EXPERT UPDATE: Time to Get to Work!

When we meet someone new, one of the first things we usually ask is “What do you do?” Our jobs help define who we are, create meaning in our lives and build relationships with co-workers and the broader community. For people with disabilities, having a job is key to real community integration.

In a recent speech, Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) member (and my brother) Evan Nodvin described why working is so important to him. Earning a paycheck has allowed him to live independently, go on trips and buy the things he wants. He described his friendships with co-workers – eating lunch together, going out socially after work and even being the best man in a co-worker’s wedding. His job at a local fitness center has given him the chance to get to know people from the broader community. Many people have come to know and love Evan through his job; when he’s in the community, someone always comes up to say hello.

Unfortunately, many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) don’t have the same opportunities as Evan. Less than 25% of people with I/DD nationally receive services to access community jobs, instead spending their days in sheltered workshops, facility-based day habilitation programs or other often-segregated non-work activities. Fortunately, recent federal policies and initiatives are creating unprecedented opportunities to significantly increase employment for people with disabilities.

First, the federal government has established new rules governing all Medicaid funded Home and Community Based Services (HCBS). These rules apply to all of Georgia’s I/DD waivers, (e.g. COMP and NOW). These rules require all community-based settings be integrated in and provide access to the broader community; maximize individuals’ independence and choice of daily life activities; ensure the right to privacy and respect; facilitate choice of services and who provides them; and provide opportunities to seek competitive integrated employment. Every person must have a choice of a “nondisability specific” setting, meaning people receiving day services are offered the opportunity for community employment. Given states’ current service capacity, they will need to expand employment supports; revise service definitions and rates to incentivize competitive integrated employment; and work with sheltered workshop and day habilitation providers that are interested in transforming their services.

Georgia is evaluating its system and developing a “transition plan” to come into full compliance with the rule by March 2019. Georgia must seek public input on its plan and amend it in response to that feedback. Whenever the State makes substantive change to the plan, it will require additional public input. Stakeholders should make their voices heard about the importance of employment and the steps Georgia must take to make work a real option for all people with I/DD.

Second, Congress recently passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA) establishing competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities as a national priority. The law defines “employment” for people with disabilities as competitive integrated employment (CIE). This means people with disabilities are paid the same wages as people without disabilities, interact and get the same opportunities for career advancement as their coworkers without disabilities. WIOA requires state agencies – including state Medicaid, I/DD, vocational rehabilitation and educational agencies – to enter into cooperative agreements and to develop a plan to prioritize CIE. It also significantly limits the use of sub-minimum wage sheltered workshops as a placement for people with disabilities, particularly for youth transitioning from school. It requires them to be given opportunities to try CIE before placement in a sheltered workshop is permitted and for there to be ongoing engagement and opportunities for CIE for anyone in sheltered workshops. Georgia, like other states, needs to implement these new requirements.

WIOA also created a federal advisory committee to make recommendations to Congress and the Labor Secretary on strategies to increase opportunities for CIE for people with significant disabilities and on the future of federal law that allows people with disabilities to be paid sub-minimum wage. Ruby Moore, executive director of the Georgia Advocacy Office, and I are privileged to have served on this committee together with other national experts, federal agency representatives, self-advocates, supported employment and sheltered workshop providers and members of the business community. In a Sept.15, 2016 report to Congress and the Labor Secretary, the committee made recommendations for increasing employment opportunities for people with disabilities including: ensuring federal funding to states incentivizing CIE; engaging the business community in building CIE capacity; increasing engagement of families and employment opportunities for youth transitioning from school; a well-planned phase-out of the law allowing sub-minimum wages; and redesigning a federal procurement program (AbilityOne) to focus on CIE. This report provides an important blueprint of actions Congress, federal agencies and states should take to make the promise of “Employment First” policies a reality.

Enforcement of the integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. is also expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities. States violate the ADA and Olmstead when segregating people with disabilities and denying them opportunities to live, work and participate in their communities. Historically, Olmstead lawsuits have focused on segregation of people in institutions like state hospitals and nursing facilities. In the last several years, Olmstead enforcement has expanded to target segregated day services. Olmstead lawsuits were recently filed against Oregon and Rhode Island, alleging that people were unnecessarily segregated in sheltered workshops and day habilitation programs instead of being given opportunities for CIE. The settlement agreements resolving these lawsuits require expansion of supported employment services to help people in or at risk of entering sheltered workshops or other segregated day programs, get and maintain competitive integrated employment, with mainstream community activities as a “wraparound” for people not working full-time. As Georgia works to comply with its Olmstead obligations, it too must ensure that its day service system provides people with disabilities opportunities for competitive integrated employment.

Finally, the recently enacted Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act will help address a barrier to employment: the concern of losing Medicaid eligibility due to assets of more than the current $2,000 limit. The ABLE Act allows individuals with disabilities to create savings accounts to cover qualified expenses not otherwise covered by Medicaid or other health insurance – such as education, housing and transportation – without losing eligibility. Georgia is beginning to implement the ABLE Act.

In sum, the time to get to work is now! Federal policies have created unprecedented opportunities for Georgia to make employment a real option for all people with I/DD. If you ever need someone to explain why working is so critical to integration and inclusion of people with disabilities, just call GCDD member Evan Nodvin.

• For more information on the HCBS settings rule and Georgia’s transition plan, see www.hcbsadvocacy.org or the Georgia Department of Community Health at http://dch.georgia.gov/hcbs/hcbs-transition-plan
• For more information on WIOA and the Advisory Committee, see https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/wioa.htm
• For more info on these lawsuits, see https://www.ada.gov/olmstead/
• More information on the ABLE Act, see http://www.ablenrc.org/

Alison Barkoff is the director of advocacy at the Washington, DC office of the Center for Public Representation. She works on policy and litigation related to community integration and inclusion of people with disabilities, including Olmstead enforcement, Medicaid policy, employment, housing and education. She is member of the federal Advisory Committee for Competitive Integrated Employment of People with Disabilities and helped start and lead an Inclusion Task Force in her home school district.

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