Unconditional Love

My clock radio at home is set to the local NPR station, KPLU, which means I awaken to a variety of stories.  I look forward with anticipation to each broadcast throughout the week.  Typically, I hear the national Morning Edition Monday through Friday with the addition of Northwest news with Kirsten Kendrick.  But Friday's broadcasts are special.  This is when StoryCorps is on.  StoryCorps broadcasts short podcasts taped by individuals telling their stories in an interview format.  Last Friday I was particularly touched by a podcast with a son, Sean Carter, interviewing his mother, Jenny.  Sean interviewed his mother using a speaker device because he is paralyzed as a result of an accident.  He interviewed her about the fact that she has been his caregiver since the accident.

In our line of business this is all too common and I have met hundreds of parents who are caregivers for their son or daughter n exactly the same situation as Sean and Jenny Carter.

I have tremendous admiration for parents and family members as they endure unbelievable circumstances while providing invaluable assistance to their son or daughter.  As I have come to know these parents and see firsthand the support they give, their unconditional love is evident in a variety of ways.  These families also need our support in whatever ways we can give it.  For example, we can advocate for family support dollars for respite services or ongoing care.  I am sure our support would be greatly appreciated. 

The link is provided below so you can listen to the Carter’s story.  As you listen please remember this story is played out in tens of thousands homes right here in in our community, our state, and across this country every day.   

Here is the link to NPR: http://www.npr.org/2015/02/06/384212826/caring-mom-is-picture-of-unconditional-love-injured-son-says

Group Supported Employment Program Ending

For those of you not familiar with Group Supported Employment (GSE), it is designed to provide services for a group of up to 8 individuals in an integrated (i.e. "normal") work setting.  An example of a GSE work site is a janitorial crew that cleans a state building.  This is as opposed to sheltered workshops which are segregated work environments and a practice we ended 10 years ago. 

I am taking this opportunity to provide the rationale for now ending our GSE program as well as the sub-minimum wage practice associated with it.  

First GSE work sites are not truly integrated.  At all the GSE sites we have operated our workers are set apart, as a team, working on the contract.  Integration is largely dependent upon the particular company contracting for the service.  In many cases the workers with disabilities don’t interact closely with other workers. 

Second people working in GSE can and should work in an individual job in the community as opposed to Morningside being the employer of record.  A particular level of disability or behavioral issues are not factors that exclude one from working in the community.  We have demonstrated this in scores of cases by placing clients in individual jobs who have more severe disabilities than those working in a group environment. 

So what constitutes the on-going need for this service?  A case could be made that this type of service may have some value as a temporary placement.  However, typically clients end up working for many years at a group site for a wide variety of reasons.  Included in those reasons is that parents and caregivers like the fact that the service is funded at 4 hours a day 5 days a week and individual employment can be fewer hours per week.  So it begs a difficult question:  Is this service designed for the individual or for the convenience of the residential providers or parent/relatives?

Those we serve in GSE are often not progressing by gaining skills and looking for new opportunities.  Recently a client who moved to a job in the community from a GSE site was very happy with the change so she could "meet new friends" and was very clear she didn't want to go back under any circumstances.  One parent said "Well, it’s about time. My son has been in this training program for years." 

The discussion about the future of this program is increasing in the state.  My feeling is that this service category will be eliminated in a few years in a manner similar to the way pre-voc or sheltered workshops were pressed to close a couple of years ago.

Finally, we are also not going to renew our sub-minimum wage certificate.  This is a special certificate issued by the US Department of Labor that allows paying less than minimum wage to individuals with disabilities.  [I wrote about how this law has been abused as highlighted by a US DOL case against a farm in Iowa a couple of years ago.]  The disability community has been advocating the elimination of this sub-minimum wage program and I agree with them!  My friend Joelle Brouner, a person with a disability, pointed out to the Morningside Board of Trustees last year that a person who has a disability isn’t given a break on buying goods or services.  So why should employers be able to pay less minimum wage?  We/I believe that everyone should earn at least the minimum wage regardless of disability status.  And most of the persons with significant disabilities working in the community produce at a high rate.  As my friend, and co-worker, Don Hayden says “We aren’t given many chances to work so when a company hires us we are loyal and want to do a good job, constantly proving our capability”.  

