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The crisis of disabled millennials: 'It feels hopeless'

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The crisis of disabled millennials: 'It feels hopeless'

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"Our generation has a housing crisis but when you're disabled, it's so much worse," says Clare Phipps, 27, from her flat in a terrace block in Forest Hill, south-east London. "It makes you feel so depressed."

Phipps has idiopathic hypersomnia, a neurological condition that means she can't stop herself from falling asleep and is constantly drowsy when awake. She shares a studio flat - rented cheaply from her aunt - with her boyfriend, Matt Hawkins.

In December 2015, building work from the flat next door damaged the foundations of their home and created a hole in the wall. "Our flat started tipping," Phipps explains - meaning that, for the past year, the couple have been living with a collapsing bathroom. The door and the roof are held up by a temporary steel prop. The hole and cracks in the wall are so big that you can see through the bathroom wall outside. Mice come in through the cracks when it is cold out. But with only Hawkins' wage as a charity worker, they can't afford to move.

Phipps started a PhD scholarship in 2013 - a paid programme that also offered her job opportunities - and last year applied for social care to make it possible; without a carer to wake her throughout the day, her disability means she stays asleep for up to 20 hours without drinking, eating or going to the toilet. She was refused any funding from her local authority - instead, she says, they offered her an alarm clock - and had to suspend her PhD, as well as a job teaching the university choir.

Hawkins, also 27, tries to fill in as Phipps' carer - he has lost two stone and developed anxiety from the pressure - but when he can't work from home, Phipps has no one to help her.

"If I'm not awake, I can't work," she says. "Even a part-time job is my aim ... Most people could never settle for that but I'm not even getting that."

The difficulties faced by millennials - the generation born between 1980 and the mid-90s - are now well documented: from unstable work and student debt, to rising house prices and rents. But, stacked on top of this, young disabled adults in Britain are struggling with their own distinct problems: from cuts to social care and social security and a lack of accessible housing, to barriers to employment and higher education.

If a generally defining characteristic of millennials is that they are not hitting the stages of adulthood at the same time as previous generations, for disabled millennials, the trap of so-called eternal adolescence is particularly acute, with the most basic aims of young adult life - going to further or higher education, getting a job, meeting friends and partners - often out of reach.

Against a backdrop of recent cuts to social care, disability campaigners report that it is now common for disabled adults, struggling with inadequate care slots from their local councils, to be forced to go to bed at 8pm. With the social care crisis growing, last week MPs pressed Theresa May to take action. Research released last month by the disability charity Scope on the experiences of disabled young people finds those in their early to mid-20s are more likely to experience barriers to living independently than any other age group.

In Crewe, Cheshire, Ryan and Ashley Worth, who both have the severe muscle-wasting condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy, are spending their early 20s stuck in rigid roles.

The brothers - 22 and 26 - use powered wheelchairs and need 24-hour care for help with anything from drinking (the condition means they choke easily) to moving. Their parents do what they can - the brothers live at home with their mum and dad and three younger sisters - but as they have got older, Ryan and Ashley rely more on personal assistants. However, because they live under the same roof, their local council has forced them to share 24-hour care between them.

It means the two constantly have to be in the same place at the same time. "We're being treated as the same person," Ryan says.

They have 24 extra "independent hours" a week - where each of them can go out or do something alone but they say that's "not enough" to build a life. Until recently, the brothers had to go nine hours a day without any help at all; the council only gave them the current package after pressure from the charity Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Ashley says he often misses out on going out with friends because he is bound to his brother's plans. For Ryan, it means he hasn't been able to go to university. "I want to study politics and history and I can't," he says. "If I went, my brother would have to come."

Ryan campaigns for Labour and wants to be an MP. He went to the party's annual conference in Liverpool in September but, because he didn't have enough care hours, he had to come home after a day. "I have to save them up if I want to go somewhere for a couple of days," he explains. "So I'd have to not go out for weeks to be able to go."

In some ways, young disabled adults such as Phipps and the Worths are at an advantage compared with previous generations of disabled people: where it was once culturally expected - and entirely legal - to segregate or exclude disabled people from jobs, transport, or education, today's twentysomethings with disabilities have grown up with at least some expectation that they will be treated equally. But to many, this makes the hurdles that still exist more frustrating, whether that's inequality in housing, work and care, or the attitudes around disability that mean young disabled people are still seen as not wanting the same adult lives as their non-disabled peers.

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Gabi Howard-Lovell from Brighton, who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

When Gabi Howard-Lovell from Brighton, who has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome - an inherited condition that weakens connective tissue, including her joints - and autism, became homeless in July 2015, the 25-year-old was told by professionals she might as well live in a home for the elderly. "My social worker said: 'With all your conditions, we should put you in a care home,'" she says.

Instead, the council gave her temporary accommodation on the fifth floor of a six-storey block: 103 steps to get up and a lift that was always broken. "I'm not even supposed to take the stairs," she says. The flat was covered in mould and was very damp and cold: last winter, Howard-Lovell wore six pairs of pajamas to keep warm and "you could still see my breath".

The council re-housed her in August but after more than a year in the flat, it's had a "life-changing" impact on her health: she developed respiratory problems that mean she has not had an antibiotic-free week for 18 months, and her health team is now looking at her using a wheelchair.

Howard-Lovell says the problem for councils is, with a nationwide shortage of accessible housing for disabled people, "there isn't anywhere to put us. For example, I need a wet room, but lots of places have baths."

This crisis in suitable properties exists whether you're a disabled person trying to get social housing, rent from a private landlord - who often won't accept adaptations - or buy your own place. Charities and campaigners have told me of young wheelchair users stuck in accommodation meant for the over-60s, of disabled people without accessible bathrooms having to wash in sinks and buckets, and fortysomethings forced to still live in their childhood bedrooms.

Back in south-east London, Phipps has put in another request to her council for social care but has been turned down again. Without support to go back to work, she's only got £84 a week from her disability benefit to live off. That's meant to pay for the extra costs of disability - such as taxis - but she is spending it on food and bills. She has had to temporarily move out of her flat while repair work is undertaken to make it habitable. She is now living with family outside London.

Phipps says the thought that this is what her life will always be like - never being able to have a career and earn money, or afford a decent place to live - is impacting on her mental health.

"My mum talks to me about her pension and I can't imagine that. Or having my own home," she says. "It feels hopeless. I can't see how it's getting better."
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The crisis of disabled millennials: 'It feels hopeless'

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"Our generation has a housing crisis but when you're disabled, it's so much worse," says Clare Phipps, 27, from her flat in a terrace block in Forest Hill, south-east London. "It makes you feel so depressed." Phipps has idiopathic hypersomnia, a neurological condition that means she can't stop herself from falling asleep and is constantly drowsy when awake.

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Recruiting and Retaining Employees With Disabilities

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Recruiting and Retaining Employees With Disabilities

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Efforts by federal agencies to employ more people with disabilities are paying off.
A recent report from the Office of Personnel Management shows that the federal government has taken concrete steps to hire more employees with disabilities. In fact, since fiscal year 2010, the percentage of nonseasonal full-time career employees with disabilities, 30 percent or more of whom are veterans, has improved by more than 4 percent.

"Historical data shows that in FY2015, the federal government hire

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Recruiting and Retaining Employees With Disabilities

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Efforts by federal agencies to employ more people with disabilities are paying off. A recent report from the Office of Personnel Management shows that the federal government has taken concrete steps to hire more employees with disabilities.

