Presentation 4

The Integrated Postschool Vocational Functioning of Workers With Significant Disabilities

Information about fifty adults with significant disabilities from Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin who functioned in integrated work environments from two to over twenty seven years after exiting public schools will be shared. At least the following will be addressed:

  • The segregationist dream – the integrationist dream
  • Authentic vocational assessment and instruction
  • The ages of the workers in 2005 and the years they exited schools
  • Their residential settings and times per week they spent out of them
  • The more than 150 integrated work settings in which they functioned
  • The years and months each worker spent in each setting since 1981
  • The hundreds of real work tasks they performed
  • The hours per week they worked and the wages they earned
  • The amounts and kinds of professional supports provided
  • The reasons for changes in work settings over time
  • Horizontal and vertical enhancement
  • Matching workers with jobs – functioning in multiple settings
  • Transportation, work breaks, lunch and recreation
  • Social relationships with coworkers and others without disabilities
  • Abuse – safety