This project is home to research, training, and outreach activities that promote employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Browse all our publications below, or click on the activities links under numbers 1–4.
(1) Choosing Work: Effective Knowledge Translation and Support for Individuals and Families
The goal of this line of research is to create a comprehensive information, outreach, and support framework for individuals and families that enables ready and timely access to information about employment throughout the lifespan. Research activities include a scoping literature review, online and in-person focus groups with individuals with IDD and their family members, and the development and testing of an intervention that promotes individual and family engagement in employment planning.
(2) Increasing the Effectiveness of Employment Consultants
This work will define a model for employment support that incorporates research, practice, job seeker support needs, organizational culture, and personal resources. Project partners and staff will implement an intervention to improve the quality of services provided by employment consultants through online training, data-based performance feedback, and facilitated peer-to-peer support.
(3) Building Capacity and Supporting Organizational Transformation for Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs)
Project staff will develop a model framework and toolkit to support community rehabilitation providers in implementing an Employment First focus. The demonstration of an efficient, scalable strategy that enables CRPs to create change within their own organizations is a key feature of this research.
(4) Policies and Practices of High-Performing State Employment Systems
This research strand will define the characteristics of a high-performing state system that promotes cross-agency and resource integration. The strand will also identify effective state practices and policies that lead to employment outcomes, and will and describe Employment First policy implementation and outcomes at both the national and state level.
"44" Series - Our webinar series takes a fresh look at issues and opportunities around employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). That’s why we call it "New Conversations About Integrated Employment." These webinars encourage creative thinking, and provoke reactions. Each conversation brings an original perspective to topics around IDD and employment.
Watch the recorded webinar here. Genni Sasnett, a human services consultant with extensive experience in disability employment, and Jill Eastman, an award-winning employment specialist at the ICI/UMass Boston, shared their perspectives about how employment support professionals can take a leadership role, and serve as civil rights change agents, while also empowering the people they serve to find fulfilling work and thrive in their careers.
Watch the recorded webinar here. Researchers Judith Gross (University of Kansas) and Grace Francis (George Mason University) work intensively with Hispanic families in rural Kansas. They talked about the importance of engaging families from varied backgrounds in services for their children with IDD. Judith and Grace discussed the barriers these families face, and offered strategies for professionals to help ensure full access to services.
Watch the recorded webinar here. When looking for a new job, it’s logical to “do the math.” We consider what we need (food, housing, healthcare) and what we want (gym membership, car, vacation). We balance potential income against expenses. Finally, we evaluate whether a particular job will help us achieve our goals. Benefits can be a lifeline, but continuous reliance on them can limit people to a life in poverty.
Watch the recorded webinar here. This webinar looked at the subject of informed choice. What considerations come into play when someone with IDD “chooses work”? What information and exposure or exploration does someone need to decide to leave a familiar setting, such as a sheltered workshop or day program, to work in their community?
Watch the recorded webinar here. Provider agencies across the country are transitioning from segregated “sheltered” workshop options to supporting integrated community careers for people with disabilities.
The findings from the Delphi Process on Organizational Transformation can guide providers as they work to transform their services. These findings support the prioritization of goals and the development of key action areas that have proven successful. In this brief, we will: 1. share ten essential elements in organizational transformation ranked in their order of importance according to ICI’s Delphi process, and 2. offer a set of considerations to providers as they move their organizational transformation efforts forward.
In 1987, the ICI/UMass Boston began a series of surveys aimed at providing a longitudinal description of the characteristics and service delivery provided by Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs)(Domin & Butterworth, 2012). Despite direct support staff comprising one of the nation’s largest labor market segments, there has been very little research into the wages and stability of that workforce (Bogenschutz, Hewitt, Nord, & Hepperlen, 2014). Additionally, most of the literature regarding employment consultants has focused on service outcomes of the individuals served.
A key area of focus for our Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) is organizational transformation, leading to improved employment outcomes for those served by community provider organizations.
Every American has the right to work in their community. People with disabilities can work and handle a job. We know what we are doing. We know how to speak up and speak out for ourselves.
With the persistently low competitive employment rate for working-age people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), a main focus area for the field of disability research has been on the interaction between the individual and the service system. Yet we know much less about the interaction between systems and families around employment.