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Record Gains In Employment For People With Disabilities As State Governments Mobilize

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Record Gains In Employment For People With Disabilities As State Governments Mobilize

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Cover of CSG Report on Jobs for People with Disabilities

According to the National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE), now marks the longest run of employment gains for Americans with disabilities since the Great Recession. Indeed, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released this week, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities increased from 26.6 percent in December 2015 to 28.7 percent in December 2016 (up 7.9 percent; 2.1 percentage points). Those are still horrific numbers. But finally, the trend is going in the right direction.

"For the ninth consecutive month, we see improvement in the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities; the longest stretch ever seen since the BLS started publishing disability employment statistics in October 2008," noted John O'Neill, PhD, director of employment and disability research at Kessler Foundation. "These improvements in the employment situation for people with disabilities in 2016 were better than the gains we saw last year. Let's hope that this trend continues and we are able to reach pre-recession employment levels in 2017."

The good news comes just after the National Task Force unveiled a major report that outlines best practices and policy recommendations to help states remove employment barriers for people with disabilities. The Council of State Governments teamed with the National Conference of State Legislatures in the effort. The State Exchange on Employment Disabilities, or SEED, initiative of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy funded the effort. Nebraska state Sen. Beau McCoy, the 2016 CSG national chair, and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, the 2016 CSG national president, co-chaired the task force.

"CSG is proud to play a lead role in facilitating this initiative," CSG Executive Director/CEO David Adkins said. "But I would be the first to tell you that this effort is not CSG's alone."

The task force unveiled the 96-page report titled, "Work Matters: A Framework for States on Workforce Development for People with Disabilities," at the Disability Employment Policy Academy during the 2016 CSG National Conference.

Adkins, who opened the Policy Academy, said the workforce must reflect the diversity of society.

"When we think about workforce development just generally, it may not be specifically focused on people living with disabilities. But to me, it's all about realizing potential," he said. "When anyone is excluded, potential is left unrealized."

About 1 in 5 Americans live with a disability and there are 22 million working-age Americans with disabilities. But many adults and youth with disabilities are unemployed or underemployed despite an ability, desire and willingness to work in the community and contribute to the economy.

The task force convened four subcommittees focused on policy areas that impact the employability of people with disabilities: Career Readiness and Employability; Entrepreneurship, Tax Incentives and Procurement; Transportation, Technology and Other Employment Supports; and Hiring, Retention and Re-entry.

Markell encouraged state policymakers to take action using the report. He said states cannot thrive if some people who want to contribute are left on the fringes.

"We all want to be the jobs governor," Markell said. "We want to be the jobs representative. We want to be the jobs senator. But we better aspire to be the jobs governor, senator, representative for everybody."

The full report is available online.

My favorite part of the report, which is full of helpful and practical advice, is its guiding principles. The report states: "Disability is a natural part of the human experience that in no way diminishes one's right to fully participate in all aspects of community life. As such, state disability policy should consider support of the following four goals:

Equal opportunity, including treating people with disabilities as individuals, making assessments based on facts, objective evidence and science, and providing effective and meaningful experiences in the most integrated setting appropriate.

Full participation in society, including engagement of people with disabilities in relevant decision-making at the individual and systems levels, self- determination, self-advocacy and informed choice.

Economic self-sufficiency, including employment- related services and supports, financial literacy, entrepreneurship and work incentives.

Independent living, including skills development and long-term services and supports. Disability can develop at any point during an individual's lifetime and have varying impacts. As such, state agencies should ensure service delivery is relevant at all ages, is inclusive of all types of disabilities, and maximizes the strengths and abilities of the individual. States should also consider providing a centralized systems navigation process so that people with disabilities and their families have a place to ask questions and get answers about rights, responsibilities, services and supports.

Successful disability policy embraces the "nothing about us without us" principle. Individuals with disabilities, alongside families, advocates and champions from agencies, education, business and communities, should be engaged throughout the policymaking process at all levels. This includes increasing the actual participation of people with disabilities at the highest levels of state government. People with disabilities are underutilized in our workforce and frequently experience social and economic disadvantage. There is strong rationale for including people with disabilities in public policy efforts targeting other underrepresented groups like veterans, women and minorities.

People with disabilities have valuable and unique contributions to make. State disability employment initiatives have the best chance at success when employers are motivated to hire people with disabilities not because they have to or because it's the right thing to do, but because they recognize that disability inclusion helps boost the bottom line through increased innovation, creativity and productivity".

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Record Gains In Employment For People With Disabilities As State Governments Mobilize

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Cover of CSG Report on Jobs for People with Disabilities According to the National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE), now marks the longest run of employment gains for Americans with disabilities since the Great Recession.

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Thousands of jobs to go in government shakeout of welfare to work sector

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Thousands of jobs to go in government shakeout of welfare to work sector

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Thousands of experienced employment coaches are expected to lose their jobs over the next few weeks as ministers trigger the first stage of a massive shakeout of the government-funded welfare to work sector that will see it shrink by 75%.

The employment services industry is preparing for what one insider called "a bloodbath" as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) moves to replace the work programme with the much smaller work and health programme.

Documents seen by the Guardian reveal that seven of the 15 work programme prime contractors, including big private sector names such as Serco and Maximus, have not made it on to the initial shortlist for the new scheme.

The work and health programme shortlist, which is to be officially announced next week, begins a process in which the remaining eight work programme firms will compete with three new entrants for just six new regional contracts.

The final outcome, expected when contracts are awarded in late spring, could result in some firms being forced to abandon the market, or diversify into other contracted out public service areas, such as criminal justice or apprenticeships.

"This decimates the welfare to work industry. It represents the unravelling of nearly 20 years of unemployment support experience," one industry insider told the Guardian.

Work coaches provide long-term unemployed clients with help to acquire a range of employment and life skills designed to increase their chances of finding work, such as CV writing, IT skills and literacy, as well as liaising with potential employers.

Thousands of work coach jobs are expected to be lost. "This means large job losses among really experienced frontline advisers, the majority of which are in charities," said Kirsty McHugh, the chief executive of the Employment Related Services Association.

The work and health programme is expected to start in the autumn and aims to provide specialist support for long-term unemployed people, especially those with health conditions or a disability.

Funding will be about £100m a year over four years. This is about a quarter of the current annual spending on the work programme, which closes at the end of March, and work choice, which will continue for a few months longer.

Ministers have been warned that the cuts will undermine the government's ambitious commitment to halve the disability employment gap by 2020, which requires it to find jobs for about 1.2 million people with disabilities or long-term illnesses able to work.

Ministers are understood to believe that rising employment levels, coupled with the provision of extra disability employment advisers in Jobcentre Plus, means that recent high levels of investment in employment support are no longer needed.

But the Commons work and pensions committee warned in November that the scale of the cuts to the work and health programme meant that many disabled and ill claimants would be unable to access support.

Tony Wilson, the director of policy and research at the Learning and Work Institute thinktank, said: "The work and health scheme will support far fewer people and it would not be able to deliver services to the extent that could be done previously.

"Our assessment is that this scheme will make a vanishingly small contribution to the halving of the disability employment gap."

Of current work programme contractors, Serco, Maximus, Seetec, Interserve, Learndirect, NCG and Rehab Jobfit are not on the work and health programme provider shortlist.

The following firms have made it on to the shortlist, known as the framework: PeoplePlus (shortlisted in all six contract regions), Shaw Trust (5), G4s (5), Ingeus (3), Reed (3), Working Links (3), Pluss (2), Prospects (1), APM (1), Remploy (1) and Economic Solutions (1).

