NEW YORK RELEASES DRAFT PLAN TO INCREASE COMPETITIVE INTEGRATED EMPLOYMENT FOR WORKERS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

On Oct. 1, 2013, New York State’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) issued a draft plan to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services detailing its strategy to shift individuals with developmental disabilities toward competitive employment.* The state plans to end new placements of individuals with disabilities in sheltered workshops and to transition all existing sheltered workshop workers under the age of 50 to competitive supported employment. The transition will take place gradually over the course of 9 to 11 years. The state also plans to redesign its compensation structure for supported employment services to reflect actual costs and will increase connections between individuals with disabilities and the state’s vocational rehabilitation program, ACCES-VR.

* Full text of the draft plan is available at http://www.opwdd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Appendix2.pdf


LEAD Center Policy Update, November 14, 2013

Rules to Improve Employment for Veterans and People with Disabilities

On August 27, 2013 the U.S. Department of Labor announced two new rules which will improve hiring and employment of veterans and people with disabilities. The change in these rules will now allow us to measure federal contractors’ progress toward achieving

equal opportunity for protected veterans and people with disabilities.

The first rule updates the requirements under the Vietnam Era Veteran’s Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) of 1974. This rule provides contractors  with a quantifiable metric to measure their success in hiring veterans by requiring contractors to annually adopt a benchmark either based on the nation’s percentage of veterans in the workforce (currently 8%), or their own benchmark based on the best available data. (http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/vevraa.htm)

The second rule updates the requirements for Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. This rule introduces a hiring goal for federal contractors and subcontractors that 7% of each job group in their workforce be qualified individuals with disabilities. The rule also goes on to specify expectations of contractors in the areas of recruitment, training, record keeping and policy dissemination. (https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/section503.htm)

Changes to these rules were a long time coming. The unemployment rate for veterans and persons with disabilities is excessively high. You would think that those who have given so much to serve our country after 9/11 would be able to find employment after coming home. Unfortunately, employment rates for these veterans were reported to have dropped by 2.2% in 2012. In addition, in 2012 it was reported by the U.S. Department of Labor that only 17.8% of people with disabilities were employed, compared to 63.9% of non-disabled people with employment. (http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/20/news/economy/veteran-jobs/index.html; http://www.bls.gov/news.release/disabl.nr0.htm )

We hope the changes in these rules actually have a positive and significant impact on employment for veterans and people with disabilities; not only in the employment rates and opportunities, but also in the quality of their employment. For those veterans and people with disabilities who remain disillusioned with available employment opportunities, we encourage you to remember, that self-employment is always an option.    

Leadership Focus: ABILITIES not Disabilities!

Part 1 of a 3 part Leadership Focus series.

Being a parent to two boys with developmental disabilities has given me first hand experience to many amazing talents and the superior intelligence they both possess. One thing that always sticks out in my mind is how often people are unaware that autism is not an intellectual disorder. On the contrary, individuals on the autism spectrum have historically been some of our greatest thinkers and innovators.

Let me give you an example of the breathtaking intellect I am privy to on a daily basis:

The Ninjago Episode

My step-son, 10, loves “Ninjago.” If you have a 10- year-old boy, you know what I speak of. So, in search of a way to interact with my son that engages him, I decided to propose him the following activity: “How about we film our own versions of Ninjago episodes using your own Lego sets?” “Sure!” he quickly replied.

The arrangement was, I film while he moved the Lego pieces, produced the sound effects and did the ‘voice-over’ of the characters. So, he gets out all of his Ninjago Lego pieces and “Action!” We begin filming. Well as I am filming, my son makes all of his own sound effects, and I begin to notice that his dialogue (the script) between the Lego pieces had context and meaning to it.

So, I say “cut.” And ask him, “Did you write this script?” and he replied, “No, I memorized the dialogue from the cartoon.” Oh okay, so, skeptical of his claim, I later review my video of the episode we filmed and watched the episode of Ninjago he claimed to have had memorized, and….. after comparing the two, I sat there, thinking, “My God, he did memorize every single word, expression, sound effect, and movement of the Lego pieces.

We filmed a second episode, and again, virtually a 10 year old carbon copy of the Ninjago episode.

Disability or Ability?

