sponsoring a bill to address the high unemployment rate of persons with disabilities, including those with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The bill (SB16-077) proposes a partnership model called ‘Employment First,’ designed to target the unique barriers and challenges people with disabilities face in finding meaningful employment. The ‘Employment First’ structure is modelled after similar initiatives adopted in many other states. In an interview with Catherine Strode, Senator Kefalas says the ‘Employment First’ framework supports an agenda of moving away from sheltered workshops and ‘segregated employment,’ and partnering more with employers in the private sector.

What is the philosophy behind ‘Employment First’?
“We recognize the way things have developed over the years with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Supreme Court decision in 1999 around the Olmstead decision. These are helping us to see that people should have their own self-determination, whether you have disabilities or not. This is being driven by this whole philosophy, and best practice models of person-centered, in terms of one’s health care. The goal is to try and help people have opportunities to be as integrated in community settings as possible, in terms of where they live, and where they work. It’s the idea that it’s focused on the individual. He or she, with the proper supports, should be able to make decisions to determine how they can live in the community, what their skills allow them to do, what kind of work supports they need to be successful in the job. It’s logical; and it’s where the direction has gone. There’s a growing realization that this is how we should be conducting business. The importance of the bill is that there are best practices around the country. These are the kinds of changes we need to make. The goal is to have people engaged in meaningful activity and to earn a living as best as they can.”

What does the bill propose?
“This bill is trying to put forth this framework, ‘Employment First. It codifies it. It puts into statute definitions that are accepted around the country like: ‘competitive integrated employment’, or ‘the discovery process,’ or ‘career development planning’. The ‘Employment First’ framework is defined; that’s number one. Then, we’re creating the structure. We’re calling it the ‘Employment First’ Advisory Partnership. This is the essence of the bill. We’ve created this partnership and we’ve tried to do it in such a way where we’re not creating more entities. In terms of the departments that interface with persons with disabilities, there are five key departments. One of them is the Department of Labor and Employment (within that the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.) The next one would be the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing because a lot of the persons we are trying to support in finding work are on Medicaid. Then you have the Department of Education which does a lot of transition programs with young people with disabilities who are in high school. You also have the Department of Human Services and the Department of Higher Education. We also want to make sure these five departments are communicating with each other. This partnership will develop a strategic plan that is identifying and making recommendations what we might do statutorily, or administratively, to help address the problem of unemployment with persons of disabilities. One of the things this partnership would be looking at is how we might expand the Medicaid Buy-In program for folks so they don’t run that risk of losing critical life support systems because they’re working in a job and making more money.”

What is the fiscal impact?
“We were able to get the fiscal note to zero for the upcoming budget year. In the subsequent budget year the impact is about $23,000 in general fund money. That’s mostly for computer reprogramming. That’s 10 per cent of the overall costs. The other 90 per cent would come from federal dollars that Health Care Policy and Financing would be applying for. The bill is asking for a more robust data collection to see how many folks are actually getting jobs in integrated work settings, their wages, and their opportunities for advancement. The premise is folks should have the opportunity to work in a community setting. Obviously, there are persons whose disabilities are complex and profound in many ways. I’ve worked with folks with disabilities and you have to customize things. You have to look at what their needs are, what their desires are, and be working with the individual to find out what is best for that person.”

How do you view this bill in the perspective of all your work?
“I have tried to operate based on a set of values and policy priorities. Having been in the Peace Corps, I tend to side with people who are marginalized. Ultimately, this is all about trying to level the playing field. All of us should have an opportunity for meaning in our lives. If you measure your success on how many bills you notch on your belt, that’s one measure. I think there are a lot more metrics in this job. It’s about building relationships. This bill would have died but folks on the other side of the aisle were willing to work with me. And so, it’s a bipartisan effort. “