The regions covered by the framework are: central, north-east, north-west, southern, home counties and Wales. London and Greater Manchester will run their own devolved work and health scheme.

The work programme - which was launched in 2011 by the then secretary of state for work and pensions, Iain Duncan Smith - achieved mixed results and was fiercely criticised for the low numbers of disabled and chronically ill people it succeeded in supporting into work.

It was also dogged by controversy over alleged misconduct by work coaches, and the high salaries earned by top executives. Emma Harrison, the founder of A4E, was criticised for paying herself dividends of £8.6m in 2011, on top of a £365,000 annual salary.

Harrison, who had a brief spell as former prime minister David Cameron's "families tsar" sold her personal stake in A4E to Staffline group in 2015 for a reported £20m. The relaunched company, PeoplePlus, is shortlisted in all six work and health programme areas.

Industry insiders expressed surprise that Maximus - which has gained notoriety as the provider of the DWP's controversial "fit for work" tests - failed to make the shortlist as it had been seen as one of the best performing work programme providers in terms of getting long-term jobless people into sustainable jobs.

A DWP spokesperson said: "Our new work and health programme - which our providers will help us deliver - will allow us to give more tailored support for jobseekers and there will be an overall increase in funding for people with health conditions and disabilities.

"Work coaches play a crucial role in supporting people into work and these changes will allow us to do more through our Jobcentre Plus network."
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Thousands of jobs to go in government shakeout of welfare to work sector

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Thousands of experienced employment coaches are expected to lose their jobs over the next few weeks as ministers trigger the first stage of a massive shakeout of the government-funded welfare to work sector that will see it shrink by 75%.

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Kenyan creativity broadens employment horizons for disabled people

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Kenyan creativity broadens employment horizons for disabled people

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Finding a job has never been an easy task for Frederick Ouko. Despite university degrees and a can-do attitude, the 34-year-old Kenyan has found himself turned away from employment time and again, solely because he uses a wheelchair.

"Just the act of getting on to public transport takes a long time: first you have to wait for a bus that has enough room for you and your chair, then finally you show up at the office for the interview, and you are turned away at the door because they think you are there to beg," says Ouko, who is from Nairobi.

"There is a general notion that if you're disabled you don't need to work, because your family look after you or you're on government benefits. Not in their wildest dreams would an employer think you want to work and that you may be qualified."

Ouko was born able-bodied but suffered polio as a child, which left him with weak legs. In the eyes of most Kenyan employers, this rendered him unemployable. So he began thinking about how to reach companies that might be interested in diversifying their labour pool, as well as how to explain the potential benefits of diversification to less progressive firms.

Government statistics concerning disability are unreliable, with the inclusion of albinism skewing numbers, but the International Labour Organisation suggests there may be as many as 3 million people living with a disability in Kenya.

Ouko began developing an online platform to match jobseekers with job providers. He named it Riziki Source, Swahili for "livelihood". Users input their qualifications, skillset, location and disability, and are then matched with potential employers. Users' qualifications and skillsets are visible to businesses, but not their CVs; should an employer express interest in a specific candidate, they connect through Ouko and his colleagues.

Kenya's 2003 Persons with Disabilities Act requires both public and private firms to reserve 5% of their jobs for disabled employees. In practice, though, says Ouko, "they don't even consider it". "There is no monitoring. There is no coordinated effort by the government to provide jobs [to disabled people]. But there is all this unexplored talent you [as an employer] may be missing by not employing a person with a disability."

Riziki Source has been live for six months. So far it has helped 10 jobseekers to find employment in the hotel, IT, accounting and software industries. The program was recently shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Engineering's Africa prize for engineering innovation, and Kenya's department of labour has provided $30,000 (£23,800) in funding.

Ouko's goal is to change the narrative of disability in Africa.

"We are important resources that our countries haven't bothered investing in," he says. "Can we normalise the challenges, and be given an opportunity that we are qualified for, whether or not we're disabled?"

It is a question that fellow Kenyan Peter Mbiria, 26, has also been asking for the past five years. After befriending a woman with crippling arthritis, Mbiria - an able-bodied electrical engineering student in Nairobi - recognised the limitations of existing technology for disabled people.

"I could see how much she was struggling to do her daily tasks, and I wanted to make a wheelchair that would really suit her needs - one that would make her independent and mobile, comfortable and happy," he says.

"Here in Kenya ... surfaces are very uneven, mostly rocky and pretty difficult for people who use wheelchairs. In fact, even around Nairobi there are no ramps for wheelchairs."

Mbiria points out that most wheelchairs are limited to a single function. Some are best suited to a flat surface, others to rough terrain or moving in an upright position. Few, though, are able to combine all three functionalities. Mbiria decided to change that. Combining a military tank concept with the capacity of a 4x4 and the design of a normal wheelchair, he created the "E-Con": an all-terrain wheelchair that allows users to stand upright, climb up or down stairs, and self-navigate.

Similar to a Transformer, the wheelchair morphs from its standard shape into a vertical upright position, and can handle flat surfaces as well as rocky terrain. Each "wheel" consists of three smaller wheels, allowing for greater movement and balance.

The E-Con is still in prototype form, but Mbiria, who was also shortlisted for the Africa prize, is in talks with a Kenyan organisation over funding to build the first model, which he says will cost about $9,000. Many of the components will have to be sourced from abroad, as they are not available in Africa.

Mbiria's arthritic friend passed away before he was able to present her with his invention, and he took her death badly. "I was very sad because I was making this for her in secret, and she left without knowing what I was preparing for her," he says. "For a while I was heartbroken, and then I thought - 'Well, there are many people like her who would like a wheelchair that would enable them to be independent and mobile.'"

Encouraged by that thought, Mbiria is now pushing for such wheelchairs to be made available to those in need without delay.

"Once people are mobile and independent, they can focus on their dreams, their goals in life, themselves," he says. "These other challenges have been taken away from them. Now they can ask themselves, 'Can I start my own business? What can I do for my community? What do I want to be?'"
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Kenyan creativity broadens employment horizons for disabled people | Kate Hodal

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Finding a job has never been an easy task for Frederick Ouko. Despite university degrees and a can-do attitude, the 34-year-old Kenyan has found himself turned away from employment time and again, solely because he uses a wheelchair.

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People with disabilities can spend months, years looking for work in Washington’s smaller communities

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People with disabilities can spend months, years looking for work in Washington’s smaller communities

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In Cowlitz County, it takes the average disabled person 17 months to find a job once he or she leaves high school. "You have to get very creative," said one advocate, "and you have to find those mom-and-pop shops that are willing to work with you a little bit."

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LONGVIEW - It is just before noon. Curtis Everman and Chelsea Klayum have half an hour to make their rounds to local businesses to find Everman a job.

Everman's job folder listing his qualifications and employment experience slides around on the back seat as Klayum winds her way through the Kelso-Longview area.

Everman, 59, has developmental disabilities and gets help finding employment from Life Works, a Longview-based social-services organization that supports people with mental and physical disabilities. Klayum, a Life Works employee, has been Everman's job coach for two months.

But Everman has been searching for a part-time job almost two years. He has applied to more than 40 employers. Klayum's time to help him search is sharply limited by regulations. And he has been frustrated at every turn, The Daily News reported.

"I like to work fast and work my skills, (but) it takes a while," Everman said.

Like Everman, the vast majority of people with mental and physical disabilities face chronic unemployment or underemployment, despite special state assistance aimed at helping them find work.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 17.5 percent of people with disabilities were employed in 2015, while 65 percent of the nondisabled population had jobs. Unemployment among disabled adults was double that of the nondisabled population.