So what's next for GSE?  Those sites/contracts that can be transformed into an Affirmative Business Enterprise (ABE) will continue.  [An ABE is designed to make a profit and employ some individuals with a disability.]  Those sites/contracts that are not profitable will be closed.  We are also pursuing other business ventures that could employ some people with a disability in a job in the community.  Current GSE clients will be offered the opportunity to pursue individual employment in a job of their choosing. 

One again Morningside is charting territory not yet traveled by others.  We are the first organization to move in this direction just as we were when closing the sheltered workshop.  But we believe this change is in the best interest of those we serve.  Many eyes are on Morningside right now to see how this turns out.  I have every confidence the creative, professional Morningside staff will make this a great transition, which will offer more opportunities, for our clients.

New Workforce Law Holds Much Promise

The Workforce Investment Act was passed and signed into law in acted in 1998.  It combined many federally funded work training programs into one act including the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (landmark legislation that vastly improved vocational services for individuals with disabilities).  The act replaced the Job Training Partnership Act and gave local councils the power to direct funds toward specific needs in their area.  During this time the governor Locke issued Executive Order 99-02 to empower the act in our state by forming a state workforce Investment Board and establishing local workforce development councils patterned after the JTPA.  Vocational Rehabilitation has a unique place in Workforce Development as a silo program to respond to workforce needs and to support individuals with disabilities seeking training and assistance in finding work. 

This year Congress passed the “child” of WIA called the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and was signed into law on July 22, 2014.  “This act strengthens the public workforce system and the partnerships that sustain it, by unifying and streamlining services to better serve job-seekers. It will improve accountability and transparency within the system. It will elevate work-based learning strategies like Registered Apprenticeship and sector strategies that address the needs of multiple employers within an industry. It will foster coordinated planning within economic regions. And it addresses the needs of veterans and of other populations facing unique economic challenges, including out-of-school youth, people with disabilities and the long-term unemployed.” (taken from the DOL website)

For Vocational Rehabilitation the emphasis is on youth and providing work training to high school youth prior to graduation.  Here is an excerpt from the Dept. of Education (OSERS- Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services) webpage:

 HIGHLGHTS OF CHANGES TO REHABILITATION ACT PROGRAMS

Increases Services to Youth with Disabilities: Throughout WIOA, especially in the amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, there is a significant emphasis on the provision of services to youth with disabilities.

To that end, WIOA:

Emphasizes the need for youth with disabilities to have more opportunities to practice and improve their workplace skills, to consider their career interests, and to get real world work experience.

Requires State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to make “pre-employment transition services” available to all students with disabilities.

Requires State VR agencies to set aside at least 15 percent of their Federal VR program funds to provide pre-employment transition services to assist students with disabilities make the transition from secondary school to postsecondary education programs and competitive integrated employment.

Allows State VR agencies to prioritize serving students with disabilities.

Allows State VR agencies to support advanced training in STEM and other technical professions.

Dedicates half of the Federal Supported Employment program funds to provide youth with the most significant disabilities with the supports they need, including extended services, to enable them to obtain competitive integrated employment.

Supports Employer Engagement: WIOA contributes to economic growth and business expansion by ensuring that the workforce is job-driven, matching employers with skilled individuals.

WIOA places strong emphasis on employer engagement across all programs.

There are increased opportunities under the VR program to assist employers in providing work-based learning experiences for individuals with disabilities, including participation in apprenticeships and internships.

VR State agencies will describe in their State plans how they will work with employers to identify competitive integrated employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

Emphasizes Competitive Integrated Employment: WIOA places significant emphasis on obtaining competitive integrated employment, especially in the amendments to the Rehabilitation Act.

