Knowing the Ropes
© The Rural Institute, 1998?
Note: Some of the projects and activities described in this document are no longer active so contacts and
project opportunities may no longer be accurate.
Introduction
By Cary Griffin, Director of Training
The Rural Institute
The University of Montana
This monograph represents an amalgamation of articles and resources from invited contributors and the
personnel, consumers, and family members associated with eleven community employment
demonstration sites we established this year across Montana. Our hope is that this publication
exemplifies best practices in community employment, stirs interest in entrepreneurship, and showcases
the inventiveness of rural residents. Employers, demonstration site staff, consumers, families, local
Social Security personnel, and Montana Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors all contributed significant
effort to the substantial outcomes of these projects. Continued thanks go to Joe Mathews, Montana’s
Director of Disability Services, for his ongoing advice and counsel.
The projects represented here focus on creating jobs for individuals with the most severe disabilities
using both unique and tested supported employment, self-employment, and consumer-directed
approaches. Projects include the Montana Career Design Initiative, funded by Developmental Disabilities
Planning and Advisory Council (DDPAC); the Montana Rural Employment Initiative Special Projects and
Demonstrations Initiative, funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration of the U.S. Department
of Education; and the Montana Consumer Controlled Careers Program, funded by the Administration on
Developmental Disabilities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Together, these
projects and the associated consumers, staff, and employers developed approximately 30 jobs this year,
mostly for people once considered “too disabled” for employment.
Special thanks go to all those Montanans who wrote to share their personal experiences. We also
appreciate the ongoing efforts of John and Connie Lyle O’Brien, two clear voices in building community.
Thanks to Kelly Lawless in Texas, Margo Stevens in Utah, and Dan Rounds, Bernie Grimme, and Dave
Miller in South Dakota, our friends and colleagues outside Montana, for contributing to this resource.
Please use the resources in this manual and let us know what works and what you want to see in the
future. If you want your agency to become a demonstration site, need training or technical assistance,
or need help finding a job or launching a small business, we are here to help.
Thanks again to all our many collaborators!
Organizational Competency: Investing in Front Line Staff
by Cary Griffin, Director of Training, The Rural Institute
Life at the Front
ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL ISSUES facing Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) is the
recruitment, training, and retention of quality front line staff. The role of direct line staff in CRPs has
evolved dramatically. Twenty years ago, when I was a front line staff person, I was expected to help folks
get through the day safely and make certain the contract work in the workshop got done. That was
pretty much the extent of my job description. In my own career I saw the evolution begin as I went from
working in a group home, to starting a supported living program, to taking over as director of the adult
vocational program. Within six months my duties and responsibilities had changed drastically. I have to
admit that my salary also improved.
Today, a front line staff person has fewer opportunities for advancement because the systems are more
bureaucratized, professionalized, and complicated. People stay at the same jobs, for the same pay, with
little lateral or vertical career advancement. The pay at the front lines is relatively the same as it was
twenty years ago—slightly better than minimum wage. Also, with the move to community integration,
the demands of front line staff have increased. Now, direct support staff (Please don’t call them direct
“care.” It is paternalistic and harmful to the image of people with disabilities!) work and make decisions
often in full view of the community and businesses. We expect that they are directed by consumers, and
we expect serious outcomes such as home ownership and employment. Certainly they are not solely
responsible for these outcomes, but staff are major contributors to success.
This level of responsibility and stress, coupled with meager or outdated training, leads naturally to high
turnover on the front line. Turnover rates vary from coast to coast, but 80% annual staff replacement for
a CRP providing vocational and residential services is common. In fact, it is this high turnover rate that is
often blamed for the unmanageable cycle of resignations and hirings. CRPs are continually forced to
reinvest in recruitment and basic training rather than increasing salaries, providing better management
support of staff, offering advanced training, and increasing support resources used to achieve
community outcomes. The reasons CRPs universally give for not using Plans for Achieving Self Support
(PASS—a significant source of consumer-directed revenue for achieving career goals), is that
management is too busy putting out fires, and front line staff do not have time to learn how to use this
Social Security Work Incentive. The same reasons apply for not effectively partnering with Vocational
Rehabilitation, not using assistive technology, and for not creating business collaborations that lead to
employer-initiated jobs.
Turnover saps the potential of CRPs, and, therefore, seriously undermines the potential of talented staff
and consumers who rely on these agencies to support them in non-segregated environments. Couple
this with Non-Value Added activities in the CRP daily routine, and outcomes become very difficult to
achieve.
Non-Value Added activities do not directly relate to achieving essential consumer outcomes, such as
home ownership and real jobs. The types of Non-Value Added activities are many and varied, and are
found in most social service systems. They include such items as staff meetings that perpetuate
inactivity, certifications of quality that do not have a direct and obvious influence on consumer
community outcomes, standardized or norm-referenced testing and evaluation, readiness or pre-
vocational training, various day activity classes performed in artificial environments, cost-response
behavior approaches emphasizing behavior change instead of finding ecological validity. If CRPs focused
on providing just what the consumer needed to be supported in community environments, many of
these wasteful accouterments of rehabilitation would be eliminated. Functional approaches, such as onthe-job experience and situational assessment save significant resources, can generate funds from
partners such as Vocational Rehabilitation, give front line staff and consumers real world experience and
success, and build adaptive corporate cultures focused on outcomes achieved through systematically
defined and implemented operations.
Breaking the Cycle
Eliminating or seriously reducing front line turnover and increasing consumer outcomes requires that
organizations immediately quit doing things that do not work. Telling the truth about our efforts is job
one. For more than fifty years, the promise of community rehabilitation has gone unfulfilled. The
programs grow; the outcomes dwindle. Today, sheltered workshops serve more than one million people
with developmental disabilities. Despite the promise that a system of day-programs would train and
place many people in the community, only slightly more than 15% of consumers have successfully
achieved community employment.
Another significant action is identifying those Non-Value Added activities. In one organization in the
Mid-West, we systematically audited staff time expenditures. We discovered that this agency (with a
$3.5 million annual budget) had 30 standing committees or meetings and that in one year, salary and
benefits expended in attending these meetings topped $800,000! These were all meetings that had no
direct connection to an individual consumer, but were procedural or reporting events that did not
produce measurable results. Certainly meeting to share information and plans is critical, but not worth
almost 25% of operating income. The agency had no significant outcomes, except that staff turnover
remained constant at about 85% per year. The cost of turnover was approximately $100,000 when
training time, paperwork, advertising, interviewing, and overtime pay for staff coverage were computed.
This is an extreme example, but even in well-run organizations, $200,000 or more is typically wasted
each year. That amount would provide significant wage increases and training for staff, and foster
substantial community outcomes for consumers.
The intervention plan for this particular agency increased the use of communications technology (voice
and e-mail) to broadcast and report information; eliminated most of the non-outcomes directed
meetings; managed remaining meetings with quality improvement techniques, and created staff
position profiles of front line staff to use in recruitment. This last action shifted thinking about front line
staff from accepting turnover as inevitable to managing the situation and solving the problem for the
long term.