Over the last five years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, disabled people have made up about 15 percent of Cowlitz County's unemployed population.

It takes the average disabled person 17 months to find a job once he or she leaves high school in Cowlitz County, a period of time that includes applying for state-supported job-search assistance, according to Life Works.

Advocates for the disabled say the value of employing disabled people goes far beyond supplementing their bare-bones state disability income. It is good for them and the community.

"So many of the folks have been told when they were younger, 'Oh, you'll never read. You'll never do this, you'll never do that.' They're reading. They live in the community. They have jobs," said Wendy Keegan, director of development at Life Works. "It's that sense of pride that they get with a little bit of support, that they can achieve their goals when they want to achieve their goals."

Life Works Executive Director Dave Hill adds that people with disabilities take the same satisfaction in a job well-done as does the rest of the workforce. "I don't have any employees who are more proud to wear their work gear than the folks who have a disability. They are very proud."

Roots of the problem

The reasons for the employment difficulties are many. Some are obvious, others not readily apparent.

The process to determine eligibility for state job assistance, for example, is lengthy and complex. And many employers are reluctant to hire a disabled person because jobs often have to be tailored around their disabilities.

And over the last decade, the federal government has discouraged "closed shops" that employ people only with developmental disabilities. The focus has been on integrating disabled people into the regular workplace. In smaller communities, such as Cowlitz County, this requires social-service organizations to make stronger ties with businesses to help disabled clients get jobs.

"I think we've found niches to get into and find employment, but (this community) is not as big as Portland or Seattle, where there's a lot more opportunities. So you have to get very creative and you have to find those mom-and-pop shops that are willing to work with you a little bit. So that makes it a little bit harder," said Angie Whitcraft, director of client services at Life Works.

Life Works itself runs three enterprises - Life Works Linen, ADC Janitorial and the Farm Dog Bakery. But it also employs other people so the enterprises are fully integrated into the community, Hill said. They employ 17 disabled people in total who work six to 20 hours a week at minimum wage.

At Linen Works, located in Longview, sheets of red, blue, gray, black and white are stacked neatly on a metal stand in the corner. A draft from the heater above ripples the gold fabric Cory Rogers is steaming. The smell of Pine Sol and other cleaning products envelops the small room.

For 15 hours a week, Rogers, 46, steams, folds and launders linens at Linen Works, which rents out linens throughout the community. Rogers has had his job for almost four years. He likes to listen to heavy metal while he works. Although he struggles with folding the fitted sheets, he is meticulous, lining up the edges just so. Laminated signs hang on the back wall, reminding Rogers of his duties. His boss and co-workers say he has never had a bad day.

"He's succeeded here really well," said Marie Caine, Linen Works manager.

Rogers works alongside those without disabilities as part of Linen Works' inclusionary model. Rogers said his favorite part is folding the sheets, and "really likes" his job.

Rules hinder job hunt

Life Works has eight job coaches, such as Klayum, who seek work opportunities and provide on-the-job assistance for clients with disabilities. Depending on the client's independence level, verbal and physical abilities, how much they work, and how much time is needed, job coaches will get a set amount of hours from the government to spend job hunting with their clients.

Klayum only gets to help Curtis Everman once a month, twice if they're lucky. During these times, she likes to take him into the community to check on submitted job applications so employers can meet him and they can begin building relationships.

Governmental restrictions on how many hours a coach can spend on a client can be tight, and that leads to many job coaches working unpaid hours to find clients jobs.

"Seven hours a month is not enough time to find a job for someone with multiple barriers, so we do whatever it takes. We're always over-serving," said Debra Westerby, vocational coordinator at Life Works. "We want to get them jobs, that's just what we do. Sometimes that takes extra time."

Other challenges to employment are that many disabled people depend on public transportation, limiting the hours they can be available to work. In addition, employers often find it hard to justify crafting jobs, tailoring them for a specific person's disabilities.

"It's not easy sometimes for them (employers) to open that door. Sometimes they're a little scared, a little apprehensive, they're just unsure," said Whitcraft, with Life Works.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter employs two or three people with disabilities at its Seventh Avenue store in Longview, which has nearly 250 employees.

Several years ago, the store created positions specifically for people with disabilities. For example, they involved greeting or placing inventory on shelves if that employee couldn't do some of the other tasks associated with a job, such as heavy lifting or lots of walking, said Patti Carroll, personnel manager at the store.

Because of budget constraints, Wal-Mart no longer creates those special positions. The store has to make sure the employee can do all the tasks associated with the job, Carroll said.

"It is a rewarding feeling to be able to help out someone with a disability, and I enjoy it," Caroll said.

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People with disabilities can spend months, years looking for work in Washington's smaller communities

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In Cowlitz County, it takes the average disabled person 17 months to find a job once he or she leaves high school. "You have to get very creative," said one advocate, "and you have to find those mom-and-pop shops that are willing to work with you a little bit."

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From China to America: The Parallel Lives of Two Disabled Women

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From China to America: The Parallel Lives of Two Disabled Women

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Chen Minghua and Chen Chunchun have a lot in common. They both contracted polio at a young age, were abandoned by their families, and grew up together in the same Chinese orphanage - which gave them the same family name. But in 2001, Minghua, then 11 years old, was adopted by an American family, embarking on a new life and leaving Chunchun behind.

The "sisters," as they refer to each other, lost contact until 2011, when Minghua was offered an internship in China and visited the orphanage where Chunchun still lives. The two women have kept in touch ever since, video-calling each other frequently.

Chen Chunchun sits in bed after showering at a budget hotel in Jiashan, Zhejiang province, May 25, 2016. Zhang Lijie for Sixth Tone

Chunchun is unflinching about her physical disability. "This is just me," she says. "I can't hide it, and I don't want to hide it." Her spine is bent as a result of polio, putting pressure on her organs and making it difficult to breathe.

Chunchun lives a relatively happy life in Chenzhou, a city in central China's Hunan province. She has her own room at the orphanage, which provides her with the basic necessities for a life with dignity. However, she would rather she didn't have to rely on others so much when going outdoors. As facilities for the disabled are uncommon in prefecture-level cities like Chenzhou, Chunchun has to ask her male friends for help getting on and off public transport.

Two years ago, Chunchun met Lei Yu, a blind masseur who would later become her partner. Lei is Chunchun's feet; Chunchun is Lei's eyes. Though Chunchun and Lei have not registered for a marriage license, they have abundant respect and affection for one other. "Two people in love, that's all there is," says Chunchun. "Many of my friends are married or divorced, but I am perfectly satisfied with the present situation." Lei's children call Chunchun "Mommy."

Chen Chunchun's partner Lei Yu carries her on a train in Jiashan, Zhejiang province, May 25, 2016. Zhang Lijie for Sixth Tone

Chunchun used to make and sell handicrafts, and more recently she's been going out onto busy streets to sing for passersby. With Lei and other friends, she founded a team of street performers with disabilities. They travel from town to town putting on two- or three-hour shows, singing, dancing, and doing acrobatic stunts in exchange for donations from spectators. Sometimes the whole team might earn less than 1,000 yuan ($145). After subtracting costs, there is often nothing left. Chunchun, normally strong and stable, can't help but feel demoralized when this happens.

On the other side of the world, Minghua lives a markedly different life. At the London School of Economics (LSE), she is studying for her master's degree. Minghua feels satisfied with the campus's accessibility features, which make her daily life safe and relatively easy.

Minghua lived in Oregon with her adoptive family - a mom, dad, and two brothers who treated her as one of their own. After living independently for years, Minghua can both take care of herself and lend a hand to others.