WIOA promotes competitive integrated employment in all of its programs, especially the VR and Supported Employment programs authorized under the Rehabilitation Act.

VR program services are designed to maximize the ability of individuals with disabilities, including individuals with the most significant disabilities, to achieve competitive integrated employment through customized employment, supported employment, and other individualized services.

The VR State plan must ensure that priority is given to individuals who are otherwise eligible for VR program services and who are at imminent risk of losing their jobs unless they receive additional necessary post-employment services.”

The whole government website is rather wonky, I know but the law does provide a definite shift in how workforce training and supports for the unemployed can be matched with the industry clusters in a particular area of the country.  What will work in Buffalo won’t work in Honolulu – I doubt there is training on driving show removal equipment on Waikiki.   

Local workforce development councils have the opportunity to radically change the system to improve the delivery and transparency of services to those who desperately need job training if their industry or business suddenly closes or who have not finished high school and need of a GED and training. 

What I like about the change is the focus on high school students transitioning into the adult world of work – youth 19-15 had the highest unemployment of any age group and people with disabilities have the highest unemployment rate of any group.  Providing services to students with disabilities to obtain needed job internships and other training and support to find a job is money well spent in my book.

McCleary Decision and the Budget Dilemma

Last week the State of Washington Supreme Court held the Washington State Legislature in contempt of court for not following their decision to fund public education to the degree established in our state constitution.  The Legislature has until 2015 to come to a resolution - “On the date following adjournment of the 2015 session, if the State has not complied with the court’s order, the State shall file in the court a memorandum explaining why sanctions or other remedial measures should not be imposed,” reads the order, which was signed by Chief Justice Barbara Madsen. The decision was unanimous.”  Seattle Times, Joseph O’Sullivan 9/17/2014.

Since it seems the problems cannot be swept under the rug any more, I think we are in for some interesting times.

So what is happening in state government?   In June DSHS Secretary Kevin Quigley sent, in part, the following invitation to stakeholders:

“Dear Stakeholder:

I would like to invite you to join us at the DSHS Human Services Building (OB-2)     Auditorium in Olympia Washington at 11:00 on June 17, 2014 for a discussion of the budget process for the upcoming biennium.  Although the start of the 2015-17 biennium on July 1, 2015 is still more than a year away, steps toward creating that next biennial budget start early.

Attached you will find a couple of graphs from a presentation provided by the Washington State Office of Financial Management (OFM) Director, David Schumacher, to the Governor’s cabinet.  What is immediately apparent from the first slide is that there is a large gap between the costs to maintain current services for our expanding     populations and our projected revenues.  Even if we add $1 billion in revenues, beyond the annual revenue growth, the funding gap is between an additional $1.2 and $2 billion to fund the McCleary lawsuit.

Within the DSHS cabinet we are unanimous in our opposition to reductions in funding for social services.  The unmet needs are simply too great.  Nonetheless, we will be required to engage in a budget prioritization process so I want you to have the earliest possible notice and to discuss with you our plan of approach.

Because we do not favor reduction packages we will be seeking to submit a rank    ordering of our programs and the scope of our programs.  The challenge for us will, of course, be to rank them.  Ranks will be established against DSHS Activities Inventories to be found at http://www.dshs.wa.gov/budget/2015-17prioritization.shtml .