This ‘ability’ may be rare you might think. Perhaps it’s one of those stories you have seen on “Ripley’s” or even Discovery Channel. The reality is that this is more common and has been more common throughout our history than most are aware of. How many of you have seen “A Beautiful Mind?” If you have, how many of you knew that story before the movie came out?

Our society, has shaped our frame of thought about disabilities in a way that the very utterance of that word paints images of wheel chairs, crutches, and physical ailments, and leads our hearts down a path of sorrow and despair. How can we focus on one’s abilities when our minds and hearts are bombarded by images and emotions to the contrary?

The leadership, in both the private and public sectors have a responsibility to inaugurate a paradigm shift in thought, reaction and most importantly, engagement with persons with disabilities. HOW?

Picasso Einstein has put together 5 steps for Leaders in identifying a refreshed view of ‘abilities.’

How do You Define “ABILITIES?”

If everyone were to adhere to a strict abidance to our generic definition of abilities, Jon Nash (The subject of “A Beautiful Mind.”) would have been quickly placed in confinement based on his ‘disabilities.’ Instead he enjoyed the free reign of midnight blackboard scribbles at Princeton University. Nash’s psycho-social challenges were no doubt worrisome to all those around him, and those who loved him the most. But many chose to focus on his abilities, and love him through his disabilities (if you will). Thanks to those people, we have the gift of the Nash Equilibrium that impacts our lives today through the Stock Exchange.

So, back to the question; how do you define abilities? Is it empirically tied to one’s ability to function socially? Or is your definition of abilities detached from the nuances of individuality and focused on what one can offer, and less focused on what one cannot?

Picasso Einstein’s Definition:

ABILITIES (U-bi-li-tees) – Performance potential based on internal, external and environmental factors that have been molded to lend themselves to the exploration of possibilities instead of limitations.

“Gauge the Engagement” | How do You Gauge “ABILITIES?”

First and foremost, engaging anyone in ways you are not familiar with or accustomed to, is in itself a challenge. I work often with at-risk youth as well, and the engagement approach is quite customized and acute. Demographics such as, ethnicity, culture, economy, age, gender, and environments play a role in one’s ability to engage, and ability to be engaged.

So, engaging ones’ abilities cannot be defined by simply asking, “What can you do?” Why not? Because individuals, internally, place limitations on their own abilities, so therefore, the answer to that question in itself will be subjective (skewed if you will).

When engaging persons with disabilities here are a few questions I like to ask, in the order that it is listed. This will assist you in properly and accurately ‘gauging the engagement.’

• Tell me four things you love to do?

How often do you do the things you love? And with whom?

• Tell me two things you hate to do?
• Do you ever do things you hate to do? Give me an example when? Why?
• What things would you say, are things you will never be able to do?
• What things do you say you can’t do now, but aspire to do one day?

Questions to Identify 5 KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators):

1. Motivation

• What excites him/her and leads to performance?
• What qualities of an activity engage his/her interest?
• How does he/she engage with others?

2. Deterrents

• What disengages performance?
• What qualities of activities dilute interest?
• What qualities about others disengage performance?

3. Self-perceived abilities

• Abilities as obstacles (what things can never be done)
• Abilities as empowerment (what things have the possibility of being done now or near future)
• Abilities on-demand (what things are done on ‘need’ basis only)

4. Self-perceived limitations

• Insight on his/her perception of own disabilities
• Reasons why some disabilities seem insurmountable
• Reasons why some disabilities seem conquerable

5. Support systems

• Where/when/how does the person perform the most?
• Where/when/how does the person perform the least?
• With whom does the person perform the most/least?

These first two steps will help you begin your journey towards a true engagement of abilities, and a distancing from the emphasis on ones’ disabilities. In Part 2, I will discuss “What Performance means to a person with disabilities” & “When Independence drives, abilities get in the driver’s seat.”