After finishing her bachelor's degree, Minghua moved to New York to work in administration and translation. Though her job wasn't bad, Minghua hoped to continue her education. After working for two years, she was admitted to a master's program in the history of international relations at LSE.

Chen Minghua attempts to cross the raised threshold of a restaurant in London, June 8, 2016. Zhang Lijie for Sixth Tone

Minghua can go just about anywhere she wants in London, which has a reputation for being wheelchair-accessible. However, seemingly insignificant aspects of everyday life, such as steps in front of restaurants, are still an obstacle for her. Minghua says she feels embarrassed when she has to rely on other people to help her move, so she tends to avoid eating out.

With the help of her adoptive parents, Minghua underwent a successful orthopedic surgery after she arrived in the U.S. The operation lasted 12 hours and prevented Minghua's spine from curving further.

Chen Minghua chats with her friend Chen Chunchun during a video call from her dorm room in London, June 7, 2016. Zhang Lijie for Sixth Tone

Although Chunchun missed out on the ideal window for surgery, Minghua has been in contact with an international medical organization inquiring about treatment plans for Chunchun. After surgery, Chunchun would be able to breathe more easily, and Minghua says it's her dream to help her friend get the same treatment she did.

Though Chunchun and Minghua live on separate continents, the distance doesn't separate them. Even after so many years apart, Chunchun still considers Minghua her closest friend.
Correction: Chen Minghua's family is her adoptive family, not her foster family, and her major is history of international relations, not international politics. (Header image: A girl braids Chen Chunchun's hair in Chenzhou, Hunan province, May 22, 2016. Zhang Lijie for Sixth Tone)

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From China to America: The Parallel Lives of Two Disabled Women

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Chen Minghua and Chen Chunchun have a lot in common. They both contracted polio at a young age, were abandoned by their families, and grew up together in the same Chinese orphanage - which gave them the same family name.

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Xiao Guangting became a qualified masseur, found a job, married the woman he loved, and became the father of a son, all during his nearly two decades in Shenzhen, southern China. But the 39-year-old still can't call the city home. His application to become an official resident was rejected by city authorities again and again because of his disability: Xiao is blind.

Believing that they have the right to be treated equally, Xiao and others have sued several departments of the municipal government over the last four years, only to be rejected each time by the courts. Refusing to give up, Xiao recently took his case to the provincial high court. "I hope my actions can bring change," he told Sixth Tone.

Shenzhen, in Guangdong province and bordering Hong Kong, famously grew from a fishing town into a city of millions, attracting people like Xiao from all over the country - in his case, from eastern China's Shandong province. Like all of China's biggest cities, Shenzhen throws up regulatory roadblocks to limit the amount of people who can live there, afraid that too many newcomers will lead to slums and exhausted social security coffers.

In Shenzhen, a point system grants local household registrations, or hukou, to "talented" people and keeps out those whose qualifications don't add up to the required 100 points. For example, an undergraduate degree is worth 80 points, but people whose highest level of education is high school get just 30 points. A good job, stable financial situation, and other considerations are worth additional points.

At 140, Xiao has more than enough points, but applicants also need to pass a physical examination, the regulations for which state that people whose corrected eyesight tests below a certain value are ineligible. Hearing impairment and other physical disabilities are subject to similar standards.

Zhang Yujuan, a lawyer familiar with cases like Xiao's, told Sixth Tone that Shenzhen's regulations are unlawful and constitute discrimination toward people with disabilities. "The Law on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities states that disabled people should have the same rights as other citizens," she said, adding that the regulations equate to the government defining people with disabilities as untalented and unhealthy.

Without a hukou, Xiao's 13-year-old son was unable to enroll in a public school. Instead, the family turned to a private middle school with an annual tuition fee of 8,000 yuan ($1,150) - for them, a hefty sum. The only other option was to enroll his son in a school some 1,600 kilometers away, back home in Shandong, which Xiao and his wife could not bear. "He told us he felt heartbroken every time we left him," Xiao said of his son. "I don't want him to be a left-behind child anymore."

A blind masseur rests at his workplace in Beijing, Jan. 4, 2017. VCG

Liu Tianhua is in a similar situation. Like Xiao, the 43-year-old is blind and can't get a local hukou despite his 120 points. Liu lamented that he was unable to enroll his daughter in the neighborhood's kindergarten. "Anybody in this city with a hukou has priority over us," he told Sixth Tone. In the end, Liu had no choice but to send his 4-year-old girl to another kindergarten, where she had to join the wrong grade. "It has already been so difficult that I can't imagine how many hardships we might face when we enroll her in primary school," Liu said.

Last November, Liu sued the Shenzhen Human Resource and Social Security Bureau, but he lost his case within minutes. "The court accepted the case and convened, but then they told me I couldn't sue the bureau," Liu said. "I've realized there's no hope - nobody will answer my questions."

Liu works at Dialogue in the Dark, a gallery where blind guides lead guests through dark environs to experience life without sight. The message is that people with visual impairments can lead productive and meaningful lives. "I understand that no city wants newcomers to be their burden, but now more and more blind people can overcome obstacles with the help of computers and smartphones," he said. "We're capable people."

Shenzhen's physical exam regulations allow for "special projects" where different requirements apply, but what constitutes a special project, or what those different requirements are, is not clear. In November 2015, Xiao sent an open information request for clarification of these details to both the Shenzhen Human Resources and Social Security Bureau (SHRSSB) and the city's Health and Family Planning Commission (HFPC). The former said that all they could do was accept the results of the physical exams; the latter replied that the information wasn't classified as publicly available.

When contacted by phone, Yu Lisi of SHRSSB's publicity department told Sixth Tone that she could not comment on the regulations and repeated that all the bureau could do was accept the results given to them by other departments. The HFPC could not immediately be reached for comment.

Xiao sued both government bureaus in December 2015 for refusing to give him a hukou, but a local court rejected his suit. An appeal to the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in June of 2016 was also rejected.

Two months after that setback, Xiao filed official legality reviews with three municipal government departments regarding the physical exam regulations for people with visual or hearing impairments, or other physical disabilities. Their reply was that health is one of the "basic conditions" for hukou applicants.

To Liu, this explanation makes him feel like people with disabilities are being lumped together with criminals: Another basic requirement is that applicants need to have clean criminal records. "People in this city are very warmhearted and ready to help," he said. "But I cannot believe that the government so flagrantly discriminates against people with disabilities."

Xiao has voiced similar feelings. He feels as grateful to the city as he does let down by its government. "Being blind isn't something I did on purpose, and I couldn't change it even if I wanted to," he said. "I thought that if I reported my difficulty in getting a hukou to the authorities, then the problem could be solved. I didn't expect that it would be so difficult."

While it's not easy for anyone to meet the 100 points requirement, it's even harder for blind people. In China, there are limited opportunities for people who are visually impaired to receive a good education and find employment. Last year, a top scorer on the civil service examination was denied a government job due to his visual impairment, and a high-scoring student was turned down by Tianjin University for the same reason. Most blind people go to medical schools to learn massage; others study piano tuning.

A visually impaired student studies for the national college entrance exam at a library in Changchun, Jilin province, Nov. 17, 2015. VCG

Xiao has surmounted all stumbling blocks and even thrived over the past two decades in his adoptive city. "We shouldn't be treated differently," he said. "The points system is meaningless if the authorities set a higher threshold for people with disabilities."