As we progress through this process we will be applying several ground rules:

1.Reach out to staff and stakeholders for input (we might not have time to develop a formal process based on our rushed timeline so stakeholders will need to be proactive and actively pass their prioritizations to the respective administration(s));”…

(emphasis added)      A graph that he shared that depicts the issue is below

During this meeting I pointed out to Secretary Quigley the tremendous loss of federal revenue if state match dollars were cut in programs serving individuals with disabilities.  During this meeting he called on stakeholders to help with budget prioritizing.  To begin that process I went to the web site.  After reviewing the information I don't understand the priorities.  The priority ranking is not delineated.  I see that Community Employment Programs are on the top of the list and I would like to think that means these services have a high priority.  But my initial reaction, based on 40 years of experience, is that this ranking really means that programs serving individuals with developmental disabilities in the community will be the first to go.  I believe the same may be true for other community programs serving vulnerable populations – Mental health, Children, Family support as they are on the top of the list as well.  The problem is that after 8 years of budget cuts, and increasing need due to the economic recession, community programs are suffering.  There is simply no room for further erosion and still be able to provide any semblance of service.   Additionally, institutional care for individuals with developmental disabilities is not on the list and, I suspect, protected from cuts.  It is truly unfortunate that institutions take up a huge percentage of the budget for this high cost of service that could be performed in the community for far less money.  But this is a topic for future blogs.

$2.2 to $3 billion.  Unfortunately this isn’t a small hole to step out of and the state legislature will need to craft a funding package to add more revenue.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news on tax increases but we can’t possibly cut $2.2 to $3 billion out of the budget.  The only place with substantial enough budgets to target are Higher Ed (which the legislature has looted the last couple of biennial budget cycles) and DSHS programs.  Programs within DSHS are so decimated, and the need so great, it leads one to wonder - why have any programs for needy populations?

I truly believe we will need to address the revenue side of the ledger which is unfortunate because no one likes higher taxes.  Again I am hearing talk of closing loopholes - I just don't believe a $3 billion loophole exists. I don’t know what the answer is, all I know is that to eliminate already struggling community programs will be devastating to the most vulnerable people in our communities.

Chart showing shortfall:

 

A Friend Does Good

Special Olympics began in the early 1960’s when Eunice Kennedy Shriver saw how unjustly and unfairly people with intellectual disabilities were treated. She also realized that many children with intellectual disabilities didn’t even have a place to play.  So she decided to take action and created a summer camp in her own backyard that led to the founding of the Special Olympics.  Since then Special Olympics has been going strong across the United States and Canada.  In July 1968 the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, USA.  You can read more about the history by going to their web page:  www.specialolympics.org

I am a huge fan of the Special Olympians, especially those that participate from our area.  It's wonderful to celebrate their success with them.  And every few years we have a client from Morningside who gets to compete nationally or even internationally. 

This year Corbin McGearey competed in Power Lifting at the US Games in New Jersey.  Corbin was chosen from all state Gold Medal winners to represent Washington State at the 2014 US Games.  And we were well represented!  Corbin placed 3^rd in his Division in the Squat scoring 125 points, 5^th in his Division in the Bench Press and Deadlift, and 5^th in his Division in the Male Combination (Bench, Deadlift & Squat).  Way to go Corbin! 

In addition to his hours of training and gym time, Corbin works at The Evergreen State College for Aramark Food Service.  He has worked at TESC for more than 5 years as a Dining Room Attendant.  And Corbin is one of the friendliest people I know!  There's always has a smile on his face and he is always eager to greet people.  I met him at The Valley Athletic Club before his trip last month to New Jersey.  He was quick to greet me and tell me about his trip.  For all the details check out the article about him which The Olympian ran a front page article at:  http://www.theolympian.com/2014/06/12/3178026/olympia-duo-will-compete-at-national.html 

Corbin dedicated his trip to New Jersey and his competition at the Games to his Great Grandma Lucile Mades and Olympia High School baseball coach Todd McDougall who passed away July 2013.  So in addition to the dedication needed to be a great athlete, Corbin is a sincere and caring young man.    

Corbin we are proud of you - and not only for your Olympian feats but for the person you are!  Congratulations from all of us at Morningside. 

                       picture taken by The Olympian - Corbin is on the right.

