Friday, March 30, 2007
Community Jobs
OK, people, it’s time to get serious. I have heard enough stories already about finding people with developmental disabilities a “job” in the community instead of a sheltered workshop.
My latest favorite is the person with a disability riding in their wheelchair alongside a non-disabled person on a bike. The person with the disability has a “paper route.” When they get to a house, the person in the wheelchair looks at a list and determines whether or not this house gets a paper. If it does, the non-disabled person delivers one.
I’m sorry… this is not a “job.” This is teaching the person with the disability one task of a job. That’s a good thing - learning all the tasks involved in a job - but most jobs do not consist of a single task and we are not doing the person with the disability any good by telling them (and ourselves) that they have a “job.”
Stop it!
Stop complaining that sheltered workshops are “segregated.” So is my work site. It’s not open to the general public, and it isn’t in a downtown location. Segregation would be if there were no non-disabled people anywhere around where people with disabilities gather. All the sheltered workshops I have seen have non-disabled people working right alongside of people with disabilities, teaching the people with disabilities all the tasks they need to know to get a job.
Instead of thinking up new names for programs (Customized Employment), how about providing training for staff people in sheltered workshops and day programs about how to do their job? And I don’t mean just one task, but the whole job.
Please people… get a grip.
My latest favorite is the person with a disability riding in their wheelchair alongside a non-disabled person on a bike. The person with the disability has a “paper route.” When they get to a house, the person in the wheelchair looks at a list and determines whether or not this house gets a paper. If it does, the non-disabled person delivers one.
I’m sorry… this is not a “job.” This is teaching the person with the disability one task of a job. That’s a good thing - learning all the tasks involved in a job - but most jobs do not consist of a single task and we are not doing the person with the disability any good by telling them (and ourselves) that they have a “job.”
Stop it!
Stop complaining that sheltered workshops are “segregated.” So is my work site. It’s not open to the general public, and it isn’t in a downtown location. Segregation would be if there were no non-disabled people anywhere around where people with disabilities gather. All the sheltered workshops I have seen have non-disabled people working right alongside of people with disabilities, teaching the people with disabilities all the tasks they need to know to get a job.
Instead of thinking up new names for programs (Customized Employment), how about providing training for staff people in sheltered workshops and day programs about how to do their job? And I don’t mean just one task, but the whole job.
Please people… get a grip.