One of Xiao's latest legal moves is to sue the provincial government of Guangdong over the discriminatory regulations. An intermediate court in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, heard the case in November and several weeks later rejected it. Xiao and his lawyer then filed a lawsuit with the Guangdong High People's Court, which has accepted the case but is yet to announce a date for the first hearing.

Last year, there was suddenly a glimmer of hope that the city government would listen to the blind men. In March, during a radio program produced by the government, Ma Xingrui, then the municipal Party secretary, responded to Liu's complaint. "We cannot discriminate against visually impaired people," Ma said during the program, calling on the authorities to further investigate Liu's case. "We must research how to revise the policy of introducing talent to be more reasonable."

Following the radio show, representatives of the SHRSSB showed up at Liu's work with a crowd of reporters. "The conversation was over in five minutes," Liu recalled. "I didn't even get a chance to say anything, and then they left." Several months later, the same bureau rejected his application yet again.

Zhang Xingwei, an employee of the Shenzhen Disabled Persons' Federation, told Sixth Tone that there's no official figure for the amount of people with disabilities living in the city, and that only people with local hukou are registered in their database, which currently lists 1,300 people with visual impairments and 2,200 people with hearing loss.

"Some are migrants who acquired the hukou recently," Zhang said. "We haven't received any complaints of blind people not being able to obtain a hukou." In Zhang's opinion, as long as an applicant has enough points, it's not hard to get the residence document.

There actually is a way for blind people to acquire a Shenzhen hukou, but it's illegal: Agencies providing fake physical examination records can be found online. One blind man told Sixth Tone that he paid an agency 70,000 yuan for the document, and that he was eventually successful in getting a hukou. He would not reveal his name because what he did was illegal.

However, both Liu and Xiao think it's useless for them to turn to such agencies for help now that the government knows who they are. "I'd rather not think about it anymore," Xiao said.

Liu, meanwhile, wishes he had not tried to fight discrimination through legal means and had instead chosen to go down the illegal route in the first place. "I really, really regret that. Only stupid people like me tell the authorities we're blind," he said with a rueful chuckle.
(Header image: Blind men alight from a bus with the help of voice navigation devices in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Dec. 3, 2011. Chen Wencai/Southern Metropolis Daily/VCG)

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Xiao Guangting became a qualified masseur, found a job, married the woman he loved, and became the father of a son, all during his nearly two decades in Shenzhen, southern China. But the 39-year-old still can't call the city home.

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Disability-rights group finds strengths, weaknesses in province's accessible employment plan

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Disability-rights group finds strengths, weaknesses in province's accessible employment plan

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by CBC

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A disability-rights group in Manitoba says the province's first pass at developing an accessible employment standard is a step in the right direction but still needs work.

Barrier-Free Manitoba published its preliminary comments on the province's early draft of a proposed accessibility standard for employment on Tuesday.

The 82-page document identified several strengths in the province's draft but argued it wouldn't lead to substantial progress so much as "'inch' us forward."

Oly Backstrom, who sits on Barrier-Free Manitoba's steering committee, said the draft, which was published in November 2016, is "certainly a start."

The province's draft includes requirements for employers to provide reasonable accommodation to people with disabilities at the workplace and throughout the recruitment process, as well as documented individual plans for accommodation.

"It's focusing on the recruitment, you know, making sure that there's accessible communication during the recruitment process, then after the employment that there's accommodation with employment," Backstrom said.

"But we feel like it could be more robust."

Fully accessible labour market by 2023

According to the province's accessibility legislation, the Accessibility for Manitobans Act, the province needs to develop a plan that will create a fully accessible labour market by 2023.

Backstrom said improving employment for Manitobans with disabilities is a "win-win-win" for employees, employers and the province as a whole.

"It's in the business's best interest to be proactive in hiring people with disabilities," he said.

"People with disabilities had to be deft and think on their feet and think of different ways forward because that's been part of their life, and that's a valuable kind of perspective to bring to the workforce."

According to Barrier-Free Manitoba, just over 56 per cent of Manitobans with disabilities were employed in 2012, compared to 77 per cent of Manitobans without a disability.

Backstrom said closing that gap by half would increase earnings by Manitobans with disabilities by around $260 million.

"If you think about that, you know, not only personal benefit and independence that builds for Manitobans with disabilities, but strictly through a kind of provincial, financial lens, what kind of impact that has on the tax base, what kind of impact that has in people become less dependent on employment and income assistance," he said.

"It could have a really monumental impact on the economy, even if we make a fractional impact with this standard."

Public consultation this week

Barrier-Free Manitoba's commentary identified three "matters of great concern" with the province's draft, including a recommendation the provincial government take immediate action to develop a strong and effective compliance regime.

The others recommend that the province provide funding to disability communities to conduct independent research and that the province commit to providing resources for implementation.

Backstrom said it's important any provincial plan is followed up by surveillance to measure its success. The province's draft doesn't include requirements for employers to document or submit information about people with disabilities they've hired, he said.

"The old adage is you can't manage what you aren't measuring," he said. "So how do we know we're improving?"

Both the province and Barrier-Free Manitoba are inviting feedback from the public on the proposed plan. Feedback to Barrier-Free Manitoba is due by Jan. 28 and feedback to the province is due by Feb. 15.

The province's Disabilities Issues Office is hosting a public consultation on the draft on Jan. 18 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Viscount Gort Hotel 1670 Portage Ave.

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Disability-rights group finds strengths, weaknesses in province's accessible employment plan | CBC News

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A disability-rights group in Manitoba says the province's first pass at developing an accessible employment standard is a step in the right direction but still needs work. Barrier-Free Manitoba published its preliminary comments on the province's early draft of a proposed accessibility standard for employment on Tuesday.

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Changing Perceptions: Job Opportunities for People with Intellectual Disabilities

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Changing Perceptions: Job Opportunities for People with Intellectual Disabilities

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Over the past few months, 31-year-old Noelia Garella has received significant international media attention for being the first teacher in Argentina with Down Syndrome.

As a child, Garella was once called a "monster" by the head teacher of her nursery school. Now, she directly counteracts these damaging preconceptions by teaching preschoolers at Jardín Maternal Jeromito in Córdoba, Argentina. "It motivates me so much to see the children," she tells The Indy.

Garella attributes much of her success to her supportive family and coworkers, expressing a desire for everyone in society to have access to "opportunities to work, to study, to enjoy life."

"We're all equal," she adds.

Inclusion Over Integration

Access to employment is scarce for people with intellectual disabilities in Argentina. Since 2003, a state law has required that 4% of employees of publicly-funded organisations have some sort of disability. However, it is not widely known and no entity exists to enforce it. Further, the law does not apply to the private sector, which employed 90% of the 117 employees with Down Syndrome surveyed in 2013 (according to the Down Syndrome Association of the Republic of Argentina). The same survey indicates an employment rate of only 48% of adults with Down Syndrome.

A further challenge emerges in cultivating spaces for inclusion as opposed to integration, in which "the differences of people were understood as a deviation from what is considered normal" and are thus expected to adapt to the environment and everyone else. According to the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI), this attitude contributes to the formation of prejudices and stigmas and leads to discrimination.

The use of language such as "normal" and "abnormal" justified the common practice of isolation just decades ago. Sandra and Eduardo Metzger, from Hurlingham in the Province of Buenos Aires, recall being advised by a neurologist to leave their newly-born son Agustín in an institution. While the Metzgers never considered this course of action, the say they faced a problem as "there wasn't information for where to go."

The end of the 1980s, however, proved to be a period of change. Through word of mouth, the family was able to connect with a specialist who worked in early stimulation, as well as others who helped foster the environment that Agustín needed to thrive. "It's endless the things that come from him," Sandra notes, "if you take a path that allows all of that to emerge." On the way, the family encountered first-hand the effects of integration versus inclusion.

