scholarly journals Raising Expectations for U.S. Youth with Disabilities: Federal Disability Policy Advances Integrated Employment

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-110
Author(s):  
Jeanne Novak
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Disability Policy ◽  
Significant Disabilities ◽  
Youth With Disabilities ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Service Delivery Systems ◽  
Employment Potential

While conversations around the inclusion of individuals with disabilities often focus on the educational rights and needs of children with disabilities during their school years, there is a growing recognition that the period of transition from secondary school to adult roles is a critical time in the lives of individuals with disabilities. For young people, gaining meaningfulemployment in a typical community job is an important step towards realising full community membership. The present article examines how contemporary U.S. federal disability policy has heightened expectations that youth with disabilities – including those with significant disabilities – can and should be prepared to work in integrated workplaces. The article begins with a consideration of how evolving assumptions about the nature of disability and the employment potential of individuals with significant disabilities have influenced the development of federal disability policy in the U.S. This is followed by an overview of key legislative and policy developments in the areas of civil rights and workforce development that havethe potential to dramatically impact the employment outlook for young people with disabilities. The article concludes with a discussion of challenges in translating the legislative intent of federal disability policy into noticeable improvements in employment outcomes, along with recommendations for aligning legislation, funding priorities and service delivery systems to achieve policy goals.

scholarly journals Launching a statewide employment first initiative: Indiana’s work to include coalition

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Pat Rogan ◽  
Susan Rinne
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Employment Outcomes ◽  
The State ◽  
Significant Disabilities ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Working Age ◽  
State Employment ◽  
Day Services ◽  
Disability Employment ◽  
Bureau Of Labor Statistics

BACKGROUND: After decades of local, state and national efforts to increase employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities, progress has been slow, with a mere 17.9% of persons with a disability employed in 2020 compared to 61.8% for persons without a disability (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, February 2021). Individuals with disabilities have demonstrated their abilities and desire to work, including those with significant disabilities, yet our country remains entrenched in outdated and ineffective models of day services (i.e., sheltered workshops, non-work programs) and precious public dollars continue to be used for these services that congregate and segregate individuals, pay subminimum wages, and deny individuals their human and civil rights. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to describe one state’s efforts to advance employment for working age individuals with disabilities through a statewide Employment First initiative called Work to Include. Indiana is now in its third year of this grassroots initiative driven by a coalition of self-advocates. Major activities of the initiative are discussed, including passing Indiana’s Employment First law, holding statewide Town Hall meetings, establishing 11 local Work to Include teams, developing and implementing a state Employment First plan, launching local and statewide Disability Employment Awareness month campaigns, using social media and webinars to disseminate information, hosting Employment First Summits, and collaborating with employers and state agencies to promote employment outcomes. CONCLUSION: Next steps toward systems change are discussed, including the establishment of an Employment First office at the state and securing an Executive Order from the governor to make the state a model employer.

Implementation of Pre–Employment Transition Services: A Content Analysis of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Plans

2021 ◽  
pp. 216514342199302
Author(s):  
Joshua P. Taylor ◽  
Holly N. Whittenburg ◽  
Magen Rooney-Kron ◽  
Tonya Gokita ◽  
Stephanie J. Lau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Transition Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Youth With Disabilities ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Integrated Employment ◽  
Employment Transition ◽  
Workforce Innovation

Many youth with disabilities experience persistently low rates of competitive integrated employment (CIE) and participation in higher education. In 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) established a policy focus on CIE as the goal of vocational services for youth and individuals with disabilities. In addition, WIOA created provision for Pre–Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) to ensure that state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies focused sufficient resources toward transition-age youth. This study examined a sample of WIOA State Implementation Plans in depth using content analysis to identify how state VR agencies prioritized the provision of Pre-ETS services to youth with disabilities. Analysis of state plans resulted in three emergent themes: (a) instructional priorities, (b) instructional contexts, and (c) networks of stakeholders. We discuss the implications of these themes for future research, policy, and practice related to the employment of individuals with disabilities.

