A good job. It seems much of America and Indiana is looking for a good job. So are people with disabilities. With an unemployment rate estimated at over 70% getting people with disabilities jobs – good jobs that they want and like – is the key to a future without waiting lists.
At a recent meeting Melody Cooper, President of Self-Advocates of Indiana, gave the most impassioned speech that I have heard in a very long time about the importance of jobs for people with disabilities, while at the same time not taking something away from people (the workshop) until there is a good option – an option that each person has picked for him or herself. And you know Melody is right.
We can do so much better, but it is working with people as individuals that makes the most sense. Too often in the rush to change we have forgotten what makes work important in the first place. A recent NPR report shared that the most important thing to people who self-declared that they “love” their job is they work with people they really like. How often do we ask people about who they work with?
One of our key self-advocates also shared something very important with me. When we were talking one day he shared that he really wanted to leave the workshop but had not. When I asked him why, he said, “John I don’t want to let anyone down. What would people think if I tried something and got fired?”
A mother shared with me that she fits within a recent statistic from The Arc study of today’s families. 20% of families report that one parent has to quit working to take care of their son or daughter who is waiting for services. That cannot be good for a struggling economy.
Work, and a good job, is the key. In pursuit of that we cannot forget the staff that help people find jobs. The Blueprint for Change calls on developing a progressive wage rate for Direct Support Professionals. I recently attended a celebration at Noble of Indiana, our local chapter of The Arc in Marion and Hamilton Counties. Through Project Search a dedicated staff person had placed a person in a job that paid more than she made. Good for the person she supported, not so good for her.
The Blueprint also calls for new models to support jobs including self-employment and entrepreneurship. Not everyone needs to work for someone else. Some are much better suited to working for themselves. How do we help them with that? We are working with Self-Advocates of Indiana to explore that topic.
So it is all about a good job. We have a lot of work to do to make that a reality for far more Hoosiers, but The Arc – with your help – is up to the task.
Subscribe to this Blog