- See more at: http://www.aboutleaders.com/leadership-focus-abilities-not-disabilities/#sthash.b1iv0P4b.dpuf

Pursuing Work Goals While Receiving SSI & SSDI

One of the employment supports offered by the Social Security Administration for SSI and SSDI recipients is the “Plan to Achieve Self Support” (PASS) program. The PASS program allows you to set aside other income besides your SSI, and resources for a specified period of time in order to allow you to pursue a work goal that may ultimately reduce or eliminate your SSI or SSDI benefits you currently receive (however, your eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid may continue). Income and resources that you set aside under PASS is not counted when considering your eligibility for SSI or figuring your SSI payment amount. Individuals who receive SSI or could qualify for SSI by putting aside income and resources can benefit from the PASS program

The requirements of the PASS program are the following:

·      Your plan to achieve self-support must be in writing. Social Security Administration prefers you use their form SSA-545-BK: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/online/ssa-545.pdf ;

·      You must have a specific work goal that you are capable of achieving and have a specific timeframe to reach your goal;

·      Demonstrate the income and resources that will assist you in reaching your goal and how you will use them;

·      Demonstrate how the funds you set aside will be kept separate from your other income and resources; and

·      Your plan must be approved by Social Security Administration (SSA).

At Picasso Einstein, LLC we are able to help you set up your Plan to Achieve Self-Support. Once the plan is approved by SSA, you’ll be on the path to independence!

                                                               Written by Minerva Vazquez

                                                               2013 Red Book

                                                                                    Social Security Administration

Leaders Misunderstand Inclusion for Persons with Disabilities

It is unfortunate in itself that the disability community at-large has found it fitting to use the word “inclusion” when referring to our beloved children, siblings, parents or friends with disabilities.

The term inclusion in itself is deceiving.

So I have given much thought to the moments when I read about employers that do the bare minimum to engage persons with disabilities. The truth is, I cannot blame them. For they are doing nothing less than complying with the very proposition that the term inclusion suggests:

Include. Rather than engage, support, or invest in - just simply, include.

Inclusion

How unfortunate that our desperate natural desire and dependency on labels has yielded a term that only suggests the bare minimum of its necessity.

So, without griping anymore on the term, as it has been etched into stone (at least for now), let’s focus on what the true definition of “Inclusion” should be to employers, community leaders and politicians alike, when we are speaking of persons with disabilities. Here are five terms of TRUE INCLUSION for leaders, employers and communities, when seeking to engage persons with disabilities. Although these are not the synonyms you will find for inclusion in any dictionary, these are the terms that should replace them.

Understanding

Education leads to understanding. But who are we suggesting needs education: those persons with disabilities? NO. Here I am referring to education that the employer and its employees need. All too often, when an employer embarks on a pathway that leads to inclusion, they only fulfill their expected obligation to hire persons with disabilities. They often exceed expectations in training the person with disabilities as it relates to their responsibilities at the workplace. But equally as infrequent do they invest in training for those who would be colleagues of persons with disabilities. Consequently they know little or nothing as it pertains to their nuances, their needs, and most importantly their RIGHTS.

It would not only behoove an employer to educate every employee about the benefits of hiring, working and supporting persons with disabilities, because of the issue of rights, but more importantly, it elevates a sense of comradeship, engagement and community when all can partake in the essence of inclusion… Independence. 

Planning

Once you have educated those within your organization as to the items mentioned above, the next step is planning.

Planning for what? Planning for change, moderation and growth.

Plan for change:

Very often, organizations change products, store layouts, goals and even more often, employees. This change usually happens with planning in place. So what more planning do you need?

Persons with disabilities, often function best under a structured atmosphere, and as a matter of fact, most businesses do as well. So, when change occurs, have you thought about the ramifications of such change as it relates to an employee with disabilities?

1. Product Change. Will an employee with disabilities find him/herself in a change of role & responsibilities? Have you prepared that person for such change?

2. Change on the color identification of your products, or perhaps even the design of your interior space: Does the person with disabilities depend on the colors of your products and/or design layout in order to process functional roles and tasks? Have you prepared that person for such change?

3. Corporate goals change Standard Operating Procedures: Will new operating procedures require new tasks and/or processes for completion? Have you informed the person with disabilities in preparation for such change?

4. Are you promoting, moving or firing an employee? What is the relationship of this employee with the person with disabilities? How are they connected within the business structure (boss, colleague)? How are they connected personally (friend, mentor)? How are they connected operationally (complete tasks together, tasks are co-dependent)?

Persons with disabilities depend on structure and consistency when it comes to expected tasks and workplace competency. Any ripple to those operational characteristics would need to be imperatively communicated to the person with disabilities BEFORE they occur. If preparation for change is important for a business, then ten-fold it is for a person with disabilities.

Equability

An employer’s ability to educate its employees and plan for the occupation of a person with disabilities, will allow them to balance both expectations and accountability.