Beyond Handicap, Pity, and Inspiration

2020 ◽  
pp. 215-239
Author(s):  
Hannah Rudstam ◽  
Thomas Golden ◽  
Susanne Bruyere ◽  
Sara Van Looy ◽  
Wendy Strobel Gower
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Workforce Development ◽  
Substantial Portion ◽  
Individuals With Disabilities ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
The U.S

Individuals with disabilities represent a substantial portion of the U.S. population and workforce. Yet, disability is often not meaningfully included in diversity and inclusion efforts in the workplace or in higher education. This chapter focuses on ten misperceptions that have fueled the marginalization of disability in diversity and inclusion efforts. These ten misperceptions revolve around a range of issues: Legal, human and practical. We provide an overview of each misperception and discuss implications for diversity and workforce development practitioners, with a focus on higher education settings. In conclusion, we urge readers to consider their own organizations in light of each of these ten misperceptions.

The Uses of Tradition

1973 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16
Author(s):  
James Hitchcock
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
Counter Culture

The environmental movement has produced a confusion in American politics stemming from the difficulties of classifying it according to conventional categories. Most of its warriors are young people who identify with the Counter-Culture, yet it is often denounced by hard-line radicals as diversionary. Its most substantial supporters are left-liberal suburbanites, but it also attracts individuals who have no truck with civil-rights or antiwar causes. It is future-oriented in image and rhetoric, yet its severer critics call its leaders “arch-Druids” and accuse them of trying to repeal progress.

scholarly journals Introduction: Songs that Sing the Crisis: Music, Words, Youth Narratives and Identities in Late Modernity

Young ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Paula Guerra ◽  
Carles Feixa Pàmpols ◽  
Shane Blackman ◽  
Jeanette Ostegaard
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Cultural Critique ◽  
Moral Economies ◽  
Indie Rock

In this special edition on popular music, we seek to explore Simon Frith’s (1978, The sociology of rock, London, UK: Constable, p. 39) argument that: ‘Music’s presence in youth culture is established but not its purpose’. ‘Songs that sing the crisis’ captures contemporary accounts, which build upon popular music’s legacy, courage and sheer determination to offer social and cultural critique of oppressive structures or political injustice as they are being lived by young people today. Young people have consistently delivered songs that have focused on struggles for social rights, civil rights, women’s rights and ethnic and sexual minorities rights through creative anger, emotion and resistance, and we know that music matters because we consciously feel the song (DeNora, 2000, Music in everyday life, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). However, in the aftermath of the post-2008 global economic and cultural crises, young people, in particular, have faced austerity, social hardship and political changes, which have impacted on their future lives (France, 2016, Understanding youth in the global economic crisis, Bristol: Policy Press; Kelly & Pike, 2017, Neo-liberalism and austerity: The moral economies of young people’s health and well-being, London, UK: Palgrave). This special issue assesses the key contestation where popular music is a mechanism to not only challenge but to think through ordinary people’s experience and appeals for social justice. The present introduction starts by presenting the historical and theoretical background of this research field. Then, it introduces the articles about the songs that sing the crisis in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Finland, Norway, Egypt and Tunisia through the rhythms of rap, hip-hop, fado, electronic pop, indie rock, reggaeton, metal and mahragan.

Determinants of Participation in Sport and Physical Activity for Students with Disabilities According to Teachers and School-based Practitioners Specialized in Recreational and Competitive Physical Activity

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 135-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Belley-Ranger ◽  
Hélène Carbonneau ◽  
Romain Roult ◽  
Isabelle Brunet ◽  
Marie-Michèle Duquette ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Young People ◽  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Youth With Disabilities ◽  
School Based

AbstractBecause youth with disabilities participate less in physical activity than young people without disabilities and that schools play an important role in adopting a healthy lifestyle, it is important to deepen our understanding of the elements that foster participation of young people with disabilities in physical activity. The objective of this research is twofold: 1) establish the determinants of participation of youth with disabilities in physical education according to practitioners and 2) document the effects of an initiation and competition program for youth with disabilities on their physical activity. The collection of data using semi-structured interviews was conducted in two phases. The first, among teachers and school-based practitioners (n = 18), aimed to understand their experiences relating to the adoption of healthy lifestyles among their students with disabilities. As for the second, practitioners (n = 12) were interviewed during organized adapted sporting events. Analysis of the interviews shows two categories of determinants, namely determinants relating to school (winning conditions of the environment, the importance of extracurricular activities, and obstacles) as well as determinants relating to the professional competence of teachers (the role of teachers, collaboration between professionals, the benefits of sport and physical activity and obstacles encountered).

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