Enacting changes to state policies is a slow and complex process. But this kind of systems change can be transformative when it creates opportunities for people with disabilities to engage with and contribute to their communities. Learn more about state policy and systems change in these resources.
This document outlines comprehensive data gathered from protection and advocacy agencies about efforts around the country to establish progressive policies that improve the opportunities of people with intellectual disabilities to obtain meaningful competitive employment
Read this brief to learn about the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of Oklahoma’s success in achieving integrated employment outcomes for individuals with IDD across three state systems: IDD, vocational rehabilitation (VR), and education.
Arizona’s working-age population (ages 16–64) of people with any type of disability (10.2%) who are working hovers around the national average (Erickson, Lee, & von Schrader, 2019). In addition, individuals with a disability in Arizona, as in the nation as a whole, are more likely to live in poverty (30.5% and 26.1% respectively).
As states focus on expanding integrated employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and phase out sheltered work, they are finding a need to concurrently examine day services and supports that promote Community Life Engagement (CLE, see yellow box to the right for a detailed definition). These supports can be a wrap-around to ensure individuals’ engagement in the community is maintained and they continue to receive sufficient levels of support, despite fluctuations in job status and hours.
This document contains the slides from a presentation given at the APSE national conference in 2019. It presents statistics that illustrate the characteristics of relatively higher-performing state systems with regard to employment and community engagement outcomes for individuals with IDD. Click here to view the presentation slides.
This brief provides a summary of how the Department of Education, the Department of Rehabilitative Services (MD's VR agency), and the Developmental Disabilities Administration (MD's IDD agency) reflect the elements of the High Performing States model.
National Core Indicators™ (NCI™) data provide an important window on the employment and outcomes that may be related to employment (such as friendships, choice-making, etc.) of people with IDD receiving services. This Special Issue Data Brief updates the Brief from May 2016 and describes the employment status of individuals supported by state IDD agencies and compares participating states in terms of proportions of service recipients in different types of community employment.