Jennifer Sulewski, Ph.D., FAAIDD is a national expert on community life engagement (CLE) for people with IDD. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications on CLE, has presented locally and nationally at conferences on CLE, and has provided consultation to state agencies and service providers across the country on how to improve day services and supports. From 2014–2017 she was PI of the Field Initiated CLE Project, a NIDILRR-funded effort to study how to improve day services and supports for CLE, which led to identification of Four Guideposts for Community Life Engagement and a toolkit for service providers. Currently she is PI of another Field Initiated project developing a Guideposts Fidelity Scale for service providers to assess their level of adherence to the Four Guideposts for CLE. Dr. Sulewski is a Fellow of the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and past co-chair of the Disabilities and Other Vulnerable Populations Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association. She received her Ph.D. in Social Policy from Brandeis University in 2006, with a dissertation titled In Search of Meaningful Daytimes: Community-Based Nonwork Supports for Adults with Developmental Disabilities.
Vermont's Division of Disability and Aging Services (DDAS) and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) worked with a local service provider to convert its congregate day services to community employment.
The past thirty years have seen considerable growth in community-based services and supports for adults with developmental disabilities. One category of community-based day supports, integrated employment, has been clearly defined and widely implemented for years. However, another emerging model, community-based non-work (CBNW), is used in a number of states but is less clearly defined and understood.
As national disability policy prioritizes greater support for community-based integrated employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), the level of participation in services for other daytime activities continues to grow (Winsor & Butterworth, 2012). The role of services related to engagement and participation in community life has to date been largely undefined.
Originally published 11/2006
This is the second in an annual series of snapshot reports on the employment of people with disabilities in Massachusetts developed by the Medicaid Infrastructure and Comprehensive Employment Opportunities (MI-CEO) grant. It is intended to provide people with disabilities, advocates, policymakers, researchers, and other interested parties an overview of the state and trends in employment of people with disabilities.
Originally published 4/2006
This is the first in an annual series of snapshot reports on the employment of people with disabilities in Massachusetts developed by the Medicaid Infrastructure and Comprehensive Employment Opportunities grant. It is intended to provide people with disabilities, advocates, policymakers, researchers, and other interested parties an overview of the status and trends in employment of people with disabilities.