MCIL and Employment: A brief Q and A

MCIL and Employment: A brief Q and A

1. What does MCIL do around employment and employment issues? First is advocacy. MCIL assists and informs individuals about their rights in employment. If the individual is looking to get a job we often refer them to Vocational Rehabilitation. Most of the time the referral is just part of their IL Plan as we assist them with connecting, organizing and communicating with VR. While referral is most common, we also assist with job search, resume and application when it is part of the plan.
   
   When a complaint may be involved, we have some additional advocacy tools. To help someone who is making a complaint of discrimination we encourage them to use our self-advocacy tool and to speak with the EEOC. It is always up to the individual if they disclose that they have a disability in the hiring process, but MCIL councils individuals not to disclose unless it is part of a request for reasonable accommodation for the hiring process.

2. Do you have any specific consumer success stories? First in everyone's mind was a consumer who got a job last week. MCIL has worked a long time with him in connection with VR. We advocated with VR to get the correct services. When VR dropped his case, MCIL worked with the supervisor to get him a new counselor and continue the process. MCIL helped with the application and other details to actually get the job and start to work.
   
   Another consumer came to us to help him look for a job. MCIL helped him to get assistive equipment and is working on training with AT so that he will continue the job-search himself and he will have additional skills for his employer.
   
   MCIL also assisted a consumer with some employment readiness skills. A consumer wished to take the GED to improve employment opportunities in their IL plan. MCIL helped the individual prepare for the placement test and class and because of our intervention and some low-budget AT (a magnifying glass), the consumer did well on the test and was able to skip some parts of the GED class.
   
   Another consumer MCIL has assisted with peer support in their job search. As their personal motivation diminished when they received offers but not an ultimate job, MCIL was able to provide peer counseling to help them continue their job-search.
   
   MCIL also helped to connect a job-seeker with new training for a consumer with vision loss.
   
3. Do you have a story around an employer who is doing a good job with inclusion? The team did not have specifics, but they all had worked with people who had gotten a job with FedEx. They applaud FedEx for treating people with disabilities as other employers and everyone has the same responsibilities. The downside is that the equality had also resulted in termination, just like other employees. Individuals are reticent to share this as a success story.
   
   MCIL worked with one consumer with a significant disability who was advanced to become a manager at Walmart.
   
   The IL team had heard of the “team training” that some of our consumer’s have reported at Kroger. But we are not familiar with the details. MCIL hopes to find out more.
   
4. What is the one change you tink could make the biggest impact? We had a lot of ideas but nothing of a consensus for this question:
   
1. Training and information to our community to be strategic about disclosing a disability during the process.
   
2. Cultural training for employers that would dispel many myths of disability and the cost of accommodation.
   
3. More enforcement of Title I
   
4. An “Accommodations Specialist” at job fairs that would give realistic information about disability accommodations for job applicants.
   
5. Streamlined access to services and equipment, like PAS and screen-readers that will help people start work and keep a job.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Vocational Rehabilitation plans public hearing far from public transportation

Cordova Library more than a mile from a bus stop

By Christina Clift
On June 9, 2017 MCIL staff notified Joel Blackford about our concerns over the location of the public hearing in Memphis for Vocational Rehabilitation scheduled for June 27, 2017.  As it stands currently, the public meeting is being held in a location not accessible by public transportation. In fact, it is more than a mile from the closest bus stop.

Tennessee Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR) is part of the state’s Disability Services and provides a variety of individualized services to persons with disabilities in preparation for their employment in the competitive labor market. But the choice of the Cordova Library seems to limit the participation from the people they intend to serve. Paratransit, the accessible service that runs alongside the Memphis public transit service, will only travel three-quarters of a mile from the current fixed-route system to provide additional accessibility. MATAplus will not serve the location that VR selected for the hearing.

The library site is more than a mile from the nearest bus stop on Germantown Parkway. If someone was to take public transit, not only would they have to walk more than a mile, but there are no sidewalks in sections along the route on Trinity Road. On both sides of the street, divided by a median, the sidewalk just ends.