When Agustín attended one integrated school, for example, Sandra observed over time that "all of the energy that he had was kind of shut off." The family found that the school was not equipped with the proper information and resources for individuals with Down Syndrome and elected to invest in other activities that would include Agustín rather than just have him integrated.

The model now endorsed by top human rights organisations is this one of inclusion. According to the Down Syndrome Association of the Republic of Argentina (ASDRA), this model sees an environment in which "everyone lives together, develops together, makes decisions and shares. If there's a person that's having trouble participating in some way, then the environment is what needs to be modified." This can take the form of wheelchairs for people with physical disabilities, for instance, or specific texts for students with intellectual disabilities.

A Hesitant Market

Fundación DISCAR is one organisation in Argentina working towards meaningful social and labor inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities. As a former dancer and actress, Victoria Shocrón originally founded Fundación DISCAR in 1991 with the hope of opening "paths of communication through art." The space expanded from offering art workshops to forming an alliance with McDonald's and now includes personnel from over 35 corporations, all of which receive training before the arrival of a person with disabilities. The organisation also provides a generalised 10-month training course designed to prepare individuals with intellectual disabilities for any type of work environment, and professionals to accompany each employee throughout his or her career.

According to Vanesa Ferraro, Director of DISCAR's Employment Programme, the process of finding willing partners is complicated by "fear and lack of awareness that companies have when it comes to people with intellectual disabilities...There's still not an organisational culture of labour inclusion." As a result, job offers are few in proportion to the number of people trained and ready for work.

Still, the programme has successfully supported many individuals who now contribute to their family income while simultaneously experiencing the fulfillment of working life. Some are now retired after 20 years of work and are thus "able to get pensions like any other employee."

This represents a key victory, as the life expectancy of adults with intellectual disabilities now averages 65 and continues to improve. Shocrón notes that the organisation places a strong emphasis on empowering individuals to lead autonomous lives: "When a family comes with a person with a disability, we always try to listen to the person with a disability so that they are the one who chooses what they want to do. We always try to place the person with a disability as the protagonist of that choice."

Non-profit Cascos Verdes shares the goal of empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to actively shape their own futures, while also changing societal perceptions. The organisation has partnered with four universities in Buenos Aires and two in Salta to form a four-year Environmental Education curriculum. For the final two years, students give environmental workshops to groups of people without disabilities.

The organisation's original mission upon opening nine years ago was to identify people with intellectual disabilities who had high potential and help to open doors for "real inclusion." However, like Fundación DISCAR, Cascos Verdes struggles to match its high demand of trained students to a hesitant market; though some graduates are later contracted by companies to give periodic environmental courses, less than 50% continue to work after the programme ends.

Changing Perceptions

Still, changed perceptions can lead to a changed market. Since 2007, graduates of the Cascos Verdes programme have provided trainings to 50,000 individuals in total - in primary and secondary schools, universities, companies, events, and even the legislators of the city of Buenos Aires as well as Argentina's national representatives. In the words of Executive Director Gonzalo Bazgan, "this means that 50,000 people learned something about the environment from a person with an intellectual disability. And that definitely changes your perception."

Through their work, the people of Cascos Verdes hopes to provide individuals with "tools so that in the future they can value themselves even if they don't have a job." Though labour inclusion is still not a guarantee for many willing and trained people with intellectual disabilities, the experience of going to university and delivering presentations to audiences of sometimes more than 350 "empowers them to want to seek something else...This for us is a success in itself." Bazgan cites that many graduates are motivated to learn to travel alone and manage their own money as a result of the program.

Agustín Metzger completed the program in 2008. Before receiving job training from Cascos Verdes and another called Center of Training and Resources for Support of Inclusion (CCRAI), Metzger participated in a workshop in which he built plastic materials. Whereas this previous job had offered him very little in the way of social interaction, the university course gave him the opportunity to connect with others his age, both with disabilities and without.

Now, Metzger conducts environmental training in primary schools. He notes that "the kids loved me and they help me in not polluting the environment." In the past, Metzger traveled on his own every day to work at the restaurant Bread Point in Retiro, where, according to his boss, he had a profoundly positive impact on the employee dynamic. Metzger has also found his place on the athletic field; in 2015, he represented Argentina in the first annual Mixed Ability Rugby World Cup in England and won "Man of the Match" in all three games. This year, he plans to play in Spain.

Due to a lack of information 30 years ago, Sandra remembered that "everything was so dark and unsure" and that she did not anticipate Agustín's independence. "In truth," she says, "we had a great time...It's beautiful to be with someone who's happy every day. It's very fullfilling." In the future, Agustín plans to work as a Coaching Assistant for tennis and soccer and has expressed hopes to live with his girlfriend.

Training for Independence

This month marks the close of a two-year pilot program, ALVI, launched by Fundación DISCAR with the goal of preparing individuals to live alone outside of the family home. The three professionals running ALVI decided to conduct trainings in an actual apartment to allow for a more simulated learning experience. In attempting to rent the space, however, Vanesa Ferraro and her team faced the same obstacles that hinder trained individuals with intellectual disabilities from obtaining work in the first place.

"When we told them what we wanted to do, who we were, and what it was about, the property owners decided not to rent to us because they were afraid, they felt responsible for what could happen- all of the prejudices reappeared."

Fortunately, after a series of rejections, they were able to rent an apartment from someone who had previously worked with DISCAR and move forward with the plan. Ferraro explained that while the training focuses on concrete skills such as paying the bills, using public transportation, cleaning, and cooking, the ultimate goal is to "get to know oneself, know what skills one has, and to be able to ask help from others."

By the end of the pilot, Ferraro's team had observed a dramatic swell in students' confidence. An evaluation period of the program is currently in session, and results will determine the future of the project.

As these anecdotes show, inclusion is a two-way street. An individual's training and qualifications can only go so far in attaining a job or apartment if the other party is not willing. Yet with the support of their families and these organisations, individuals with intellectual disabilities are deconstructing the stereotypes that limit their access to opportunities, and more and more people without disabilities are realising that inclusion is actually in their best interests.

As Sandra Metzger explains, "Society has changed [since Agustín was born] in the sense that there's much more information and many more experiences that confirm that kids can be included, and not just be included, but that there can also be a reciprocity."

ASDRA and other human rights organisations have been instrumental in changing the accepted language from "disabled people" to "people with a disability" and shifting the onus of responsibility for inclusion from the individual to the environment. As Shocrón states, "If the environment modifies, if it facilitates access to all fields of society, [a person's] disability won't prevent [him or her] from doing what we all do."

And society's potential for change depends on the willingness of all of its actors. "The power is in our hands," Bazgan asserts. "Everyone has to, from their place, try to help to develop spaces where people with disabilities can be included."

Resources

Centro de Capacitación y Recursos de Apoyo para la Inclusión / www.ccrai.com.ar / (5411) 4776-5443 / [email protected]

Fundación DISCAR / www.fundaciondiscar.org.ar / +54 11 4783-9515 / [email protected]

Cascos Verdes / www.cascosverdes.org / (+54) 4899.1322 / [email protected]

Asociación Sindrome de Down de la República Argentina / www.asdra.org.ar / (011) 4777-7333

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Changing Perceptions: Job Opportunities for People with Intellectual Disabilities

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Over the past few months, 31-year-old Noelia Garella has received significant international media attention for being the first teacher in Argentina with Down Syndrome. As a child, Garella was once called a "monster" by the head teacher of her nursery school. Now, she directly counteracts these damaging preconceptions by teaching preschoolers at Jardín Maternal Jeromito in Córdoba, Argentina.

