Governor's Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities
Report to Congress:
Supported Employment A Success
The period 1983-1991 has been an era of rapid evolution in regard to employment for persons with severe disabilities. Supported employment has demonstrated that many individuals with severe disabilities are able to engage in competitive work. " This statement was made in the Annual Report to Congress: Supported Employment Activities Under Section 311 (d) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as Amended, 1991, by the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education. "This initiative, " said Nell C. Carney, Commissioner, represents a federal, state, private sector partnership . . . (that has brought) about significant changes in society to enhance the lives and increase the independence of individuals with disabilities.
During 1985-86 twenty-seven states (including Minnesota) received five-year systems change grants from RSA for the general purpose of furthering the development of supported employment. By 1990, all states had implemented supported employment programs.
"The Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1986 established specific criteria for supported employment: that individuals must engage in competitive work, in integrated work settings, with the availability of long-term extended services, " the authors of the report stated.
A substantial portion of this report to Congress included 1990 data that had been compiled by the Virginia Commonwealth University, as highlighted below: o In 1990, 74,657 individuals were receiving supported employment services.
In 1986, there were fewer than 10,000 individuals in supported employment. Of the total, 30,872, or 41.4 percent, were receiving time-limited services; and 43,785, or 58.6 percent, were receiving extended services. It was noted that 75.7 percent of the total number of individuals in supported employment were served by states that received systems change grants.
The majority of individuals participating in supported employment were persons diagnosed with mental retardation (65.0 percent), among whom 85 percent had mild and moderate levels of mental retardation. Individuals with long-term mental illnesses constituted 24,4 percent. Other disability groups reflected in the total were individuals with: cerebral palsy (1.9 percent); sensory impairments (2.2 percent); and traumatic brain injury (1.1 percent).
The mean hourly wage for all participants in supported employment was $3.87 in 1990 (an increase from $3.38 in 1988). The mean weekly wage was $102.34. Most participants (80.9 percent) worked at least 20 hours per week.
The overall amount of funds expended on supported employment in 1990 was $289,681,801. State mental retardation/developmental disability agencies contributed $130 million (60. 1 percent), and state mental health contributed $27 million (12.4 percent). Over $73 million was expended for supported employment by vocational rehabilitation agencies, using federal funds appropriated under Title I, Title VI, Part C, and Title III of the Rehabilitation Act.
Regarding benefits to society, a study conducted by University of Illinois drew two conclusions: (1) society receives $1.09 for every dollar spent on supported employment; and (2) individuals in supported employment increase their
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The Key to Freedom
I used to think that Freedom Was, what someone gave to me Until I-found that I was bound By nameless heavy chains I could not see.
I used to think that Freedom Was what someone gave to me Until I learned that what I'd earned Was simply my permission To use that very freedom That no one but myself Could give to me.
Those locks and bonds and persons
Are the things we've learned to hate Yet those most despised constructions I Are identically the ones We have masterfully come to create.
I spent my lifetime waiting For someone to set me free I could not grow I didn't know That in my very hands I held The key.
Source: Shostrom, E. (1972). Freedom to be. New York: Bantam Books, pp. 163-164.
inside This Issue
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT INCLUSION
CALL FOR PAPERS ON TRANSITION
KAPOSIA RECOGNIZED
Continued from page one
Supported Employment earnings by 57 percent as a result of their employment. In addition, the longer an individual with severe disabilities is able to maintain his/her job, the greater the benefits to society and to taxpayers. For example, in Kansas, fifty percent of the individuals in supported employment decreased their reliance on entitlement programs, such as Supplemental Security Income, as a result of their employment.
Telecommunication Users Urged to Support Proposed Legislation The Telecommunications Access for Communication Impaired Persons (TACIP) Board hosted public meetings in Duluth, Fergus Falls, Mankato, and St. Paul during August and September to solicit public input regarding legislative amendments to TACIP law. Users of the Minnesota Relay Service and the Equipment Distribution Program expressed their hopes and concerns for the future of the state-administered programs. The resulting proposed amendments must be passed during the 1993 legislative session so that Minnesota can comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and related Federal Communications Commission mandates. Without legislative action on TACIP, the Minnesota law governing TACIP and its programs will sunset on June 30, 1993. For more information, contact: Bill Lamson, TACIP Board, 658 Cedar Street, St. Paul, MN 55155. 612/296-0412 (Voice), or 612/296-9863 (TDD).
Apollinaire said: "Come to the edge. " "But it's too high. " "Come to the edge. " "But we might fall. " "Come to the edge. " And they came. And he pushed them. And they flew. John McNally, Even Eagles Need a Push
Lessons Learned about Inclusion by Howard P. Blackman, Executive Director
The La Grange Area Department of Special Education (a public school cooperative with 55 schools in 16 Suburban Chicago school districts) has listened to Judith Snow, Canadian activist, who observed that "the only disability is having no relationships." We have heard parents express concern over the absence of friends and relationships in their child's natural environment, i.e., the block, the neighborhood, and at every level of the community. Parents were pained by their children's isolation and loneliness.