Four Vocational Rehabilitation draft policies are currently available for public review and comment, they include: 

• Customized Employment, 
• Pre-Employment TransitionServices, 
• Supported Employment Services, and 
• Self-employment Employment.  

Comments on these policies can be sent to Joel Blackford by email at Joel.Blackford@tn.gov, by phone at (615) 313-4898, or by mail to 400 Deaderick Street, 12th Floor, Nashville, TN 37243. Comments will be received until close of business July 13, 2017.

If Vocational Rehabilitation truly wants public input regarding changes in policy, they must hold the meetings where potential and existing clients can attend.  Unless the decision is changed the meeting will be held at the Cordova Library located at 8457 Trinity Road at 4:00 PM on June 27, 2017. 

If you believe that this meeting should be moved to a location accessible to all,  contact Joel Blackford at (615) 313-4898 or by e-mail at joel.blackford@tn.gov and ask them to move the meeting so that all voices can be heard.

Plan to Achieve Self Support

Learn more about the Employment with the PASS program

By Timothy Redd
Here at MCIL we are constantly out in the community staying abreast of information that can help our community.  August 30, 2016, I attended the Social Security Administration Workshop by Dorothy Bailey, Jodie Oakes, and Carolyn Smith, the PASS Specialists serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. PASS is SSI work incentive plan that stands for “Plan to Achieve Self Support.”


This workshop focused on how you can receive disability benefits like SSI and SSID and still work. The Social Security Administration has some stipulations that apply to benefits if you work.


Did you know you can earn up to $1,780 per month in addition to  your SSI disability benefit if you are under 22 and regularly attending school? Did you know that there is a trial period of nine months that you can work and receive your benefits? Did you know there is a not a limit on what you can earn during the trial work period?


With a PASS plan you can set aside income or an excess resources to pay for things to needed to reach a work goal. The PASS program can benefit someone who wants to be self-supporting by working. PASS is available for an individual in vocational rehab, ticket to work program, an SSI beneficiary with income other than SSI, and a person that receives SSDI and could become eligible for SSI with a PASS.


The information that I have provided is only the tip of the iceberg. Often times we as people with disabilities do not work because we fear that we will lose our benefits. However, as I have stated, there are ways that we can work.


It’s no secret that living on a fixed income is very difficult. If you are interested in learning more about getting back to work you may contact social security via the web at www.socialsecurity.gov  or call toll-free 1-800-772-1213. To learn more about the PASS Program you can speak directly to a PASS agent by calling 1-800-254-9489

Memphis Job Fair and Summit

MCIL works to coordinate information for people with disabilities looking for work.

 

(May 18, 2016 ) The Memphis Center for Independent Living participated in the Job Fair and Educational Summit for Veterans and People with Disabilities sponsored by the Memphis Advisory Council for Citizens with Disabilities (MACCD) on Wednesday, May 18 at the Kroc Center in Memphis. Hundreds of people with disabilities participated in the summit that consisted of four informational sessions and a keynote presentation by Stephanie Jones and Veverly Edwards. Christina Clift of MCIL is the chair of the Disability Awareness Committee of MACCD. Ms. Clift made closing remarks and received an accommodation from Antonio Adams of the City of Memphis.

There were over seventy-five employers with booths looking for workers. The Kroc Center gym was filled with people from 9:00 to noon searching for the right job. The Disability summit began at 10:00 and divided up into four breakout sessions throughout the day. Charles Henderson facilitated a breakout session on "Maximizing Your Job Search Through Social Media," and Tyler Rudd of the Toastmasters covered "How to Speak Well During an Interview." Sarah Kassas facilitated a "Resource Round-up" and Hope Johnson, a Work Incentives Coordinator, spoke about "How to Make Your Disability Benefits Work for You."

The Disability Summit included a catered lunch by Corky's BBQ and featured Veverly Edwards and her daughter Robin speaking about how disability has impacted their lives. Attendance at the entire event was not counted, but there were hundreds of people at the Kroc Center with parking spilling out of the overflow parking. The Summit ran until 2:00 in the afternoon.