Culture Change
Effecting a Culture Change that establishes front line staff as an organization’s most valuable investment
(after consumers) is dramatic. Such a change requires an investment mind set. Exit interview data reveal
that many front line staff leave for three primary reasons:
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Low pay
Frustration with management’s lack of focus and support for outcomes
Restricted autonomy or power in decision making
In the example above, the agency could potentially capture more than $500,000 if wasteful processes
and meetings were eliminated. Reducing turnover to 30% would result in an additional savings of
$70,000. That increases the agency’s fund liquidity by $570,000. Most organizations could change
overnight if this money existed as cash, but for the first year or two of a change program, the money is
largely theoretical until it has been saved. It cannot be saved without solving turnover and waste
problems. Without an investment strategy the process is slow. By eliminating wasteful activities, which
is inexpensive, the nest egg accumulates within a year or two. Then, it is important to create the
recruitment profile for each department’s front line staff. This means identifying places where probable
candidates might be found, the competencies they should have and those the agency will invest in
developing, and designing a salary scale equivalent to similar positions in the private sector. The money
exists in human services to do just this; it has been done. It has not been done without a leadership
commitment to drastic operational change.
In Seattle, Jill Deatherage applied an investment approach to the sheltered workshop at United Cerebral
Palsy. She needed more and better trained staff to help close the workshop and get people into real
jobs. The Executive Director and Board advanced her program $60,000 to begin the process. She
leveraged this investment with partners such as Vocational Rehabilitation who purchased services from
UCPA. She and her team got everyone served into community employment; she returned the $60,000
along with a healthy profit; she was able to increase salaries across the board; and the employment
department’s turnover rate was reduced to roughly 15%.
Core Competencies
One of the first steps in accomplishing such dramatic change is identifying the necessary front line Core
Competencies. A competency is a set of skills and attributes that influences job performance and can be
measured and improved through training and practice. Personalities do not appear to change through
training, so new hires should exhibit potential for competency, and also have personalities that support
organizational change and mesh well with the demands of quality customer service. Achieving this
match of skills and personality takes much more work than simply hiring warm bodies; it is a long-term
investment-based strategy in consumer-desired outcomes. A quality supported employment specialist
might exhibit competency in the following areas:
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
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

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Negotiation
Image/Marketing/Public Relations
Customer Service
Systematic Instruction
Self-Management
Communication
Problem-Solving
Turnover savings and partnerships with local universities and businesses make skill training possible.
Further, good recruitment entices people away from other businesses that have already trained these
staff in many related and complementary skills. The key here is that the CRP must compete on salary as
well as working conditions, work autonomy, and clear outcome expectations. It is true that front line
staff leave because of low wages as much as for other reasons. It is not the only reason, but it is
essential that staff be able to feed and house themselves. Reinvesting the savings from organizational
re-engineering can significantly enhance salaries and high quality training.
What’s Next?
Initiating a “Save the Front Line” program requires the following basic steps:
1. Analyze organizational outcomes data in relation to the baseline that all people with disabilities
should live, work, and recreate in typical community settings.
2. Account for all staff time and effort over approximately a 2-month period. Compare the work
that’s being done to the work that needs to be done. Recent research studies indicate that many
rehabilitation personnel are not actively engaged in outcome related work most of the day.
3. Calculate unproductive personnel time in terms of salaries, benefits, and if possible, in terms of
lost opportunities and billables.
4. Calculate the cost of personnel turnover throughout the agency in terms of overtime pay for
coverage, lost billables, advertising, interviewing, orientation, and training time. If possible,
calculate the stress turnover causes to consumers, staff, and managers. Consider also the lost
opportunities, the impact of staffing emergencies, the inconsistency of customer service to
community employers, et al.
5. Create a competency-driven staff recruitment profile that focuses on finding and retaining the
best staff possible.
6. Develop an equitable salary scale that makes CRPs competitive with business.
7. Change the organization’s rhythm to one of continuous communication, refinement, invention,
and quality. Avoid falling victim to the myth that rehabilitation is doomed to forever pay people
less than they are worth, and that people with disabilities deserve less than the absolute best.
Think future development and capacity building.
Employment for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime: Creating New
Employment Options Through Supported Employment
by David Hammis & Cary Griffin, The Rural Institute
The Fire & Energy of Supported Employment
Supported employment is a raging fire, burning bright across the world. We've felt it now for 20 years,
as it's burned a passion into our souls to strive for employment for anyone, anywhere, anytime. It still
lights up our imaginations with promises and potentials unmet. We've seen it in the eyes of the best
employment consultants. It's the intuitive energy of listening to someone during a Personal Futures or
Vocational Profile process and really understanding the work and employment dreams of another
person.
Supported Employment is networking, marketing, and negotiating with the business world for profitable
and exciting employment partnerships. Supported employment is searching the workplace for the clues
of future job carving possibilities and ideas. It's engaging workers, co-workers, and supervisors to be
their best and knowing when to assist and when to create time and space for natural events and
relationships to occur.
Supported Employment in a Global Economy
Supported employment, under its own momentum, will soon move into the 21st century. Without a
doubt, Supported Employment continues to validate its founding beliefs and dreams. The heros of
supported employment are the 150,000 + employees, as well as employers and employment
consultants around the nation, creating new social and cultural realities barely imaginable only a few
years ago. The challenge is, as it has been from the beginning, to raise our expectations beyond the
word "employment."
As we work more closely with the business world, new words are being added to our vocabulary-words
like: profit, partnerships, corporations, s-corporations, limited liability partnerships, limited liability
companies, micro -enterprise, entrepreneurial, leveraging resources, small business, women owned
small business, minority owned small business, employee owned businesses, corporate culture, reengineering, downsizing, rightsizing, owners, and shareholders. As we add these words from the
business world to our vocabularies, do we really understand them and integrate their concepts into
community employment? Perhaps the question is how do we blend the fire and energy of our brightest
and most creative employment consultants with the challenges of the next century? What tools and
cultures do we need to develop and promote as we push the limits of our existing boundaries? Where
are we going? How do we build on and add to our current Supported Employment strengths?
Self-Employment & Business Ownership
Moving Supported Employment into the next century requires new options, new Supported
Employment cultures, and new tools for employment consultants. Fortunately, the next steps are here
today. They've been here for years. Just as Supported Employment started from the creativity and
visions of excellence, the 21st century tools for new Supported Employment futures are developing
today as employment consultants embrace the business world and its array of work and employment
options. The only real barriers seem to be in our beliefs and expectations. The business world has been
and is ready to do business. How do we know this? We asked. Employers are interested in hiring
employees who own substantial employment related resources, forming limited partnerships, and
supporting sole proprietorships with people of similar interests and dreams.
Do you know that small business is the fastest growing segment of the business sector today?
Employment consultants need to understand this business trend. We need to believe that all of the
options in the business world are possible for people with disabilities, and then act on those beliefs.
