Supported employment refers to service provisions wherein people with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, mental health, and traumatic brain injury, among others, are assisted with obtaining and maintaining employment. Supported employment is considered to be one form of employment in which wages are expected, together with benefits from an employer in a competitive workplace, though some versions refer to disability agency paid employment. Companies such as Skilcraft in the United States are an example of "supported employment" which is defined in law for state and federal reimbursements (by person not by agency or corporation).
Community foundations of supported employment Supported employment was developed in the United States in the 1970s as part of both vocational rehabilitation (VR) services (e.g., NYS Office of Vocational Services, 1978) and the advocacy for long term services and supports (LTSS) for individuals with significant disabilities in competitive job placements in integrated settings (e.g., businesses, offices, manufacturing facilities). Since the mid-1980s, supported employment in the professional literature primarily has referred to the "individual placement" model, either with job coaches or through "natural supports" models.O'Brien, J. (1990). "Working On...A Survey of Emerging Issues in Supported Employment for People with Severe Disabilities". Lithonia, GA: Responsive Systems Associates. The critical issue in supported employment (SE) was viewed as the need for funding for long-term services and supports (LTSS) in the community often termed beyond "case closure".Griffin, S.L., Test, D.W., Dalton, B. & Wood, W. (1995). Long-term supports and services: Toward definition, clarification, and implications for the future. "Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation" (JVR), 5: 177-185. Supported employment became worldwide by 2013, and has since moved to new inclusive models, and the term has been used for assisting workers of diverse kinds who may need an extra jump start in the workplace; it is still associated with its roots in disability which includes community integration and deinstitutionalization.
University development of concept Supported employment came from the community non-profit sector as an effort with government to offer services to individuals with significant disabilities, some of whom were moving from institutional life, in local communities for "supported work" (around the late 1970s). Community personnel entered rehabilitation programs, for degrees, and began an academic professionalization of the fields. Supported employment (SE) was on the rise nationally in the US in 1985 with growing university support, new dedicated agencies and programs, and preparation of master's and doctoral students in rehabilitation and education (e.g., Syracuse University, Rehabilitation Counseling, and Social Policy degrees). As an example, Thomas Bellamy, Larry Rhodes and Jay Albin of Oregon prepared a new chapter titled "Supported Employment" which indicated its uniqueness as having no entry requirement and no minimum ability levels (unheard of in vocational programs) in order to include candidates regardless of the nature or degree of their disability".Bellamy, G.T., Rhodes, L, & Albin, J.M. (1985). Supported employment. In: W. Kiernan & J. Stark, "Pathways to Employment for Developmentally Disabled Adults". Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes. Not for dissemination in current form.
"Supported employment" was based upon principles of community integration and the site location termed an "integrated setting" was a core component of the applied and theoretical models (e.g., community integration theories, social role valorization, normalization, independent living theories, universal design). In addition, other critical aspects were paid work, vocational choices, employer development, school to work transition to job sites, and involvement of parents in the employment process.Wehman, P. & Moon, S. (1985). Critical values in employment programs for persons with developmental disabilities. In: P. Wehman & M. Hill, "Competitive Employment for Persons with Mental Retardation, from Research to Practice, Volume 1". Supported by the National Institute on Handicapped Research, US Department of Education awarded to the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center at Virginia Commonwealth University. A Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Supported Employment or related Employment and Disability areas has been funded in the university sector from the federal levels for over three decades under the leadership of Dr. Paul Wehman.
Diversity in supported employment models By 1985, supported employment based on community integration had diverse vocational models in the US, including the social relationship concept of "disabled and non-disabled co-workers" working side-by-side in integrated workplaces.Nisbet, J. & Callahan, M. (1987). Assisting persons with severe disabilities to achieve success in integrated workplaces: Critical elements. In: S. Taylor, D. Biklen, and J. Knoll, "Community Integration for People with Severe Disabilities." NY, NY: Teachers College Press. Both consumers (self-advocates) and parents supported the new movement (in intellectual and developmental disabilities), seeking better opportunities for jobs, and later careers.Giele, J.C., Bateman, D., Turnbull, A., & Turnbull, H.R. (1991). "Supported Employment: A Guide for Families". Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas, Beach Center on Families and Disability.Parents for Positive Futures. (nd, 1985). "What is Supported Employment?" Syracuse, NY: Author. A leading text on "Critical Issues in the Lives of People with Severe Disabilities" (Meyer, Peck & Brown, 1991) highlighted Supported Employment as one of the emerging practices with research already available on benefit-costs, consumer wages, social integration, and ongoing support.Rusch, F., Chadsey-Rusch, J. & Johnson, J.R. (1991). Supported employment: Emerging opportunities for employment integration. In: L. Meyer, C. Peck, & L. Brown, "Critical Issues in the Lives of People with Severe Disabilities". (pp. 145-169). NY, NY: Teachers College Press.