End the Wait Now

Disability Day on the Hill in Nashville

By Allison Donald

About 6,240 people are waiting to receive home and community based services in Tennessee, while 280,000 working Tennesseans are without healthcare, including 24,000 veterans and many people with disabilities.  Tennessee must ensure that people with disabilities have access to quality, affordable healthcare.

During Disability Day on the Hill, Nashville becomes the epicenter for this conversation for advocates of people with disabilities and their representatives.  These face-to-face meeting are essential in the fight to ensure that people with disabilities have access to quality, affordable healthcare.

I attended the Disability Day on the Hill from Memphis. Each representative that I visited pledged their support for legislation that would commit government resources to expand long term supports and services for all individuals with disabilities.

In conjunction with that, advocates are also asking for increased employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  State data show that 83% of families consider employment in the community to be important for their family member in the community.  There is also a strong push in favor of creating a waiver for individuals with developmental disabilities that is comparable to those with intellectual disabilities.

The time is now that the disability community of Tennessee hold these elected officials accountable so that people with disabilities may have access to affordable healthcare, viable employment and the creation of the developmental disabilities waiver.

Former MCIL employee appointed to California Rehab Council

Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Michael Thomas, 55, of Sacramento, to the California State Rehabilitation Council. Thomas has been a client assistance program advocate at Disability Rights California since 2008, where he has been coordinator and senior advocate since 2003. He has been social security specialist and a disability rights advocate at Thomas Advocacy Consultants since 1999.

Thomas was a housing specialist for the Center for Independent Living from 2002 to 2003, where he was a benefits counselor from 1997 to 1998. He was a benefits specialist at the Houston Center for Independent Living from 2000 to 2002, a benefits and employment specialist for the Independent Living Resource Center from 1996 to 1997, an independent living specialist at the Memphis Center for Independent Living from 1994 to 1996 and an adjunct instructor at Shelby State Community College from 1995 to 1996.

Thomas was a graduate student teacher at California State University, Sacramento from 1992 to 1994 and a camera operator and production assistant at the Louisiana State University Medical Center from 1984 to 1986. He earned a Master of Arts degree in international and intercultural communications from California State University, Sacramento. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Michael Thomas is a Democrat.

Editor's Note: No photo is available now for Michael Thomas. MCIL will undertake a review and index of our collection of historical photographs and slides this spring.

Scandal involves Employment of People with Disabilities

US Department of Justice probe AbilityOne and SourceAmerica

WikiLeaks today published tapes and transcripts they claim expose the AbilityOne and SourceAmerica fraud that is under investigation by the US Department of Justice. You may access the WikiLeaks tapes and transcripts at:

https://wikileaks.org/sourceamerica-tapes/

The AbilityOne program is intended to employ more than 50,000 people with disabilities, most with significant disabilities. It is the largest employment program for people with disabilities in the country with over $3 billion a year expected to fund employment of people with disabilities.

Most of the funding is funneled to the non-profit SourceAmerica to place people with disabilities in jobs. The US Department of Justice alleged that nearly half of the SourceAmerica money does not subsidize work for people with disabilities. The thousands of placement companies under SourceAmerica profit from the placement of able-bodied and not significantly disabled workers. 

WikiLeaks has listed 26 tapes and transcripts on their website that discuss the alleged corruption. The released information are conversations between the Lead Counsel of SourceAmerica and Bona Fide Conglomerate Inc., one of the placement organizations. Ruben Lopez, is the CEO of Bona Fide and Jean Robinson is the Lead Counsel for SourceAmerica. 

Record Federal Employment of People with Disabilities

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reports that the federal government will meet the goal of hiring 100,000 workers with disabilities within five years. The report finds that the federal government employed more people with disabilities and that people with disabilities represented a larger share of the workforce than at any other time since such record keeping began 34 years ago.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order in 2010 pledging to increase hiring of people with disabilities by the federal government by 100,000 within five years. The report found that federal offices hired 20,615 people with disabilities last year, the total number of workers with disabilities is 247,608.

The tracking is an annual report to the President on disability hiring. It shows that the largest employer in the US, the federal government is on track to reach the President’s goal by next year.