The CACTI Blog: A Webinar Series to Promote Real Work and Real Pay for People with Disabilities: Systems Change and Provider Transformation in Arizona
By Vanessa Zuber, 2020-2021 Undergraduate Certificate in Developmental Disabilities
I am excited to be collaborating and developing a 2021-webinar series for the Arizona Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) chapter as my community portfolio experience. APSE is the only national non-profit organization to focus and promote Employment First initiatives and facilitate equitable and inclusive work opportunities for people with disabilities (PWD). There are thirty-eight chapters all over the country!
I have felt strongly connected to this organization throughout my years as an employment services provider, a sibling to my brother Nathan, whom is on the autism spectrum and now as an undergraduate student and Sonoran UCEDD trainee.
In planning for my community portfolio, I felt compelled to organize a set of webinars as a way to delve deeper into my learning journey, kick-start our chapter’s presence in Arizona, and to convey best practices and progressive ideas about competitive integrated employment (CIE) in Arizona. Yes, an ambitious project! APSE and nationwide chapters are advocating and participating in policy and legislative movements related to real work real pay for PWD, which has truly resonated with me. Currently, for example, is the Transformation to Competitive and Integrated Employment Act, which phases out the payment of subminimum wages under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) over a five-year period. This legislation would provide service providers, subminimum wage certificate holders, and other agencies with resources they may need to create competitive integrated employment (CIE) services and wraparound supports when phasing out subminimum wages.
In the state of Arizona, we still maintain center-based employment, and subminimum wage work programs and practices, creating a continual disconnect between our public school system and some state agency’s concerns on whether employment should be one of the expected outcomes for youth who have disabilities and whether PWD can be employed competitively in integrated work settings. If you ask me, Arizona continues to be hesitant and indecisive regarding CIE, hence the need for more education on strategies and supports, modeling best practices, collaboration, and additional statewide efforts for provider and systems transformation to progress towards equitable work opportunities for PWD.
Through my community experience, I was fortunate to chair the education and training committee for the AZ APSE chapter. This has catapulted my desire to learn where Arizona stands around CIE and how advocacy continues to challenge my own bias, knowledge, and leadership capabilities. I am learning how to collaborate, plan, and develop the framework for the webinar series and partner closely with Board and committee members from all over Arizona. These groups include colleagues, employment service providers, people with disabilities, Arizona Department of Education (ADE), Rehabilitation Services of Arizona (RSA) representatives, Arizona Technology Access Program (AZTAP), World Institute on Disability (WID), Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (ADDPC) members, and Sonoran UCEDD.
In January, I researched what other APSE chapters were developing and how they were marketing their webinars. Most states are fighting for the same efforts and some are making incredible leaps and bounds in phasing out their 14c programs and embracing employment first. I rallied the committee members to organize and plan topics, based on our state’s provider and systems barriers to CIE and outcomes from a survey the chapter conducted in 2017. The series will cover a variety of topics ranging from providers learning about employment first principles, benefits to hiring people with disabilities, myths surrounding social security and benefits, utilizing assistive technology in the workplace, employer engagement, and understanding how CIE can be a reality with the right supports and services provided to individuals.
I will be collaborating with organizations, committee and board members to create monthly one-hour episodes, using Zoom, Eventbrite, and Facebook live. Currently, we are in the marketing and organizing stages for the project. Here are some of the project tasks I have completed so far; I developed a webinar process and timeline for our presenters, a YouTube channel for our state chapter, a poster and flyer for the series that is accessible and ready for social media outlets, and a landing page for the chapter. I am co-presenting on two of the webinars in the series, Disability Awareness, Etiquette, and Inclusion in the Workplace and Transition to Work: From High School to Employment. It is such an honor to be collaborating with so many agencies, advocates and service providers. I am learning to be flexible and thoughtful about the process, making changes in my own employment services program in how we support and collaborate with PWD on their journey to employment, including how we work with employers to see the benefits to hiring individuals with disabilities. Our first webinar, kicking off the series is Benefits to Hiring: Recognizing Skills and Talent. This will be happening on May 27, from 2pm-3pm. Here is the registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benefits-to-hiring-recognizing-talents-and-skills-tickets-153601840239(link is external) We have the series scheduled out through December of 2021.
In the work I have been doing since 2013, as a provider of employment services, I have seen employers open their eyes to what PWD offer and how this can diversify their business practices. I have seen and supported people with significant disabilities gain competitive employment when no one felt they could or when vocational rehabilitation counselors have closed cases deeming the person as unemployable. Lastly, hearing stories from job seekers, like my brother Nathan, and others with disabilities share how being employed, and included, has empowered and made them feel like a member of society. All of these factors and my community experiences have inspired continued motivation to advocate for better practices, not only from my own program but also from other employment programs across Arizona.
I feel this collaborative experience of developing a webinar series will support our state to act, change legislation, and think progressively about CIE and benefits. Employment should BE the expected outcome for PWD. Furthermore, I feel the webinar series will inspire our state agencies to move away from out-dated beliefs surrounding sheltered and subminimum wage jobs as the only option for people with disabilities. The goal of these webinars are to inform and inspire systems change in our state, recognize employment as a civil right for PWD, and to reframe how we support PWD in the workforce by providing equitable experiences within employment and promoting PWD to be real people making real pay just like you and me.
References:
Subminimum Wages: Impacts on the Civil Rights of People with Disabilities 2020-09-17-Subminimum-Wages-Report.pdf (usccr.gov)(link is external)
Association of People Supporting Employment First: Action Alert: House Introduces Bill to Phase out 14(c) https://apse.org/action-alert-house-introduces-bill-to-phase-out-14c/
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