Acting on those beliefs makes it possible to achieve employment for anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Creating paid work and profits from the needs of the business and economic culture opens new worlds
and options for people to become partners in businesses, sole proprietors, and employees with
ownership of vital business resources. If this can happen, as it has repeatedly in small, remote
communities (such as Plains, Montana: population 1,200; Red Lodge, Montana: population 2,300;
Alamosa, Colorado: population 10,000; Sterling, Colorado: population 5,400), it can happen where you
live.
Employment for Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime
Recently in a small rural town in Montana, a "challenging" person who was identified as having multiple
and significant disabilities, shared his work dreams with us. The place he identified for his work dreams,
was a local "nature center." He took us on a tour and clearly demonstrated the interest and
relationships he had already developed there. In attempting to job develop here, multiple objections
were offered from the manager, including the lack of funding for new employees. The manager would
agree to any volunteer help, but "had no money" for employees.
Acting on the belief that it is possible to create employment for anyone, anywhere, anytime, a business
plan for a sole proprietorship for the "challenging" person was proposed to the nature center manager.
The plan was to operate a retail sales business at the nature center (selling center-related items) and
return 10% of the profits to the center. The manager reviewed and assisted in refining the business plan
and then submitted it to her Board of Directors for approval. The business is owned by the person, and
we were able to clearly "create" a work outcome based on our beliefs of employment for anyone,
anywhere, anytime.
Another example involves a young man in another rural Montana town, where an employer was
approached to develop a position as an entry level assistant mechanic. The employer did not have an
adequate cash flow to hire him. A limited partnership proposal was written, using funds from a Social
Security Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS), to become a part owner of a segment of the business.
The wealth of knowledge of the business world came into play. The owner advised, amended, and
assisted with creating an entirely new proposal for a sole proprietorship for the young man, based on a
$28.00 per hour contracted rate for the individual's new small business, with a 25% consignment fee for
the use of space at the principal owner's building, and a clear method for sharing customers and work
loads. The business plan and PASS have been approved. In this case an absolute "no jobs available" from
the potential employer was turned into a mutually profitable sole proprietorship and partnership. Once
more the business world teaches us that it is possible to achieve employment for anyone, anywhere,
anytime.
What Comes After What Comes Next?
For the past 20 years, the field has struggled with determining what jobs people can do; what jobs
people should do; what jobs are available. The discussions and hard work are far too often focused on
organizational resources, restrictive or limited policy, and agency convenience. These are the wrong
concerns and mind set. The employment arena is not a finite resource, although the human services
perspective has ascribed this characteristic to it. Neither is employment development a passive activity.
Employment is created through vigorous and relentless invention, partnership, collaboration, and hard
work. Even in the smallest communities, in the most rural corners of the world, we are finding, as our
colleague Roger Shelley says, "that there may not be a lot of jobs, but there sure is a lot of work." Skilled
consumers, families, and personnel will exploit the reality of market expansion through tenacity and
risk-taking. There is a conscious choice to be made by each of us: have the world act upon us, or act
upon the world.
Making employment happen requires a drastic change in daily activities. First, quit doing things that do
not lead to employment. (Do endless meetings come to mind? How about work readiness training that
has proven to be a dead-end towards community employment?) Second, ask business people how they
got into business and what they need to stay in business. Act to help them find and hire people. Third,
listen to the job seeker; what does he/she want to do and how close to that goal can you get by enlisting
employers, friends, family? Fourth, stop making assumptions based upon behaviors and motivations
witnessed in boring, repetitive, segregated settings. Stop wasting time and money on interest
inventories and standardized testing. Instead, develop situational assessments and job analyses that
give real information with environmental relevance. Fifth, listen to yourself. Are you in this job for
something to do, or to do something? For most people served in community rehabilitation, there is no
Plan B. Most people are stuck in dead end day programs, so what exactly is the big risk in trying a job,
even an "unrealistic" one? Twenty years ago it was "unrealistic" for people with severe disabilities to
work in any community job. Today we know that to be a misguided assumption. Do not become the
people that the next generation frowns upon for being so "backwards" in its attitudes. All the pieces to
create quality community employment exist now.
Looking into the future of supported employment, and the promise of the employment consultants who
light up the sky with their dreams and skills and fires burning within, is an exciting and breathtaking
experience. The early promises and potentials of supported employment have become the reality for
thousands of people, yet millions of people wait for similar futures, in workshops, day activity centers,
and institutions. There are still so many Supported Employment promises unmet. It's time to take the
next quantum leap into our shared futures with the business world around us, building on the
employment consultants' energy and dreams and skills, and create employment for anyone, anywhere,
anytime.
Old Dogs, New Tricks
By Margo Stevens, Founder, Genesis Services Inc.
WHO COULD IMAGINE that after working in the human service field for more than 20 years, every day
would still be filled with new adventures? After all, by now everything is very commonplace and routine.
All one needs to do to ensure success is expand on what has always been done and, perhaps, do it a bit
better than the next guy. There are no pressing reasons to make any drastic changes. Wait awhile.
Today’s fads will fade away and soon we can return to business as usual. Future changes will be
incremental; major systematic changes have already occurred. Professionals have always been in control
because without our experience and direction the system would fall apart. Anyone crazy enough to
build her dreams, let alone the foundation of her business, on the idea that people with disabilities
should and can control their lives is surely insane! She will soon be out of business.
I spent many hours listening to colleagues tell me such things. I had to weigh their words against my
feelings and values. If they were right, I would soon be unemployed. If I was right, the world, as they
knew it, would shortly cease to exist while mine would continually move, change, and grow.
It’s a radical concept: professionals should not be in charge—individuals with disabilities should be. We
are playing with their lives; why aren’t they the ones handling the controls and making the decisions?
Little did I realize that as professionals we had done our job so well that we trained people to accept our
guidance without question. In return we never taught them that choice is also their right.
Self-determination makes sense and its implementation sounds simple—ask people what they’d like and
help them get it. Although the premise is sound and people’s dreams are real, actual implementation
was traumatic. I was no longer in charge. However, most people with whom I worked wanted me to tell
them what they should do or at least define what they wanted. They had been conditioned to please
me, the professional, and had forgotten, or never learned, to think and decide for themselves. What a
shock! I offered choices and people asked me which they should choose! How on earth could I teach
such basic concepts to them? Why didn’t they already have them? Most children have these concepts
by the age of three. Where had I, the professional, missed the boat and why?
How would I approach the world of service delivery when all the rules defining my role and behavior
suddenly changed? To survive and thrive, I changed my entire perspective of how the world operates.
No longer able to simply read information and profess belief, I must act. These new ideas dictated
performance, not rhetoric. I learned to be comfortable questioning everything. In the midst of these
changes I reevaluated my role and those of others, how customer services were delivered, and the
premise upon which each service and action was built. My associates, many of them new to the field of
human services, continually questioned my statements and actions: “Why did you do it like that?” “Why
can’t it be done differently?” “Is that the way things are done everywhere?” “Explain to me why you
don’t just do things like everyone else in the world.” Initially I attempted to rationalize my “professional
behavior.” Then I began saying: “I don’t know.” When that answer became unacceptable, even to me, I
was forced to look at each situation from a new perspective and could only reply: “We’ve always done it
that way, but it’s wrong.” What humbling experiences for an “old dog!”