Depending on the person with disabilities, expectations will vary when you are laying out workplace tasks and responsibilities. Likewise, such thought should be put into a healthy structure of accountability for the person with disabilities. Let’s look at these two separately for a brief moment. 

Expectations:

What we expect from the person with disabilities should neither be lofty nor debasing. You must strike a balance, or equability for true success of this inclusion.

Expectations should be based on the abilities of the person, NOT THE DISABILITY. When you plan out tasks, goals and responsibilities around their abilities, you lend the engagement of your organization to the exploration of independence. When you plan with the disability of the person as the superior thought, you really are only planning for reliance.

Accountability:

The fact that we are speaking of persons with disabilities by no means denotes the pointlessness of accountability. Accountability methods should absolutely be established for the person with disabilities. Accountability, goals and tasks clearly connected to that accountability is a crucial and necessary tool for the intent of Independence.

These accountability methods should be clearly communicated to the person with disabilities. This is where most employers fail. Their attempt to communicate these measures, fall upon distinctive abilities. A letter, or memo, or even a conversation in passing may not be enough to effectively communicate such measures to a person with disabilities.

Try the following:

▪   Reviewing Accountability Methods with the person with disabilities on a one-on-one basis in a place that is quiet and allows attentiveness.

▪   Utilizing visual support systems that enhance the subjective application of the accountability methods (photos of actual employees, photos of the workplace and/or departments within the workplace)

▪   Use charts that create a visual ‘relational’ diagram of how their responsibilities and tasks impact the rest of their team, or colleagues.

▪   Ask questions about the methods and discuss openly with the individual with disabilities about their comfort-level and understanding of those measures.

Support Systems

Let’s lay the cards out on the table. We are not talking about support by means of a hotline or email. We are talking about personal, humanistic, neighborly support.

There is an old saying that goes: “The house did not collapse due to dense rain; instead it sunk due to being fabricated on sand.” The point here is that support systems without proper education and planning are like building a house on sand. When it falls apart, to blame the support would be like blaming the rain.

If you have put conscientious effort into the prior three steps, then you have already laid bricks as your foundation for inclusion. Here are some ideas for molding solid foundational support systems for persons with disabilities:

▪   Creating a professional peer group that discusses and explores strategies for better inclusion within the corporate environment

▪   Having regular meetings with colleagues and the person(s) with disabilities to discuss workplace tasks, concerns and offering a suggestion box, or what we like to call it: SPARKING SPACES: Ideas that create a spark.

▪   Have regular meetings with the family, or support network of the person with disabilities. Often, challenges outside of the work environment, can impact behavior or performance at the workplace. Wait, that happens to ALL OF US!

▪   Create performance milestones for the person with disabilities. They cannot achieve independence, if they do not see the value in growth. Mundane, routine-like tasks at work may be what most think are easiest for persons with disabilities. Thus why we see so many of our loved ones with disabilities, bagging at our local supermarket. What’s next for them? Will they ever move up and feel accomplishment? That is a question for the employer to answer.

CELEBRATE!

Celebrating the hard work that goes into educating, planning and balancing the workplace for persons with disabilities is not only productive, but it is rewarding.

When you have provided education to employees on “inclusion,” allow the conclusion to be a celebration of the topic. When you have implemented planned change, and executed on those plans, celebrate it, with all of your employees. When you have struck a fine balance within your operational procedure that confer with both expectations and accountability equally, celebrate it, with the entire team, department, and even the organization.

Your organization’s successes in its pathway to inclusion should be celebrated at each stage as the landmark it is. Celebrate Inclusion, and all those around you will join in on the celebration!

ENTREPRENEURSHIP 4 INDEPENDENCE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP 4 INDEPENDENCE

E 4 i  is a program specifically designed to assist families with disabilities explore the sensation of self-sustainability through entrepreneurship. There are so many persons with disabilities, possessing abilities and intellect beyond our wildest dreams, yet have access to so few employment opportunities. Picasso Einstein has set out to change this equation. 

Picasso Einstein's mission is to explore the passion that moves persons with disabilities and bring the untapped talent of those individuals to the forefront of business. That is why we are committed to assisting persons with disabilities and their families explore the viability of starting their own business & the pursuit of becoming an "E 4 i Entrepreneur."

Picasso Einstein

Creativity and Intelligence Become One