Quality Indicators in Supported Employment

Core Values Underlying Supported Employment:

Increasingly, most agree on the benefits of individuals with significant disabilities having opportunities for real, integrated work as a primary option. All parties involved benefit from competitive employment. Such employment provides the individual with a disability a real job, benefits, and the dignity that arises from gainful employment. The employer gets a good worker and receives specialized support to train and maintain the individual. The family is able to see its family member in a fully competent role in the workplace. Finally, taxpayers spend less money than they would to support the individual in a segregated day program year-in and year-out. However, several questions remain: Why do the vast majority of individuals with mental and physical disabilities remain in segregated day programs? What values are service providers and advocates following? And what are the indicators that best reflect quality employment outcomes?

The answers to these questions lie partially in the inability of advocates and people with disabilities to adequately marshal their collective efforts to increase work opportunities (Wehman & Kregel, 1995). The adult service systems in the world remain deeply entrenched, as they have been for several decades (Albin, Rhodes & Mank, 1994). Changing this way of providing services is extremely difficult, particularly in times of reduced funding resulting from a recessionary economy. Hence, there is an overwhelming necessity to market the positive attributes of supported employment for people with significant disabilities. The following table lists nine values that have guided supported employment efforts from the early 1980's and provides a brief description of each.

Values	Values Clarification
Presumption of Employment	A conviction that everyone, regardless of the level or the type of disability, has the capability and right to a job.
Competitive Employment	A conviction that employment occurs within the local labor market in regular community businesses.
Control	A conviction that when people with disabilities choose and regulate their own employment supports and services, career satisfaction will result.
Commensurate Wages & Benefits	A conviction that people with disabilities should earn wages and benefits equal to that of coworkers performing the same or similar jobs.
Focus on Capacity & Capabilities	A convection that people with disabilities should be viewed in terms of their abilities, strengths, and interests rather than their disabilities.
Importance of Relationships	A conviction that community relationships both at, and away from work leads to mutual respect and acceptance.
Power of Supports	A conviction that people with disabilities need to determine their personal goals and receive assistance in assembling the supports necessary to achieve their ambitions.
Systems Change	A conviction that traditional systems must be changed to ensure customer control, which is vital to the integrity of supported employment.
Importance of Community	A conviction that people need to be connected to the formal and informal networks of a community for acceptance, growth, and development.