According to a survey conducted by the website “Best Colleges,” the top five reasons that students gave for attending postsecondary education all related to career or employment: pursue my passion; create a better life for myself and/or my family, improve my income or career prospects, discover my purpose in life and acquire new skills or enhance existing ones. According to an analysis by the Social Security Administration, people who pursue postsecondary education have substantially higher lifetime earnings than people who stop with a college diploma. Although the SSA refers to Bachelors’ degrees and higher, the National Center for Education Statistics data indicates acquiring any postsecondary education increases earned income.
People with intellectual disabilities have the highest unemployment rate of any demographic group. Only 34% of people with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64 are working at all, and only 18% are working in what the disability field calls “competitive employment.” Competitive employment refers to jobs in the larger community of the type that people without disabilities also hold rather than work in a sheltered workshop or other “special” environment. People with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, want to work, but face significant hurdles that their neurotypical peers do not. Some of those hurdles stem from their need to maintain access to personal and employment supports that are funded with so-called “means-tested” public benefits. We will discuss those further in later blogs. Other hurdles stem from a lack of opportunity to learn the skills directly related to employment such as proficiency in certain computer programs or a fluency in professional communication or the skills indirectly required to sustain employment such as the ability to navigate public transportation independently.
A research study by Robert Evert Cimera and colleagues found that, just as with neurotypical individuals, people with disabilities who obtained any kind of postsecondary education had higher earnings and a lower reliance on public benefits. In addition, they also participated in a broader range of industries and positions than those who had no education beyond high school. Starting from approximately the 2 minute and 48 second mark in the “Think Higher, Think College” promotional video, students with intellectual disabilities discuss their career goals. (You can watch the entire video here: https://thinkhighered.net/). If students with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, start out with lower employment prospects than their neurotypical peers but at the same time they have career aspirations and those aspirations will be advanced by postsecondary education, it stands to reason that work-integrated learning, in the form or internships and work-readiness courses, is a key component of Inclusive Postsecondary Education or IPSE.
A good IPSE program should offer students with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to intern or work for more than a token number of hours. It should provide opportunities to work in a wide range of different fields rather than just the “usual” openings offered to people with intellectual disabilities in grocery stores and restaurants. The internship roster should be able to accommodate people with different communication styles, including those who might use assistive communication technology. There should be openings for people who like working with people and those who prefer more solitary jobs. There should be work that requires more thought and work that requires more activity. As you can see, there are a lot of “shoulds” that required program staff to be skilled in and dedicated to building relationships with employment partners.
Job coaching is the next crucial step. Job coaches in an IPSE program support the students with intellectual disabilities by helping them to understand the position’s responsibilities and break them down as necessary, to set goals for their learning and growth and to communicate effectively with the site supervisor and other staff. Job coaches also provide support to the supervisor and other staff at the internship site who may not have had previous experience working with and providing natural supports to a person with an intellectual disability. Skilled job coaches are crucial to the success of the employment portion of the IPSE which, in turn, is crucial to the success of its graduates in securing employment with the opportunity for advancement and growth.
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