I searched for answers outside my once comfortable human service box, because those roles and rules
were no longer applicable. Many solutions came from my soul and others from places more mundane. I
struggled because I had thought I had all the answers. Now I realized that I didn’t even know where or
how to find accurate information, let alone formulate correct statements. In my frantic search for
information, I asked colleagues millions of questions. To my dismay, they most often replied: “You
already know the answer.” Ask the Universe for what you need and want, then wait, and listen. An
ancient Zen proverb states that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Two years later, I’m
beginning to grasp their meaning . . . and they were right. Answers and resolutions have always been
available; I looked in the wrong places. Amazingly, my teachers were in front of me from the beginning. I
only had to open my eyes to see them. My teachers are my customers. From them, I’ve learned more
about people with disabilities than from any text, lecture, or professional.
This new world declares that individuals with disabilities are real people with all human rights. They
cannot be excluded from anything or anyplace just because of their disabilities. One of my most
astonishing realizations centered on this. Two customers were visiting colleagues in our office. I became
impatient and wanted them to leave so we could “get back to work.” When I expressed my feelings to
an associate, I was asked why their being in the office receiving support was any different from visits
from employers, sponsors, or staff members? OUCH! She was right. I saw them as people with
disabilities, not as people seeking support from others. I was one of the people I said I hated! I was
segregating them (if only in my mind) because of their disabilities. I was repulsed by my thoughts and
actions! Rest assured, this experience etched itself in the depths of my being and significantly changed
the way I interact with people who have disabilities.
I soon realized that for this new approach to be successful, disabilities must become invisible. People I
support actually became my customers. Customers are people with dreams, not people with disabilities.
Once I viewed them as customers, I understood my true obligations: to respond to their requests in a
timely and appropriate manner, to keep commitments I made to them, to support rather than try to
direct them, and to value them. Clients, consumers, and participants became people, peers, and friends.
Relationships changed; dreams became reality. I always thought I had the idea. I knew I could speak the
words. I knew I believed in it. I also knew it was the “right” thing to do. However, I had no idea the
baggage I carried from my previous experiences would weigh me down like an anchor. One day, as I
drove with a colleague, I began sharing my frustrations regarding a problem we were having with one of
our customers. This young woman was a trainee at a local supermarket. The problem was, when it was
time to leave, she would not pass the check stand without attempting to get some gum. My colleague
asked if she had money with her. I explained she always carries money. “Why can’t she just buy the
gum? That’s what the rest of us would do if something caught our eye as we were leaving the store and
we had the money to purchase it.” Right! I was looking at the disability and designing ways to “fix it.” My
staff member was controlling and disallowing choice. My associate saw only a person with interests,
desires, and resources.
The vision of a place where such occurrences are commonplace has become reality at Genesis Services.
Two people, who knew there had to be a better way to support people with disabilities, conceived of it
atop a grassy knoll. Founded on the belief that individuals with disabilities are the company’s primary
customers, its mission is clear: “Total Customer Satisfaction.” Genesis employees never doubt that
anything is possible and are unwavering in their support of people pursuing their dreams. Company
actions and interactions are based on honor, trust, commitment, common sense, and equality. Genesis
Services operates on premises from the business sector. It is noncompetitive and strives to make every
opportunity a win-win situation. We value corporate connections. Staff members are active in the
community. Life is in constant flux and our ability to thrive in chaos is vital. The outcome is success. My
commitment to this vision is constantly challenged as I attempt to understand and implement concepts
such as chaos theory, controlled floundering, abundance theory, paradigm shifts, quantum
management, and virtual work groups. I must be a self-directed team member and share with them
rather than forcing, demanding, or coercing them. Margaret Wheatley adeptly described the position in
which I regularly find myself: “Into the smoking caldera I throw most of what I have treasured and most
of the tools and techniques which have made me feel competent
. . . when I have made my sacrificial offerings to the Gods of understanding the ruptures will cease and I
may begin again. I will set sail to places I now can only imagine.”
Genesis Services, Inc. is unlike any traditional human service organization. I know. I’ve directed two of
them. In this organization everyone’s opinion is valued, risk taking is common practice, errors indicate
motion, egos are set aside for the betterment of the customer or the company, information and support
are freely shared, and supposedly impossible things occur daily. Keeping pace with a young team is
continually challenging. Letting go of old ways, changing old patterns and expectations, and
understanding the value of not needing to be in control takes a total commitment to change. Our efforts
have resulted in a viable company that continually exceeds expectations and reestablishes performance
parameters. It exists within the human service field but operates on a dynamic corporate model and
solid internal values. Recognition, pride, growth, and revenues are all expanding exponentially.
Human service academicians have made an intellectual shift (on paper at least) from “normalizing and
integrating” to “accepting and respecting.” Soon our actions must parallel our words, but until then,
only those brave enough to travel uncharted waters will accept the challenge. I embarked on this new
adventure, wholeheartedly and without regret. Like Nietzsche: “I have left the house of scholars and
have slammed the door behind me. Too long I sat hungry at their table.” Life, as I once knew it, has
ceased to exist. I’m no longer the professional-with-all-the-answers. I am a person working diligently to
share, learn, and support others. I will run into unforeseen obstacles and will continue to experience
revelations through conversations with my associates and my customers. However, I truly believe in the
purity of the process and the truth of its principles. As I let go of old ways, a new world unfolds that is
full of fresh, exciting, and exhilarating adventures. I invite the brave, the bold, and the strong to take up
the challenge and join me in forging a new world of growth and acceptance. Within each of you is the
power to change the world. I no longer fear becoming “disabled” because I am creating a place where I
will be respected and valued no matter how I am labeled.
Would you like to effect dramatic changes in our profession and the lives of people with disabilities? If
so, seek out opportunities to become actively involved in the world around you. Carefully building the
capacity of your local community significantly increases the opportunities for this type of experience.
You must continually and consistently educate everyone you meet, introduce the concept of people
with disabilities being valuable prospective employees, and allow people to “feel your passion.” Small
town values and connections make this transition easier because of the underlying commitment to
creating and living within a harmonious, accepting, and supportive community. Exemplary customer
support and satisfaction create excitement and motion. Cultivate friendships, dream, decide to become
an active “participant in life,” risk, learn, grow. When we value individuals with disabilities and see them
as peers, our actions will match our words. Then we can share our “new tricks” with others. Meanwhile,
everyone benefits. Dare to change. The outcome is worth the pain.
What type of world are you creating? Is it a place where you would want to live, no matter how your life
changed? I hope it is. My world is just such a place, and it’s wonderful!