End of Year for Transition Students

Morningside this year contracted with Thurston County to lead the Job Club for students in Thurston County.  I had the opportunity to visit the last Club meeting of the year this past Friday and I was very honored to have been invited and treated so special.  What struck me how well our staff work with the students.  Bobby Jo Sweet was leading the group and Jeff Davis was assisting her.  Jeff just joined the transition program as Britni (seen below with students) has moved into a supervisory role at Morningside.  It is always fun to see our staff work with clients or students as they are so professional and treat everyone with so much respect – a hallmark of our staff. 

Since it was close to the end of the year and so many yearend events happening, some school district students weren’t attending so the class size was around 15 or so.  But what a lively group.  They shared with me a beginning of the year and end of year comparison of their “30 second infomercial” video about themselves.  What a difference in their attitude, demeanor and social skills in presenting themselves.  You could tell they worked hard at skills they would need when applying for a job. 

Everyone from Olympia School District was excited about the Life Skills prom that was being held that night at the high school.  I heard about it from several of the students.  My friend Laura who is on the Lakefair Royalty Court posted on FaceBook that it was a very special evening for everyone attending.  I am happy for the students and our staff for a very successful year.

 

Justin with Britni

I don’t need no stinkin' handout! - Part II

Last year about this time I wrote a blog about my son, Andrew.  Andrew is 18 years old and about to graduate from high school and happens to be a person with a disability since he is missing his left arm. 

Last year I wrote about his need to make application to DVR (Division of Vocational Rehabilitation) when he turned 18.  I also described my experience telling him about this federally funded program that assists individuals with disabilities to determine their career goals and then offering training and placement to make their vocational dream a reality. At the time his response was immediate and indicated he was proud and didn’t need any handout.  I think his exact sentence was “I don’t need no stinkin' handout”.  He was incredulous at the thought that throughout his whole life he had fought to not make his disability a way to gain advantage or favor and now his Dad was suggesting he take something for free.

Well, we did make an appointment in the fall with DVR.  And Andrew went to a program orientation meeting. 

As a member of the Governor-appointed Washington State Rehabilitation Council (WSRC) I had the opportunity to relate Andrew's experience with DVR to the other members.  It was interesting that I have been to 2 DVR orientations - one recently with Andrew and another with our daughter, Megan, a few years ago.  Megan's orientation was a group meeting and Andrew's orientation was with just the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC).  As I told the WSRC members, in my opinion the individual orientation is much better than the group.  Andrew came away from the meeting with much more information since he could ask questions and the VRC could respond directly and take the time necessary for him to understand what she was saying about the vocational rehabilitation program.  The VRC was very supportive and told Andrew to come back in the late winter or early spring before he graduates if he was still interested.  In comparison, following Megan's group orientation meeting I asked her about the particulars of the program.  She didn’t have any idea what the process really was or how the program could assist her.  I knew the lack of information wasn't because Megan had not understood the information presented since she had attended running start at SPSCC (South Puget Sound Community College) and received her AA and high school diploma with honors at the same time.  By contrast Andrew could explain the program and the goal of DVR to me very clearly.  It was the presentation format that made the difference.  Individual meetings provided better information than group.

In March I told Andrew to contact this counselor so he could apply for services.  He did but getting information from him about his appointment was challenging at best.  He is a man who shares little with his parents (how strange huh?).  I knew he had an application form to fill out in preparation for his meeting with the VRC.  Andrew was recalcitrant.  When I urged him to work on this during his spring break his response was “Dad, I am taking a break, that means no work, no appointments”. 

Well, Andrew did indeed go back and complete the necessary paperwork.  About 3 weeks later I noticed a letter on the couch in our living room, not a normal place to put paperwork in our house.  Low and behold it was a letter from DVR indicating he was eligible for services and that Andrew should make an appointment to begin writing the plan.  I asked Andrew why he didn’t tell me.  I guess it wasn’t my business because he said that it’s his DVR, his program.  So I asked when he was going to make the appointment.  His response was “Not now Dad, I am getting ready for prom”. 

I give up!