In general, there are three types of employment options available to individuals with Down syndrome: competitive, supported and sheltered. Volunteer work is a great option to gain some additional job training.
competitive employment
Competitive employment is one option after high school. In the United States, many typical students go to work when their secondary studies are completed. For young adults with Down syndrome and other disabilities, employment may be appropriate if they have both good work skills and previous work experience. Competitive employment is just that—competitive—and it is often a goal that can be reached with limited job supports. Many people benefit from what can best be described as a long orientation to their job. In the service world, it may have a different name such as "employment supports" or "job coaching." An individual called a "Job Coach," "Employment Specialist," or something similar accompanies the person to work for several hours, weeks, months, or until the person is successful independently in the work place.
Another approach to supporting people in competitive employment is fading. Fading is a technique where the support person slowly fades from the job site. They stay involved just enough to ensure the person continues to be successful as with decreasing support that is finally eliminated.
One essential aspect to successful employment is having someone serve as a Follow-Up Specialist. This person, in a mutually agreed upon interval with the employer, checks in with the supervisor and the employee, to ensure that the workplace expectations continue to be met and any problems are identified early enough to be addressed. Too often, this important component is overlooked causing people to lose their jobs when a little bit of intervention might have resulted in continued success.
The most overlooked opportunity in employment is the use of natural supports in the workplace. This means providing guidance to coworkers that gives them confidence in assisting, prompting, and providing general help to your child—just as they would anyone else. If you think about it, we all use natural supports in our work.
That being said, job loss is a fact of life, especially for persons with disabilities. Supervisors' change, corporate expectations rise, and under-performing workers are often the first to go.
Job development is very important for successful, competitive employment. You want to not only ensure a job is identified for your child, but that it is the right job. A noisy environment will not work for someone with sensory issues and a job in an office won't work for a person who needs more physical activity.
It is important to consider the need for physical activity in the lives for people with disabilities when we are looking for employment.
Knowing that my own son benefits from more physical activity rather than less, we looked at jobs that he would enjoy and would give him opportunities to burn some calories.
Supported employment
Supported employment is similar to competitive employment in that is occurs in the community in real work locations. The major difference is that the individual requires long term or on-going support to be successful. Hence, the term, supported employment. In supported employment, any individual with any disability can be successful because the person receives whatever support is needed for however long it is required.
However, many agencies and governments have imposed time limits to how much support they will provide because of the expense it incurs. This usually means that persons with more challenges require more support and resources for longer periods of time. Agencies may not be able to afford those resources, even though they are needed.
Sheltered employment
Sheltered employment is a softer term for sheltered workshops. These are settings where people with disabilities attend on a daily basis and have the opportunity to do sub-contract work (usually mailings, packaging and assembly) and are paid according to how much they can accomplish compared to workers without disabilities. The Department of Labor regulates it to ensure that accurate time studies are done for each job and payment
is accurate.
Sheltered workshops are often criticized for being segregated settings. Some workshops do have workers without disabilities because the amount of subcontract work cannot be completed without the addition of these workers. However, even when they do include nondisabled employees, there is little mixing between groups.
Volunteer work
Volunteer work is a great option if earning a paycheck is not essential or to gain some additional job training. Some families use volunteer work as a way to get around waiting lists for supported employment programs. It is important to note, however, that a person may not volunteer where others are paid to do the same job. You can volunteer at a library or Meals-on-Wheels where others volunteer to do the same, specific tasks, but, you can not volunteer at McDonald's or the local bookstore.
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Adapted from Thinking About Tomorrow: The Transition to Adult Life by Jo Ann Simons as it appeared in Disability Solutions, Volume 6, Issue 1
External resources
- Administration on Developmental Disabilities
www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/add
Ensures that individuals with developmental disabilities and their families participate in the design of and have access to culturally-competent needed community services, individualized supports, and other forms of assistance that promote self-determination, independence, productivity, and integration and inclusion in all facets of community life
- All Means All School-to-Work Project
http://ici.umn.edu/all/
The purpose of this project is to recognize and celebrate the efforts of local school-to-work partners across the country who are committed to doing "whatever it takes" to ensure access to and choice by all learners within their local school-to-work system
- Association of Persons Supporting Employment (APSE)
www.apse.org
National organization with an exclusive focus on integrated employment and career advancement opportunities for individuals with disabilities
- The Arc
www.thearc.org
The largest national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families
- Connections for Disability and Employment
www.cde.tennessee.edu
Connections for Disability and Employment advances universal access for people with disabilities in employment, education, and life.
- Corporation for National and Community Service
www.nationalservice.gov
A federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America
- Disability.Gov
www.disabilityinfo.gov
Resource on government programs and more
- Employer Assistance Referral Network
www.earnworks.com
- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
www.eeoc.gov
- Hire Disability Solutions
www.hireds.com
BOOKS
- Real Work For Real Pay. Wehman P., Inge, K, Revell,W., Brooke, V. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing. (2007)