Margo Stevens has supported people with disabilities since 1975, working in settings ranging from
segregated schools to sheltered workshops to ICF/MRs. She directed two human service agencies. In
1996 she was one of the founders of Genesis Services, Inc. If you would like more information concerning
this article, write: Genesis Services, Inc. at 2225 South 500 East #14, SLC, UT 84106; Phone (801)4879173; or Fax (801)487-9176.
Building Capacity with Situational Assessments
By Mike Flaherty
Organizational Consultant, The Rural Institute
FOUR DEMONSTRATION SITES were selected this year to participate in the Montana Rural Employment
Initiative (MREI): Flathead Industries in Kalispell, Bitterroot Educational Cooperative in Stevensville,
Career Transitions in Bozeman, and Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow (LIFTT) in Billings. All
agencies deliver services to sites in communities of fewer than 10,000 people. Sixteen people with
severe disabilities benefited from these service agencies’ building capacity through MREI. The project is
funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration.
MREI’s goal is to build the employment capacity of rural communities. Building capacity is defined as
“extending the possibilities for action. . . outside the usual (traditional or accepted) patterns.” One
capacity building tool is the situational assessment. Situational assessments answer the question:
What are the resources, supports, work sites, etc. that can improve an individual’s community
employment potential?
All four MREI demonstration sites used the situational assessment to learn more about the employment
opportunities in their respective rural communities, and more about the work preferences of each
individual they serve. They recognized the value of applying the situational assessment to “fit” the job to
the individual, as opposed to fitting the individual to the job.
The Value of the Situational Assessment
Vocational assessments focus on deficits; situational assessments focus on assets. Vocational
assessments are a reactive model; situational assessments are responsive. Traditional norm-referenced
assessments of individuals with severe disabilities don’t provide enough of the right kind of information
to ensure the success of supported employment or school-to-work programs. Standardized testing
identifies skills the individual needs to improve on or acquire before employment. This approach focuses
on what is missing, as opposed to identifying what is working. This notion that individuals need to be
“ready” for work has gained broad support, but it keeps many individuals from realizing their full
potential. They end up on the “getting ready” treadmill that prevents people from finding community
employment. In this scenario, provider services and workshops become the end rather than the means
in assisting people to make their dreams reality.
What is a situational assessment? Employment consultants or placement personnel, families,
consumers, and others research the information needed to effectively match an individual with a severe
disability to a job in the community. It includes assessing the unique characteristics of each individual in
the “job pool,” identifying and analyzing the jobs that exist in the selected community, and comparing
the requirements of the jobs and the workplaces with the assets of the individuals, then matching
individuals to jobs. If no match exist, job carving and job creation strategies become necessary.
Situational assessments can be tailored to provide the employment consultant or placement specialist
with valuable information. Many persons with severe disabilities do not have work histories upon which
to base job preferences. The situational assessment provides a unique opportunity for the individual
with a disability to experience a variety of jobs within the community while gathering information about
individual preferences. The person who clearly understands his/her own preferences has greater
potential for job satisfaction. Most important, active participation in the situational assessment helps
individuals develop greater self-esteem.
The information collected on jobs and work sites reveals many job possibilities that may have been
overlooked. Careful situational assessments can transform an employment consultant’s view of a
community as a place with few employment opportunities into a viable source of jobs. Performing the
assessment provides job development and placement personnel with new information about the
community’s employment capacity.
“Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in a Situational Assessment”
So how do you assess the situation effectively? How is this assessment tool used? What are the specific
guidelines? What is really important? When do we get started? Who is responsible?
The assessment includes the following steps:
1. Identify the individual who is the focus of job development activity. What are his/her personal
and vocational interests? If you don’t know the answer, start with person-centered planning. In
this planning, individuals express dreams, wishes, and interests that become the focus for
community job exploration.
2. Investigate the community. Use existing sources of information (newspapers, yellow pages,
etc.). Complete a neighborhood and business sector inventory by walking through the town or
neighborhood and recording all the possible employment opportunities. Get acquainted with
local business and service groups, and network with individuals identified in futures planning
meetings. Have coffee and lunch meetings with selected businesses; “interview” the employers,
learning all you can about the workplaces and their products or purposes. Provide the
employers with direct, clear information about the individual you represent. Schedule dates and
times for an on-site assessment.
3. Analyze the job. Gather information about appropriate jobs. Observe and ask questions,
identifying the sequences and tasks that are the job. Analyze physical (lifting, sitting, grasping,
pulling, walking, hearing, seeing, pace of work, etc.), mental (response to sensory cues, sight,
and sound prompts), and social or psychological (social environment) aspects of the job.
4. Conduct the on-site assessment. The employment specialist and the individual with a disability
arrive at the scheduled time at the targeted business. The co-workers, with the assistance of the
employment specialist, teach the individual the tasks and sequences. This instruction includes
the company’s typical (natural) training program augmented by a variety of prompts and
demonstrations. The individual performs the job as it is demonstrated. The employment
specialist records his/her observations, while answering the questions,
 What is happening?
 Is the teaching method effective?
 Are prompts being used? (How many, how often, what types?)
 What supports are available to help perform of the work?
 Is the surrounding environment (presence of co-workers, lighting, smells, noises, supervision
etc.) a distraction or a potential support?
The number of questions depends on the unique circumstances of the individual, the work, and
the work site.
5. Evaluate your data. Review the observation information with the individual, employer, family,
advocates etc. Ask the individual with the disability: How do you feel about the job, the work
place, and the other people in the workplace? The person with the disability must choose the
job before any other placement activity can take place. Once a job and its tasks are accepted,
the assessment data serves as the basis for directed job development and placement.
The successful situational assessment requires us to fit the job to the individual, always remembering
what is possible.
An Example
Situational assessments were an effective tool in each of the MREI demonstration sites. The assessment
has been particularly valuable in the Bitterroot Educational Cooperative site, which serves rural schools
in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana. The four students at this MREI site, Kris, Jillian, Troy, and
Chris, had little or no work experience. The primary source of information about jobs in their small
communities was “word of mouth.” The traditional model of finding the job, then fitting the student to
the job, met with mixed success. Information about employers and potential employment was not
readily available and existing information suggested a scarcity of jobs.
The Bitterroot Cooperative site staff and local school representatives took advantage of MREI’s training
to learn and implement situational assessments. MREI also offered a substantial amount of technical
assistance and the ongoing consulting reinforced the situational assessment’s goal of fitting the job to
the student.
The site and school staff spent many hours in the field with students using the assessment guidelines
and recording their observations. Staff recorded data that reflected the needs of the selected employer.
They then evaluated these data using the questions in Step Four. Each staff member understood the
need for following the Five Step guidelines and keeping the wishes of the student as the desired
outcome. It was stressed that each student served should have the situational assessment as a specific
vocational activity in their Individual Educational Plans (IEP)—the IEP is the primary educational plan for
students with special needs.