In the psychiatric field, the prominent approach, also very innovative in long term services and supports (LTSS) was transitional employment associated with the now international Clubhouse Model of Fountain House in New York City.Bean, B. & Beard, J. (1975, June). Placement for persons with psychiatric disability. "Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin", 252-258. Gary Bond (1994) reported supported work as a modification of this approach.Bond, G.R. (1994). Supported work as a modification of the transitional employment model for clients for psychiatric disabilities. In: L. Spaniol, et al, "Psychiatric Rehabilitation" (pp. 215-229). Columbia, MD: International Association of Psychosocial Providers. Paul Carling (1995) of the University of Vermont supported the development of community employment options in the field of psychiatric disabilities;Carling, P. (1995). Creating employment opportunities. In: P. Carling, "Return to Community: Building Support Systems for Persons with Psychiatric Disabilities" (pp. 227-248). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes. Paul Wehman conducted critical cross-disability studies near the Medical School; Dr. Steven Murphy (1991) adapted employment supports for the psychiatric field;Murphy, S., Racino, J., & Shoultz, B. (1991). "Psychiatric Rehabilitation." Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, Division of Special Education and Rehabilitation, and Center on Human Policy Julie Ann Racino confirmed related affirmative business and family models (e.g., Racino, 2003),Racino, J. (2003). "Boilermaker Road Race: Road Racing and Wheelchair Racing in the US: 25th Anniversary". Rome, NY: Community and Policy Studies. and Dr. William Anthony (Anthony et al., 2002) of Boston University and his research center continues to work since the 1980s on a "get-choose-keep" approach to employment.Anthony, W., Cohen, M, Farkas, M. & Gagne, D. (2002). "Psychiatric Rehabilitation". Boston, MA: Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Sargent College of Allied Sciences, Boston University.
US legal basis The legal "Integration" base for supported employment was described by Frank Laski, of The Public Interest Law Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (1985, April) as being the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (as revised by the Individual Disabilities Education Improvement Act) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (amended 1978) passed by the US Congress. He also found strong support for moving from sheltered settings to supported employment in Developmentally Disabled Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (1975, as amended 1984) and fully supported a "zero reject" policy, individualized work plans, and questioning the notion of the "employability" concept.Laski, F.J. (1985, April 1). "Legislative, Regulatory, and Financial Issues Affecting the Rehabilitation and Vocational Achievement of Person with Autism". Prepared for the National Conference on Autism hold in Rockville, Maryland. Reading Package for Legal Issues in the Employment of Persons with Handicaps (SPE 600), Syracuse University.
Supported employment, emanating from the sheltered and governmental services sectors, has different roots than employment based upon traditional civil rights and discrimination approaches. Employment and disability often shares common roots with others disadvantaged in employment, based on discrimination due to gender, race, ethnicity, family structure, and disability, among other "differences" (e.g., Urban League of Onondaga County, Inc.). Such coalition based strategies emanate from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and seek redress in employment based upon discrimination in hiring, promotions, terminations, and payments, among others. Such positions are not "dedicated positions", but may involve a reasonable accommodation (e.g., personal assistant, work desk modification) to perform the job as defined by the primary tasks of the employer-based system for "qualified individuals" Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, now amended in 2008.Blanck, P. (2000). "Employment, Disability and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Issues in Law, Public Policy and Research". Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
By 1991, proposed rules for the State Supported Employment Grant Program were published in the Federal Register for comment by the US Department of Education, and the announcement was made available to deaf and hearing impaired individuals through a TDD service (FR 56: 219.57776-57786). The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA)received comments, and the intent was to advance the program authorized under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Part C, as amended which supported disability rights in employment in the community. It also advanced the national goals of "literacy and "lifelong learning" for skills in the "global economy". in 2013, the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Services Administration, issued a policy directive on supported employment (RSA-PD-13-02, April 30, 2013).
United States development of supported employment