The Road to Economic Freedom

MADELEINE WILL

Founder, Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination

University of Memphis

Memphis, TNOCTOBER 30, 2015

The Tennessee Alliance for

Postsecondary Opportunities for Students

With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Hosted by the TigerLife Program

University of Memphis

Memphis, TN

New Thinking Can Mean a New Reality

From:

Assuming that People With Disabilities:

Need to be taken care of Can’t work Need constant supervision Are a burden to families

To:

Discovering that People With Disabilities:

Can be self sufficient Can work and pay taxes Don’t need constant

supervision Are valued family members

LRE Data - Decades of Lessons

Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education (MCIE) Inclusion Works! Survey of research over a 20 year period by Xuan Bui, Carol Quirk, Selene Almazon, Michael Valenti (2010)

Findings include:•More instruction generally and addressed content more often with students with disabilities (Curry, Brennan, Sampson-Saul, 1998) •Small- to positive academic gains for students with high incidence disabilities (Baker, Wang & Walberg, 1004; Waldron, Cole and Majid, 2001)•Academic gains for students with significant disabilities (Hunt & Ferron-Davis, 1992)•More students without disabilities made comparable or greater gains in math and reading when taught in inclusive settings versus traditional classrooms where no students with disabilities are included (Waldron, Cole, and Majd, 2001)

 

LRE DATA from MCIE Meta-Analysis

(cont.)National Longitudinal Transition Study (NTLS-2)• Mandated by Congress and funded by the US Department of Education• Studied 501 LEAs and 38 special schools• Involved over 11,000 students with a broad range of

disabilities from 2000 to 2009• Over nine years and five “waves” of data collection

Findings highlighted better outcomes after high school in areas of employment and independent living, including more employment, higher wages, hours worked when student was educated in inclusive classroom www.ntls2.org

We Have Proof that People Can Work

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2009 – UMASS Boston ICI ID/DD Agency Survey

Washington State (88 %)Oklahoma (60%)Connecticut (54%)Louisiana (47%)New Hampshire (46%)

Poverty by the NumbersSUBPOPULATION 2009 Poverty Rate 2010 Poverty Rate

Children 20.7% 22.0%

African-American 25.8% 27.4%

Hispanic 25.3% 26.6%

Disability 25.0% 27.9%

Total U.S. Population 14.3% 15.1%

U.S. Census Bureau (13 September 2011)

•46.2 million Americans were living in poverty in 2010.

•Persons with disabilities experienced among the highest rates of poverty for the tenth year in a row. High unemployment rates.

•It is expected that SSI and SSDI annual payments will reach over $1 trillion by 2018.

Poverty by the NumbersMoney is not always the problem…

Figure 1. Percentage of Estimated Federal and State Expenditures for Working-Age People with Disabilities by Major Expenditure Category, Fiscal Year 2008 [1]

[1] Adapted from Livermore, Stapleton and O’Toole (2011, Health Affairs) 8

$357 Billion in FY 2008

Also includes LTSS for PWD via Medicaid & Medicare

Modernization Means….

1. Postsecondary Education Movement

2. Employment First Movement

3.Passage of the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE)

4. Passage of the Workforce Investment Opportunities Act of 2014

5. US House of Representatives Budget bill provisions regarding SSDI (2015)

National Down Syndrome Society: Inclusive Transition and Postsecondary

Initiative• Promote public policy and systems change• Promote: research, model demos,TA & outreach• Promote public awareness• Riggio Family grant: New Jersey model programs• SC partnership and model programs• Technical assistance to emerging programs• O’Neill Tabani Enrichment Fund

Higher Education Opportunity Act2008

• New eligibility for Financial Aid• Model Demonstration Programs• Coordinating Center at Think College

Eligibility for Work-Study Jobs, Pell and SEOP Grants

• Must meet definition of student with intellectual disability

• Be enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a comprehensive…program

• Be maintaining satisfactory progress in the program as determined by the IHE, in accordance with standards set by IHE

Paid Employment

Youth who participated in PSE were 26% more likely to leave Vocational Rehabilitation with paid employment

Earned a 73% higher weekly income Individuals need greater access to PSE supported by

Vocational Rehabilitation

Data Set: RSA 911Migliore, A., Butterworth, J., & Hart, D. 2009.

Postsecondary Education and Employment Outcomes for Youth with Intellectual Disabilities. Fast Facts Series, No. 1. Boston, MA: Institute for Community Inclusion

Of the 838 students who attended TPSIDs:• Over 70% of students participated in career

development activities including paid employment, other career development, or both

• 36% students held a total of 424 paid jobs• 62% students participated in other career

development activities• 89% of jobs were paid minimum wage or

higher*

Student Employment 2012-13

42% of students employed in Year 3

had never held a paid job prior to

attending a TPSID.

*Wage status was unknown for 8% of paid jobs. These are omitted from the calculation described

Employment First Activity

• Preferred outcome must be competitive, integrated employment

• 32 states have formal policy action—legislation, executive order or directive

• 46 states have some activity underway

• Some states focus on cross disability populations—others on a single disability

• Much collaboration across agencies

Workforce Investment Opportunities Act of 2014

Massive overhaul of workforce system change over time

The Stephen H. Beck Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014

Transformative tax advantaged savings account both in terms of

concept and impact

US House of Representatives’

Budget Bill of October 2015

Coherent and systemic focus on disincentives in SSDI and SSI

programs

Thank you friends and colleagues from Tennessee for accepting the challenge

of leading the way down the road to personal and economic freedom for

persons with disabilities.

Not another generation in poverty!