Conducting situational assessments for the selected students at the Bitterroot Site will be an ongoing
activity. This provides opportunities for each to get accurate information and hands-on experience
about their communities and the world of work available to them. Situational assessments continue to
be an empowering activity for community exploration. These four students are direct beneficiaries of
situational assessments. Each has explored many vocational options that will connect them to their
communities.
Summary
A situational assessment is only one tool for building greater employment capacity in our rural
communities. The information gathered in an assessment can be applied to a number of steps in getting
a job. Assessment data is critical in addressing individual work preferences, endurance, communication
skills, mobility, and innate capacity to acquire new information on the job site. The information collected
from continuing assessments in our demonstration sites will be further evaluated with each individual
participant. Jillian, Chris, Troy, and Kris are learning first hand that each of their rural communities can
support their dreams!
Knocking on Opportunity’s Door: Building Capacity by Maximizing
Opportunities
By Roger Shelley, Organizational Consultant, The Rural Institute
IN RURAL COMMUNITIES, EMPLOYMENT CONSULTANTS can’t wait for Opportunity to come knocking on
their doors; they have to knock on their neighbors’ doors and see if Opportunity is living there. The
consultant’s ability to increase the employment capacity of the community members, employers, and
the people whom they serve depends on finding employment opportunities in unlikely places. When the
consultant can find and take advantage of these opportunities, everyone benefits.
During the past several years of working and living in rural communities (and in endless discussions
concerning the employment of the people who are residents), I’ve noticed two keys to new
opportunities—community building and trust. Both are central to our work. Community building directly
affects the success of people with disabilities who are entering the workforce, and without trust and
community partnerships, our jobs are pretty darned untenable, if not impossible. Employment
consultants living in rural America can build community and trust by following these simple suggestions.
Get Connected/Stay Connected
How can you be effective if you don’t know anybody? The importance of community contact and
involvement can never be emphasized enough. Giving your time and resources to your community
extends your network and builds a platform for relationships. Many of my fellow employment
consultants are members and leaders of city councils, economic development committees, Kiwanis,
Lions, Rotary, Elks, various church groups, recreational teams, chambers of commerce, and county
planning and zoning committees. Did they have any problems developing employment and selfemployment opportunities for the people that they serve? I don’t think so! Even though I no longer
work exclusively in Red Lodge, Montana (where I live), I still take every opportunity to do high-profile
civic service-type activities. Force of habit, I guess. Not too long ago, an old partner of mine and I
gathered a crew together to refurbish the exterior of a historic building on main street. Last year it was
fund raising for the new boys and girls club, including entering a tricycle race which, to my
disappointment, I did not win!
Take the time to contribute to the community. Join a community club, service organization, sports
league, or church group. Get yourself elected to office! Volunteer to lead community projects.
Contribute to community initiatives. The jobs that we do depend on our connections. That is
relationship marketing. It is up to you to build those relationships, so why not do it in a way that is
interesting to you and productive for the community?
Facilitate Choice for Everyone
Choice is a key concept for the people we serve. Success in employment is based on it. Choice is the
cornerstone of empowerment and learning. And choice must be offered to everyone in the rural
community. The people we serve must have choice, as do the employers in the community, parents,
funding agency personnel, and supportive community members. Person-centered approaches and
current teaming methods help gather information and facilitate choice for many people with disabilities
and their support groups. Contributing members of these groups have been parents, Vocational
Rehabilitation counselors, various staff members, employers, and supervisors. Each has been
instrumental in the choices and empowerment of the employment seeker. Each chose to contribute
information, ideas, and support to further the employment and life of the focal person.
Situational assessments or paid work trials may facilitate choice for the employer, especially if the
employment seeker has no work history. Offer the employer more than a person; offer the employer
and the employee experiential choice in an atmosphere of shared worth. A variety of paid experiences
let the job seeker test work situations and make a more informed choice while building work
experience, employer referrals, and a functional resume. For the prospective employer, the experience
offers an opportunity to get to know the person in an atmosphere where the training and
accommodation of a person who has genuine interest in doing his work is the most immediate priority,
not production goals. In most cases, paid work trials offer the employer the chance to make an informed
hiring choice, and brings him/her into the support team to ensure the employee’s success.
Don’t Be in a Hurry, Be Effective
Being in a hurry to promote and accomplish objectives that may be viewed as self-serving in a rural
community, is generally an excellent way to find all of the reasons why it can’t be done. It takes time to
promote community partnerships and shared responsibility when your goal is to successfully employ
citizens with disabilities. Partnerships in rural communities are created when trust and success for all is
established. Get to know your customers over time, understand and accommodate their support
groups, and work with their existing community connections. In a rural community, support systems
may already be in place that will facilitate employment success, making it unnecessary for the
employment consultant to gather another support structure around the person.
Relationship marketing and promotion built upon the success of previous employment seekers, enable
the employment consultant to use more innovative approaches in job development. Trust develops as
people with disabilities become successful employees in a variety of community jobs. As more and more
people go to work, their worth as employees becomes apparent to business owners and operators. The
image of people with disabilities is typically transformed from public ward to fully functional,
contributing member of the community. Job carving and creation, and limited partnerships in existing
businesses become a typical means of employment as the worth of the person with a disability is
established in the rural environment.
Building trust in a community requires commitment and constancy from the employment consultant
over time. Facilitating choice and responding to changing needs of both the employment seeker and
employers are always priorities and cornerstones of excellent customer service. How do you react if the
employment seeker wants to change jobs? How do you react to changes in the workplace? People are
watching you. Better get it right!
Develop and Use All Organizational Contacts
Do you really have to do all of this on your own? Not if you are good at using all of your existing
resources. Enlist other staff members; use their existing networks and connections. If they will not do
direct job placement, then ask for a referral to a specific employer. Anybody ever gather information
concerning fellow staff members’ friends or associates who are business owners or operators? During a
staff meeting, explain what you want and see if you can get everybody to list the employers and
business people that they know. The members of the board of directors for your organization are very
often high-profile people in your community. Can you enlist them to provide some referrals or ideas for
employment opportunities?
Ever considered employment development or opportunity development in businesses where you are a
good customer? Now there’s an excellent place to start! Many of the best and most successful
employment placements have come from businesses where I was a customer. As a customer you have a
unique relationship with the employer and the business—customer satisfaction!
Always DO What You Say You’re Going to Do
This is the bottom line! Trust and partnerships are based upon your commitment to this rule. As a
community representative for people with disabilities, you are continually in the spotlight. Modeling for
other community members and employers may be the most important aspect of a consultant’s job. You
must be competent before the community will accept that people with disabilities are competent.
Deliver on your promises. Define the expectations of your customers and fulfil or exceed them. Do not
assume any outcome because you wish it to be. Plan and gather teams that guarantee success. Be
flexible enough to do what it takes!
The Politics of Person-Centered Planning
By John O’Brien and Connie Lyle O’Brien
Responsive Systems Associates, and the Center on Human Policy, Syracuse University for The Research
and Training Center on Community Living
A TEAM OF REGIONAL ADMINISTRATORS recently met an unexpected conflict with their largest service
provider around a pilot project to bring self-determination to some of the people on their waiting list.
