MIA’S SPACE: Day One
What a Summer it has been! After the 25th Anniversary of the ADA we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid.
At the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) conference hosted by National Association of State Units on Aging and Disability, Kathy Greenlee, the assistant secretary for the Department of Aging and administrator for the Administration for Community Living, gave the opening address on the anniversary. The law represented a sea change in policy that recognized the nation had a responsibility to provide for the health care of seniors who had worked their entire lives, as well as to provide healthcare security for children and people with disabilities. Significant systems change needed to occur between the passage of the legislation and the day the program went into effect and Asst. Secretary Greenlee asked the audience to imagine, “What was Day One like?”
I’ve been thinking about “Day One.” We all have Day One experiences in our lives. They may not be of the magnitude of implementing a new insurance program for the entire country, but they change our personal landscapes. The day we found out our child had a disability. Day One when they started school. Day One in a new home.
Because October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, I want to talk about a Day One experience that is fairly universal, EXCEPT perhaps for people with disabilities. I’m talking about Day One on a new job. The first day of work. Remember what that felt like? The anticipation? Nerves, excitement? Relieved perhaps if the job search had been a long one? Looking forward to your first paycheck, first lunch in the cafeteria or neighborhood with new colleagues, first experience of success when a project was completed? Maybe even the first disappointment or failure which also contained important lessons for improvement in the future.
The Day One experience in my mind is especially poignant for high school students when they see their peers heading off to start jobs, but they get left out of this pivotal transition. Mia’s first Day One in high school, though she was quite vocal in wanting a job, was being told after a lengthy evaluation and meeting that she was not ready to work -- therefore she was not eligible for employment supports. It didn’t take us long to reverse that trajectory, and she has worked pretty consistently over the past 10 years.
Everyone has the right to experience their first job. With the Medicaid HCBS rules requiring that individuals be given the opportunity to work to the same extent as individuals who do not receive Medicaid, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act strengthening the process for youth exiting high school to transition to employment first instead of day services or sheltered workshops, more people can have first job “Day One” experiences. Experience has shown us that people with disabilities are consistent, reliable workers. An increase in Day One experiences will change the employment landscape for all us, not just those with disabilities.
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