5/9 Live Webcast

Dates/Times:  5/9/2006, 2:00pm ET
Title: Funding the Transition to Meaningful Adult Roles
Presenter:  Joe Henn, MBA

This presentation covers the financial planning including budgeting and funding strategies that allows a person with a severe disability to live a full, integrated life in the community. In so doing, the person can continue to be eligible for the benefit streams to which he/she is entitled, while working full time with benefits and living independently.

Joe Henn's daughter, Nancy, has autism. At age 19, Nancy's profile for possible employment was: IQ: < 20, non-verbal, severe behavior problems, functioning level - bottom 10% of individuals with autism. At age 31, Nancy's life consists of : working 40 hours per week at union scale with benefits, owns her own car, goes on vacations, lives with 3 other women, and pays taxes.

Joe can tell you how this happened for his daughter and how others can do it too! Register for the 5/9 Webcast

New Product: DVD- 2005 Webcast Series

Increasing Employment Outcomes for Individuals with Disabilities

This DVD contains a collection of 6 webcasts with national speakers on topics related to increasing customized employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. Each webcast includes a 45 minute lecture, PowerPoint presentation, handouts, and other resources. This DVD is a great training tool.

Topics: Increasing Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities; Personal Assistance Services in the Workplace; Managing for Employment Outcomes; Parent Expectations and Work; The Nuts and Bolts of Networking with Business; & Work Incentives: How Work Impacts Your Benefits. Price: $74.99. Order the DVD 2005 Webcast Series

5/23 Live Webcast

Dates/Times:   5/23/2006, 2:00pm ET
Title: Organizational Transformation to Expand Integrated Employment: Lessons Learned
Presenter:  John Butterworth, Ph.D., ICI, University of Massachusetts at Boston

Shifting resources and emphasis from facility-based and non-work services to integrated employment is a complex process that requires changes in values, strategies, policy, and personnel. This webcast will highlight lessons learned from the 15 organizations participating in the T-TAP project about implementing an organizational transformation.

Topics to be addressed include developing leadership support, communicating goals and expectations, transforming staff roles and responsibilities, allocating resources, and the importance of implementing change one person at a time. Register for the 5/23 Webcast

DISABILITYINFO.GOV

Job Accommodations for Employees with Disabilities Can Be Simple and Inexpensive

All employees need the right tools and work environment to effectively perform their jobs. Similarly, individuals with disabilities may need workplace adjustments—or accommodations—to maximize the value they can add to their employer. While many employers believe that such workplace efforts are extensive and costly, the truth is that job accommodations usually are not expensive.

According to the Job Accommodation Network, a free and confidential service from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy, almost half of the accommodations needed by employees and job applicants with disabilities cost absolutely nothing. Of those accommodations that do cost money, the typical expenditure by employers is a one-time cost of around $600.

Visit the “Employment/Workplace Accommodations” section of www.DisabilityInfo.gov, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, or contact the Job Accommodation Network, a free accommodation consulting service provided by the Department of Labor at www.jan.wvu.edu or 1-800-526-7234 V/TTY.