With that provider’s involvement and agreement, the region adopted person-centered planning as its
vehicle for determining the service requirements of project participants. At the point of implementation,
significant conflict arose around who would facilitate the person-centered planning process. System
managers advocate that project participants choose from among a group of trained facilitators external
to any service. Provider managers oppose this, arguing that their staff are experienced and capable in
the techniques of person-centered planning and that participant’s choice should not be limited
arbitrarily, especially since a number of parents of people on the waiting list had already expressed
interest in the provider’s services. Because the provider agency has a strong constituency built on its
tradition of local service, system managers lack the power to control the issue despite their formal
authority as service purchasers. Because system managers notice that all of the provider’s personcentered plans call for one or another of the services the agency already provides, most of which are
typical congregate programs, they are unwilling to assign the provider responsibility for defining selfdetermination by implementing the process. Desiring to rise above the conflict, system managers
requested assistance in locating an objectively validated standard for defining person-centered planning
which would prove the necessity of independent facilitation.
To read this situation simply, as an example of the sort of conflict of interest that justifies external
service coordination, would miss important lessons about the limits of person-centered planning. The
most basic lesson is this: person-centered planning belongs to the politics of community and disability. It
is not a way to avoid conflict about the investment of public resources; it is one way to creatively seek
principled resolutions of real and enduring conflicts in collaboration with people with disabilities who
want to consider a change in their lives that requires organized support from other people or adaptation
of available service practices or policies.
Person-centered planning offers a forum for dealing with contested questions in the lives of particular
people and in the histories of particular organizations, communities, and states. These conflicts not only
concern public policy, but they are also integral to the politics of everyday life. Put generally, these
related, conflicted questions include:


What social roles and opportunities for economic and civic participation will be open to people
with disabilities? When will people participate as clients of a disability service and when will
they participate in ordinary activities and places, with accommodation and support?
How will the work of adapting to and assisting people with disabilities be divided among. . .
o . . . family members (including extended family),
o
o

. . . community associations (such as churches and civic clubs),
. . . public services and amenities (such as schools and hospitals, and transit systems and
parks),
o . . . actors in the marketplace (such as landlords, employers, co-workers, bankers, and
dentists), and
o . . . specialized disability services?
How will existing investments and practices be regarded when they become inconsistent with
changing appreciation of the rights of people with disabilities and rapidly evolving technologies
for assistance?
These political questions tend to hide in the background of person-centered planning efforts. Often they
hide behind two principles of practice: “We are making change one person at a time” and “We listen to
the person and honor the person’s choices.” These slogans describe the discipline of person-centered
planning and are good and helpful as far as they go. They become unhelpful when they obscure the
powerful effects that personal and organizational positions on political questions have on the process of
person-centered planning.
Focusing on one person at a time makes it possible to diversify opportunities by following different
individual interests into distinct sectors of community life and allows learning about how to personalize
the assistance required to fit individual circumstances. However, it can become an excuse for avoiding
the administrative work necessary to make service system resources flexible and responsive to
individual differences.
Listening is an engaged process, not a matter of impersonally recording answers to questions like “What
matters most in the way you live?” One’s stand on political issues inevitably governs one’s listening and
problem solving. Listeners committed to shaping local workplaces to adapt to the needs of workers with
disabilities will hear people’s desire to find a job; listeners committed to providing a sheltered
alternative to workplace demands will hear people’s desire for improvements within congregate
environments. Problem-solvers who believe that services exist to take the burden of care off as many
families and community settings as funds allow will recognize and organize very different resources than
problem-solvers who see family and community members as making an irreplaceable contribution to
people’s quality of life. Listeners from organizations committed to going out of the business of providing
group living in favor of supporting people’s lives in their own homes will hear that more people want
their own places; listeners from organizations that want to offer a range of group and semi-independent
alternatives will hear more desire for transfers within that range.
The interactive nature of listening makes the politics of community and disability inescapable, and
consciousness of the effects of one’s own positions essential. Indeed, reflection on what possibilities
people choose to explore in one’s presence can sharpen consciousness of the position one lives in. If
most all the people one plans with seem quite happy in their group homes, this suggests a definite
position on the roles and opportunities that should be available to people with disabilities.
When a listener who believes that people with disabilities belong in typical workplaces meets a person
who believes that they or their family members are well served in a sheltered setting, a political issue
appropriately enters the process. This conflict can energize inquiry, understanding, and creative action
on whatever areas of agreement may emerge, but only if the existence of the conflict and its stakes are
openly acknowledged and explored. There is no excuse for dishonoring people by leaving this conflict
unspoken, though it can best find voice in respectful and civil tones. There is no objective position above
the issue from which to listen, though the disciplines of suspending automatic reactions to difference,
balancing inquiry about others’ perceptions and beliefs with advocacy for one’s own, and searching for
possibilities for shared commitment are fundamental to creating the shared space necessary for
effective work.
We think it good practice to orient the person-centered planning process by making clear what
resources are on the table as people begin. A simple framework can help clarify the space in which
person-centered planning happens by allowing participants to explicitly note the limitations on the
process arising from the person’s access to social resources and service resources.
Social resources include family members committed to their understanding of the person’s well being,
allies and friends who have chosen to make the person part of their own lives, memberships the person
can claim, networks of contacts, information, and influence available to the person and those around
the person, and the person’s consequent wealth. Social resources can be more or less extensive, more
or less diverse, and more or less aligned and organized for action. Service resources include available
public funds, the capacity of service agencies to personalize assistance to people in community settings,
and the interest of agencies and their staff in learning new ways to work and organize themselves in
partnership with the people they plan with. Service resources can be more or less sufficient to the task,
more or less flexible, and exhibit higher or lower levels of commitment and urgency.
Person-centered planning will be weak when there are no explicit, creative, and sustained effort to
increase both social resources, by supporting the person to recruit new people and try new roles, and
service resources, by challenging agency and system to higher levels of personalization and flexibility. Of
course, social prejudice and agency or system inertia can defeat such efforts. The reason for personcentered planning is to assure that more and more people encourage one another to try for significant
change and sustain one another to keep on working despite defeat.
People who are working for real change will find themselves in the midst of political conflict. Their civic
action will produce the single most reliable indicator that person-centered planning is really happening
in a service system: agency and system administrators will find themselves sweating as they deal with
the uncertainties and anxieties and conflicts of fitting their organizational efforts better to the lives of
the people they serve.
John O’Brien and Connie Lyle O’Brien operate Responsive System Associates in Lithonia, Georgia and
have a subcontract with the Center on Human Policy, Syracuse University for The Research and Training
Center on Community Living
Typical, Generic, In Vivo, In Situ, Granola, Voodoo, Normal, Informal,
(a.k.a. Natural) Supports
By Cary Griffin, Director of Training, The Rural Institute
EVERY SO OFTEN a concept creeps into the rehabilitation psyche and fundamentally changes the way we
forever view our world. The concept of natural supports holds great promise to those of us who provide
work site training and support to people in jobs and who thus understand how being an outsider feels.