For many children, the most natural school environment is the neighborhood school, and we have learned the marked differences between "mainstreaming" and "inclusion. " Mainstreaming means that you are a visitor, and inclusion makes you part of the family. Mainstreaming pertains to children being based in special education settings for a part of the school day, and inclusion is being based in regular education with the opportunity to receive parallel instruction in community settings when appropriate.
There are learning strategies that facilitate successful inclusion. Expanding the capacity of the neighborhood school and regular education classroom to meet the needs of more students who learn differently requires: commitment to Cooperative learning; effective instructional strategies such as direct instruction; peer mediated learning approaches such as peer tutoring; and cross-age groupings. Our recent experiences with inclusion have taught us some things that might be helpful to others:
Ñ There is a bad inclusion and good inclusion. Good inclusion requires an absolute understanding and administrative commitment to reallocating resources currently targeted for special education.
Ñ There is nothing pervasively wrong with special education. We are not questioning the interventions and knowledge that has been acquired through special education training and research. Rather, we challenge the location where these supports are being provided. Special education needs to be reconceptualized as a support to the regular classroom. We now have effective strategies to bring help to the student rather than removing the student from the classroom. .
Ñ Children, unlike adults, often are positive about inclusion. Children without disabilities generally have very positive feelings about helping peers who need assistance. When asked why adults sometimes assume they may not support each other, children often say, "It's because adults don't trust us to do the right thing. " We have learned that children are able problem solvers and contribute to designing new strategies that facilitate successful learning outcomes for their peers with disabilities.
Ñ Administrators must be committed to listening to teachers. Teachers need to be given absolute, unqualified commitments that children and teachers will be supported by reallocating dollars currently spent on sometimes poor service models to better ones with regular education classrooms.
Ñ Administrators must acknowledge the important role special educators play as consultants and team teachers. special educators can work effectively in the regular education classroom with other teachers, thereby enriching educational opportunities for all students.
Ñ Inclusion provides reciprocal benefits for all students. We have learned that heterogeneous instructional grouping provides everyone with increased learning opportunities and outcomes.
Special education resources redirected to supporting regular classrooms that include students with disabilities provide all students with additional instructional supports. The best way to do inclusion is to get involved. Do it! Everyone is a winner.
Source: Abridged from the School Administrator (February 1992), American Association of School Administrator. Dr. Howard P. Blackman is a former member of the President's Committee or. Mental Retardation and is the recipient of the Exceptional Parent Magazine's 1991 Exemplary' Leadership Award.
Futurity
d
Rosemary Dybwad Champion of Self-Advocacy Dies
The world has lost a friend, Rosemary Ferguson Dybwad. Rosemary, wife of Gunnar, died of cancer on November 3, 1992, at her home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She was 82 years young. Her official title was senior research associate at the Heller Graduate School at Brandeis University. Her unofficial title, as bestowed by Robert Perske, was "International Network Leader. "
Rosemary was born in Howe, Indiana. She graduated from the Western College for Women in Oxford, Ohio, in 1931, and then became an exchange fellow at the University of Leipzig from 1931 to 1933; where she met Gunnar and married him in 1934. Her early work dealt with women's prisons and juvenile delinquency, but beginning in 1958, she worked exclusively in the field of mental retardation.
From 1964-1967, Rosemary and Gunnar directed the mental retardation project of the International Union of Child Welfare in Geneva, Switzerland, which was the beg inning of their journeys to most countries throughout the -. world. From 1966 to 1978, she served as a board member and later first vice ." president of the International League of Societies for Persons with Mental Handicaps. Her greatest contribution at the international level was collecting, editing, and publishing of the International Directory of Mental Retardation Resources, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1971, 1979, and 1989). It was her work on the international scene that inspired the creation of the Rosemary F. Dybwad International Awards, a program begun in 1963 by The Arc.
A collection of her speeches and writings was recently published in Perspectives on a Parent Movement: The Revolt of Parents of Children with Intellectual Limitations, published by Brookline Books, 1990. Her thoughts preceded what we now know of today as "self-advocacy, " "parent-to-parent efforts, " "parent-professional partnerships," "supported employment," "transition from school to work, " and "age-appropriate activities. " Her frequent observation about early intervention was, "Why does it come so late?" Or, about people with mental retardation--that they are NOT "children forever!" There are many fond memories of Rosemary. Some will remember her with the placard at Belcher town that said "Don't think that we don't think!" Others, like Bob Perske, will remember his observation: "Believe it or not, Gunnar's office was tidy! Not so with Rosemary's. " Perske then related how Boston Today Journalist, Steve McFadden described her office in 1978: Her office is a quagmire of data. The chairs are smothered in studies, and the walls fairly groan from the accumulated weight of a total bookcase environment. She sits before burly heaps of printed matter, literally walled in by towering stacks of information from around the world. She labors placidly, her blue eyes taciturn pools of understanding as she imperturbably scans another document. Then, there's the intense memory of those who attended her presentation at the close of the four-state self-advocacy conference in Stanford, Connecticut
December 1992
Dr. Rosemary Dybwad at Belchartown Common during a protest march on behalf of the Coalition for Community Living in 1984.
