April 10, 2002

Job Opportunity Simply Isn't Enough

Much of our work-related life consists of actions most of us take for granted. In the morning we get out of bed, shower, dress, eat, and drive a car or take a bus to work. At work, we do our jobs using the standard tools the way we're trained to do. We enjoy an occasional lunch with fellow workers, visit the lavatory from time to time, think about what we need to accomplish tomorrow. Then, eventually, we return home, reverse the morning process and wind up back in bed.

While the job itself may be exciting, the rest of the stuff sounds pretty boring, wouldn't you say? For most of us, it's just routine.

To achieve this daily routine, we have to have a job opportunity. Seizing that opportunity requires:

• housing within reasonable proximity to the job
• means to get in and out of bed and our homes, and to handle daily activities of hygiene, dressing and eating
• transportation to and from the job
• tools and technology to help us do the job
• education and training that enable us to qualify for a job and achieve acceptable performance

But for people with disabilities, such as the men and women MDA serves, everyday work-related life is anything but routine. It requires a great deal of time and effort to plan and arrange. Another list of needs must be added:

• accessible housing
• accessible transportation
• assistive devices and technologies for performing the job
• personal attendant services (in some cases) or family assistance

For most people with disabilities, each of these items must be in place before a job opportunity can become a successful job outcome, no matter what talents, education and training they may have. (More opportunities to work from home would help, but employers don't seem to be embracing the telecommuting concept in numbers that would make a significant impact.)

Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, equal opportunity to be considered for a job is legally guaranteed, as are on-the-job accommodations. Yet those alone haven't significantly increased the number of people with disabilities who are working. A Harris Poll commissioned by the National Organization on Disability (NOD) in 2000 reports:

"... when looking at all people with disabilities, the employment rate for people with disabilities has remained relatively constant (between 29 and 34 percent) over the past fourteen years. ..."

These figures represent millions of people with disabilities who are unemployed and who say they're able to work. These figures are epidemic in nature — millions of strong minds and willing attitudes not being put to use.

In my years at MDA, I've known hundreds of these frustrated job seekers. For example, see the June 8, 2001 Ross Report. In addition to their personal heartbreak, the economy and our society are losing out on their immeasurable contributions, simply because we haven't managed to figure out how to provide the jobs plus the necessary support enabling people to accept and hold them. By any economic calculation, the cost of making a commitment to enabling people with disabilities to work will be recouped a thousandfold by their productivity.

I'm heartened to know that there are many people and millions of dollars engaged in developing and operating myriad programs aimed at enhancing the employment of people with disabilities. Independent living centers have been involved and motivated to do so for years. Much research and development are being carried out in rehabilitation, research and training centers significantly funded by government grants. The recently enacted Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act is certainly another bold step in the right direction. Local privately funded employment programs scattered across the nation such as the LINKAGES program in Tucson, Ariz., operate quietly and efficiently at the grassroots level.

But — and it's a pretty big one — most of these efforts, while well intentioned, are directed only at selective "pieces" of work-related activity. This isn't a criticism of any particular program, but rather a systemic observation. This is why I say, "job opportunity (including the education and training to do the job) simply isn't enough."

Making provisions for the whole spectrum of work-related activity needs to be the scope of the process that determines an individual's ability to obtain and hold a job.

A major example is the March 2002 report coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and presented to President Bush as part of his New Freedom Initiative program to benefit people with disabilities. This report does take a holistic view starting with getting the employee out of bed in the A.M. and ending back in it in the P.M., attempting to make certain all the supportive steps in between are accounted for.

Are there efforts to address these problems in your community? What do you think could be done? I'd like to hear what you think. Write me at RossReport@mdausa.org.

With every best wish…

The Ross Report Archive