The Bottom Line
By Paul Wehman, Katherine J. Inge, W. Grant Revell Jr., and Valerie A. Brooke, with invited contributors; 360 pages. Subtitle: Inclusive Employment for People With Disabilities
Finding meaningful work is something that all parents wish for their children, and one of the dreams that parents of children with special needs most fear for. Real Work for Real Pay offers the prospect of real, inclusive employment for people with a variety of disabilities, and goes into great detail on the kind of groundwork and assistance needed to make that happen.
- Addresses a subject that will be of vital interest to many parents
- Expresses enthusiasm about the prospect of inclusive employment
- Lays out ground rules for agencies and staffs for empowering adults with special needs
- May provide ideas for employment and self-employment that parents can begin strategizing for
- Includes heartening tales of inclusive employment success
- Welcomes parents as part of its reading audience, but doesn't speak directly to them
- Often cites parents as among those who discourage the idea of inclusive employment over workshops
- Many chapters deal with the intricacies of staffing a program to serve those being employed
- Writing style is more technical than engaging
- Good for skimming and reading here and there; better for passing on to people who can implement it
Description
- Setting the Stage for Change
1. Inclusive Employment: Rolling Back Segregation of People With Disabilities - 2. Community Rehabilitation Programs and Human Services
3. Self-Advocacy for Supported Employment and Resource Ownership - 4. Person-Centered Planning
5. Staff Selection, Training, and Development for Community Rehabilitation Programs - Tools for Change
6. Supported Employment and Workplace Supports: Overview and Background - 7. Supported Employment and Workplace Supports: Tools for Change
8. Sysematic Instruction for Applied Behavioral Analysis - 9. Assistive Technology as a Workplace Support
10. Personal Assistants in the Workplace
11. Self-Employment - 12. Alternative Work Arrangements
Key Organization and Policy Issues - 13. Moving from Segregation to Integration
14. Current Trends in Partnerships with Private Enterprises - 15. Interagency Partnerships
16. Current Trends in Funding Employment Outcomes - 17. The Impact of Employment on People With Disabilities Receiving Social Security Administration Benefits
Guide Review - Book Review: Real Work for Real Pay
In an early section of Real Work for Real Pay headed "Who Is This Book For?" the authors are kind enough to include "Guardians, advocates, or authorized representatives of individuals with disabilities." They promise that "Parents will have access to information on supports that their sons or daughters will need to work rather than be maintained by society. They will explore and assist their family members to gain access to these workplace supports rather than worry about maintaining Social Security Disability benefits."
And it's true, the book does offer ideas, information, and inspiration to parents, families, and people with disabilites themselves. It's there, and if you have the stamina to plow through many pages intended for professionals running rehabilitation agencies and other service organizations, it's worth taking a look at. Just as schools in the U.S. seem to be slowly moving from a segregated to an inclusive model, workplace arrangements for people with cognitive, developmental and physical disabilities are shifting from sheltered workshops with little opportunity for money-making or advancement to carefully selected and carved-out positions in community businesses.
As with education, the secret to making this work is to go about it in a responsible and well-planned way, and to overcome the doubts of those who fear for the safety and happiness of their loved ones. And the risk is that people who need thoughtful help and planning will be thrown willy-nilly into situations they are not able to handle. The bulk of this book, many many closely printed words and lines, is for the people charged with the task of doing inclusion right, and when you're done reading, you may want to find one of those people and hand it over to them. That's my plan, anyway.
