HD24 - Supported Employment

  • Published: 1988
  • Author: General Assembly. Joint Subcommittee
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 308 (Regular Session, 1987)

Executive Summary:
AUTHORITY FOR STUDY

The joint subcommittee was created pursuant to House Joint Resolution No. 308, agreed to by the 1987 Session of the General Assembly. The resolution directed the subcommittee to evaluate the supported employment program in the Commonwealth and determine the feasibility of the inclusion of physically handicapped persons who might benefit from such a program as well as the funding mechanism to accommodate such individuals. The joint subcommittee was also directed to consult with the Department of Rehabilitative Services, the Department for the Visually Handicapped, the Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and representatives of vocational rehabilitative facilities.

DEFINITION

Supported employment is defined as on-going professional support provided by a coach at the job site for disabled persons who could not gain employment or maintain this employment without assistance. Employment counselors provide aid in every aspect of a person's employment, from basic daily living skills through adaptation of the workplace to accommodate an individual's disability. Support can be intensive depending on particular needs but is usually phased down as an individual becomes more adept.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The joint subcommittee, after hearing testimony and reviewing various data, recommends an appropriation totaling $2,062,000 for the biennium ($756,000 in 1989, $1,306,000 in 1990), as presented in the program needs analysis to be added to the budget request for the Department of Rehabilitative Services. This would enable DRS to include the physically disabled in its existing supported employment system to fill a current service gap. The Department will head a joint effort between themselves, the Department for the Visually Handicapped, the Head Injury Foundation, the Cerebral Palsy Center, VCU, and employers.

The joint subcommittee recommended this action as one of those rare occasions where social and fiscal policy merge. In these fiscally conservative times, it would be in the state's interest, as well as her citizens', both handicapped and non-handicapped, to adopt such a program of supported employment for the physically disabled. On the cost benefit side, money which was currently being expended would technically be redirected and benefits would not necessarily accrue to the agency expending the funds. On the social benefit side, improvements in life for handicapped individuals as well as those around them have been extensively documented and are more valuable than a dollar amount.