in 1988, as described by Robert Perske: The self-advocates and their helpers became wide-eyed and quiet as they listened to her soft, sincere voice. They understood every word she said. They listened as if they had been slaves about to receive freedom papers. And they loved her for what she said. In special tribute to her life, the Rosemary Ferguson Dybwad International Fellowship Trust has been established. Contact: The Rosemary F. Dybwad International Fellowship Trust, Inc., 18113 Town Center Drive, Olwey, Niaryland 20832. 301/598-3568.
United Nations Sets World Agenda on Disability Issues Request for Proposals on Transition HIV/AIDS and Sexuality Workshops Scheduled
Resource
The National Clearinghouse on Family Support and Children's Mental Health, located at Portland State University, Portland Oregon, is designed to serve families of children with serious emotional disorders as well as professionals, policy makers, and other interested persons. The Clearinghouse includes a national toll-free telephone service, a computerized data bank, a series of fact sheets on issues pertaining to children who have emotional disabilities and their families, a state-by-state resource file, and the addition of a family resource coordinator to the Center's staff. Hours of operation are from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Pacific time. Contact: The National Clearinghouse on Family Support and Children's Mental Health, 1912 Southwest 6th Avenue, Suite 120, Portland, Oregon 97201-5298. 1/800/628-1696, or 503/725-4040.
St. Cloud Bicycle Helmet Safety Project Receives Governor's Award On October 29, 1992, Jill Wahman, coordinator of the St. Cloud Branch of the Minnesota Head Injury Association accepted the 1992 Governor's Award for Excellence in Health Promotion. Also honored in this award was the cooperating agency--the St. Cloud Hospital. The two organizations worked together implementing the "Head Smart Bicycle Helmet Pilot Campaign. " Starting in 1991, students from two schools, kindergarten through fourth grade, participate in educational activities about head injury and helmet use. Through financial subsidy from the St. Cloud Hospital, students were able to purchase helmets at low cost. This campaign has proven to be an outstanding preventative measure to reduce the risk of head injuries. For more information, contact Jill Wahman, Minnesota Head Injury Association. 612/253-2192.
United Nations Recommends `Full Participation and Equalization' of People with Disabilities (Number One in a Monthly Series)
On December 3, 1982, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the "World Program of Action Concerning People with Disabilities. " It was about the same time that 1983 through 1992 was declared the United Nations Decade of Persons with Disabilities. This is the first in a series of articles each month that is intended to summarize some of the principles and recommendations outlined in the World Program of Action Concerning Persons with Disabilities (August 1992). The following passages are direct quotes from the report: The purpose of the World Program of Action Concerning Persons with Disabilities is to promote effective measures for prevention of disability, rehabilitation, and the realization of the goals of "full participation" of persons with disabilities equal to those of the whole population and an equal share in the improvement in living conditions resulting from social ~d economic development. These concepts should apply with the same scope and with the same urgency to all countries, regardless of their level of development. There are more than 500 million people in the world who have disabilities as a consequence of mental, physical, or sensory impairments. They are entitled to the same rights as all other human beings and to equal opportunities. Too often their lives are restricted by physical and social barriers in society which hamper their full participation. Because of this, millions of children and adults in all parts of the world often face a life that is segregated and debased. Everywhere, the ultimate responsibility for remedying the conditions that lead to disabling conditions and dealing with the consequences of disability rests with Governments. Governments should take the lead in awakening the consciousness of populations regarding the gains to be derived by individuals and society from the inclusion of persons with disabilities in every area c social, economic, and political life. Governments must also ensure that people who are made dependent by severe disability have an opportunity to achieve a standard of living equal to that of their fellow citizens. Though some countries may already have initiated or carried out some of the actions recommended in this Program, more needs to be done. This applies also to countries with a high general standard of living.
Human Rights
As a first in a series covering several areas for action, human rights is central to this historical document. Specific recommendations made about human rights include:
To achieve the theme of the International Year of Persons with Disabilities, "Full participation and equality, it is strongly urged that the United Nations system make all its facilities totally barrier-free, ensure that communication is fully available to persons with sensory impairments and adopt an affirmative action plan that includes administrative policies and practices to encourage the employment of persons in the entire United Nations system.
Priority should be placed on the use of United Nations covenants, other instruments, and organizations within the United Nations, e.g.: International Covenants on Human Rights; the Economic and Social Council entrusted with the examination of reports under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and the Commission on Human Rights.