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For People With Developmental Disabilities, Food Work Means More Self Reliance

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For People With Developmental Disabilities, Food Work Means More Self Reliance

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by NPR

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Every child wants to grow up to be independent - to leave their parents' home, find work, build a life of their own.

But that seemingly simple step into adulthood can be a monumental challenge for children with developmental disabilities like autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, or any of a range of other such disabilities that affect about one in six American children, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most of them remain dependent on their parents and families for support well into adulthood, or they end up living in a home under the care of professional caregivers. Only a fraction of adults with developmental disabilities end up finding steady employment.

But some people are finding work and a path to self-reliance by working in the food industry. Parts of this industry are particularly well-suited to many people with developmental disabilities, like Victoria Reedy of Schenectady, N.Y.

Reedy is 23 years old and lives with her parents and two sisters. When I met her in her parents' home, she was dressed casually in a sweatshirt and wore sparkly nail polish. She's of average height now - about five feet five inches - but growing up, she says, she was a very small child.

"I was 6 years old, and the same size as my little sister who's four years younger than me," says Vicky.

She has a condition called panhypopituitarism, which is a problem in her pituitary gland that causes it to not produce enough hormones, including growth hormone.

Vicky's condition affected the development of her brain as well. She struggled with a range of learning problems while growing up, and school felt extremely hard. "I struggled at just about everything but art," she says. "I had a really hard time reading, [a] hard time writing, and learning things in general."

Her speech was affected, too. And she shied away from social interactions. As she grew up, she depended on her parents and a close friend for everything outside her home, from getting around to handling money.

But today, Vicky is a very different person. She's more confident and independent. She even takes the bus everywhere, all by herself. "I take the bus just about everywhere I have to go, unless I'm traveling with Mom or Dad or any of my friends," she says.

That's because a year and a half ago, Vicky got a job at a bakery in downtown Schenectady.

Puzzles Bakery & Cafe in downtown Schenectady is bright and spacious. The winter sun filters through the glass door and windows and fills the front of the café. On the day I visit, it's packed with customers sitting down for lunch at the small white tables lined on either side.

Vicky is a senior café attendant here. She stands behind the counter, matching orders coming out of the kitchen, making sure the right order goes to the right tables.

Vicky alsohandles customers herself sometimes. She trains interns, organizes food and clean tables when necessary. Some of her favorite tasks, though, involve working behind the scenes, in the kitchen. She loves doing dishes, slicing meat and cheese on an electric food slicer. It's mechanical, somewhat repetitive work that takes time, but Vicky says she finds it satisfying.

In the time that she has worked here, Vicky has even made new friends among her colleagues. Her colleagues say she has grown tremendously at the job. She's now one of the few employees who have a key to the store, so she can open and close the café when necessary.

Sara Mae Pratt, 26, is Vicky's boss and the owner of the cafe. She says she's very proud of Vicky. "She's come such a long way."

As have many of her other employees, who have some sort of a developmental disability. Pratt opened Puzzles Bakery & Cafe in April 2015 with the goal to employ people with special needs, who otherwise struggle to find jobs. "There [are] not a lot of opportunities, certainly not in the way of employment," Pratt says. Once they graduate from the school system, they often "kind of fall off a cliff," she says.

And statistics back up her point. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of working-age people with disabilities who are employed is about one-third of the percentage of people without any disability. And some 50 percent of people who are employed struggle to complete their tasks due to their disabilities, according to the BLS. Many face compensation gaps and discrimination at their workplace, according to the Arc of the U.S.A, an advocacy group for the developmentally disabled.

The BLS also finds that those who are unemployed report many obstacles to finding employment, including the absence of sufficient and appropriate training.

Prattknew a lot of this from her personal experience. Her 23-year-old sister, Emily, has autism. As her sister approached adulthood, she says, she and her parents worried what her sister would do once she graduated high school and no longer had any support from the state education system. "I certainly struggled with what my sister will be doing for the rest of her life. She has a very long life ahead of her."

Her sister is too disabled to work - she recently moved out of their parents' home and into a group home, where she could have round-the-clock help. But Pratt wanted to help those who could work, to find a sense of self-reliance and purpose in their lives.

Before deciding to open a café, she did a lot of research and found that working with food is a particularly good fit for many people with developmental disabilities. For one, "food is very forgiving," she says. "If you mess up, [it's] not a big deal. You can throw it away, try it again."

And it's no surprise that Vicky enjoys simple, repetitive tasks like doing dishes and slicing and arranging food, she says. "It can be quite therapeutic to kind of do the same thing day in and day out, and it's something many people with developmental disabilities can actually excel at."

There is another factor about this work that helps people like Vicky overcome their struggles with social interactions. "They actually get to take part in the creation of this food and bring it to the customer and see that smile on their face," says Pratt. "They're seeing this day in and day out. That's the really wonderful thing about food, it really connects people."

Similar bakeries and restaurants exist elsewhere in the country. Some, like Jack's Bar & Grill in Arvada, Colo., employ people with special needs. Others, like Sunflower Bakery in Gaithersburg, Maryland, also train and then place such individuals at other businesses in the food service industry.

Today, more than 50 percent of Pratt's employees have a developmental disability, she says. That includes 23-year-old Madaline Hannon, who has autism. She has limited vocabulary and according to her parents, she has always been painfully shy.

Now, though, Hannon works four days a week at Puzzles. She only works three hours a day and spends a lot of it serving customers, mostly during the lunch rush.

Dressed in a loose T-shirt, jeans and a baseball hat, Maddy stands behind the counter, keeping an eye on every plate of food that comes out of the kitchen through a little window on the wall behind the café's counter. She matches the food on the plate with the orders flashing on a little screen above the window, then she calls out the order loudly to find the right customer. "Order for Mary Ann!" she says, holding a plate with a sandwich in her hands. When the customer raises her hand, Maddy walks over the plate of food to her, then wishes her a good day. She rarely makes eye contact, but she interacts with every customer as she serves them their plate of food.

And she tells me she enjoys the work. She's been working here for about a year and a half, and she says she now has big dreams for her future.

"I wanna work at Disney World, in a bakery," she says. "They have more gourmet stuff."

Maddy still lives with her parents and unlike Vicky, she still depends on them to bring her to work and take her home at the end of her shift. So, I ask her if she'd be willing to leave her parents' home and move out of Schenectady to pursue her dream. "Definitely, yes," she says with a smile.

Her mother, Kathleen Hannon says, this job has transformed her daughter.

"[The] Maddy that walked in here the first day probably didn't say hello to people who'd come in," she says. "Today, she's out there. I know she will talk to the customers. And we've seen a big difference at home. She's happy!"

The job has given Maddy a sense of belonging, she says. "It's her job. It's her friends. It's her responsibilities. And that's important. We all want that. We all want to fit in. We all want to belong. We all want friends. And I think that's helped a lot."

She says her daughter recognizes that she'll always need extra support, but the job has made her realize how much she can do on her own.

"She's wandering further and further away from us," says Kathy Hannon. "She's looking for more independence."

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For People With Developmental Disabilities, Food Work Means More Self Reliance

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Every child wants to grow up to be independent - to leave their parents' home, find work, build a life of their own. But that seemingly simple step into adulthood can be a monumental challenge for children with developmental disabilities like autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, or any of a range of other such disabilities that affect about one in six American children, according to the U.S.