Indeed, anyone recalling their first day in any unfamiliar setting or job knows the discomfort and anxiety
associated with being new or different. Correctly facilitated, natural supports can minimize the anxiety
and problems commonly associated with assimilation into new environments.
The implementation of natural supports involves the identification and subsequent use of typical
training, assistance, socializing, and supervision as support tactics. This is much more difficult and time
consuming than simply analyzing the capacity of the work site for such opportunities. However, once the
change in thinking was proffered—illuminating such incredible potential for consumer success,
community integration, and reduced expenditures—the momentum of the quick-fix bandwagon became
difficult to control. Soon after professionals and others began reading the new literature on natural
supports, employment specialists demanded specific training, parents expected an end to stigma, and
administrators conjured visions of captured investment capital. Some rehabilitation funders soon put
severe restrictions on job coaching allowances and reimbursements by invoking natural supports
without bothering to understand the process of work site inclusion.
This circumstance conjures up the historical concept of the “Revolution of Rising Expectations.” Briefly,
this theory holds that revolutions occur only when things are getting better, not when they are getting
worse. Periods of economic or political change and uncertainty lead citizens to hoard what they possess,
to look toward old or comfortable ways of behavior, or to maintain the status quo. When people are
shown the promise of a new day, however, the specter of not getting one’s share and the need for rapid
gratification also comes into play. Certainly former Soviet Premiere Gorbachev now realizes that once
they were promised democracy and free market competition, the people of Russia, predictably,
demanded jobs, bread, and an end to bureaucracy. People poised for change do not tolerate the time it
takes to develop implementation technology and infrastructure. The same can be said as we discuss the
facilitation of natural supports.
Developing natural supports demands the studied approach to job match that includes: 1) the critical
understanding of consumer desire and ability, 2) a keen sense of work site challenge circumvention and
innovation, and, 3) a clear understanding of how corporate cultures either facilitate or poison
acceptance of the individual. We live in a do-it-now society that has flourished based on consumerism.
We want what we want, and we are not willing to wait for it. The advertising industry is richer by 130
billion dollars per annum because of this material thirst. A major cause for the decline of the U.S.
economy in the preceding decade was that American business had for years equated quality with better
marketing, not with better products. The rehabilitation field is making the same mistakes in its posturing
of natural supports. The package is seductive: empowerment, reduced stigma, reduced costs, happy
employers and co-workers. If we implement correctly, we will probably all lose weight as well.
The competence of the field does not live up to the promise of natural supports as yet. Most front line
staff, such as Employment Specialists, turnover too quickly to be trained or to benefit from acquired
personal experience. Management in community rehabilitation has yet to value up-front investment in
community employment development that will yield long-term positive results. The people who first
articulated the concepts of natural supports are certainly not to be blamed. Indeed, we should thank
them for making an unfocused postulate more clear. Rather, our hell-bent, acquisitive, breach-filling
approach must be supported with planful implementation, or we stand to continue the practice of
putting people with disabilities at risk. Natural supports will not cure real human and economic
problems; it is another tactic that moves us farther from the practice of “place and pray,” and closer to
true professionalism in our conduct, fostering the realization of inclusion and cultural diversity.
Not long ago I received a call from a teacher who had attended an in-service training on her high
school’s new transition project. She was clearly excited about using the new forms, but had no concept
of employment or support strategy. She had managed to get an appointment with the personnel
director of a local Fortune 100 company. She asked me what she should say when she got there. I asked
if she had someone in mind for a particular job or was she simply introducing herself and prospecting;
did she know anything about the company? She answered that she just knew there had to be a job
available somewhere in that big building and that by next week she was going to get one for one of her
students.
Eventually she was persuaded to take a more systematic and person-focused approach. Then, she said,
“Oh, by the way, we don’t have any job coaches, so I’m going to have to find some natural supports out
there, too.” Natural supports are not One-Size-Fits-All. One does not simply choose the color that looks
best. Experience in developing natural supports reveals that complex social and organizational forces in
business settings must be respected. Further, it is much easier to utilize natural supports if an inventory
of worker activities is done on-site, over time, prior to placement; if a good job match is written; and, of
course, if the prospective employee has seen the site, and clearly has a desire to work there.
There appear to be at least five phases of natural support development and utilization. The phases
include:
1. Inventory Phase: This stage involves on-site assessment of work-related and off-task
interactions, unwritten and formal rules and roles, supervisory patterns and practices, etc. In
short, this is a study of work processes, visible corporate culture, and the attendant behaviors of
co-workers who are immediately or incidentally in contact with the target job position.
2. Initiation Phase: The point when an individual enters the job and begins to interact with other
workers (probably with Employment Specialist or mentor facilitation). Typical interactions occur
regarding work instructions, assisting another co-worker in performing a task, sharing or being
present during lunch or break time discussions and informal rituals. This phase continues the
process of uncovering less visible or less obvious traits of the corporate culture. Co-workers are
often taught how to teach the new worker during this phase.
3. Transfer Phase: The point when the paid facilitator fades for short and long periods, knowing
that the supported employee will get direction and assistance within the workplace. Trust is
built on-site among the co-workers, supervisors, employee, and employment specialist. The
employment specialist realizes an increasingly consultative role to the interacting parties.
4. Contribution Phase: This point is reached once the new employee is valued by immediate coworkers as a vital or essential member of the work culture. This does not mean that the
employee is either the most productive or the highest quality producer. Often, a person’s
contributions, regardless of the presence of disability, are based more upon social competence,
attitude, dress, humor, tenacity. People with disabilities have long been represented as takers
rather than as givers. Supported employment and properly facilitated natural supports can
change that image.
5. Co-Worker Phase: At this point, the employee is no longer viewed as someone earning their
right to be employed. This person may assist in initiating new employees. Certainly, the
commonality of experience with others, at least in the work side of life, diminishes references by
others regarding their disability as an individual descriptor.
The most significant hurdle faced in moving to or through the upper phases is time. Professionals must
have time to analyze support needs and availability. There must be time for consumers, parents, and
employers to explore options and consider career choice. There must be time for work site assimilation.
This does not mean that individuals with disabilities should once again be put on hold while we study
and control employment avenues. Rather, job development and support processes must be
sophisticated enough to reduce job loss and risk. This can be done by learning from the mistakes we
have all already made, improving, and more important, using the job match process, and by
implementing it correctly the first time.
The phases described here are not necessarily developmental in nature. Individuality and environment
will dictate levels of entrance and attainment. Our careful understanding, coupled with a desire to
connect people, may help move individuals, communities, and businesses up to, and whatever is
beyond, Phase Five. It is clear that consumers, families, employers, and others represent tremendous
resources as civil and economic rights are returned. The rehabilitation professional must remember that
while natural supports is a pretty package, some assembly is still required.
"I Want a Job!"
By Meg Hammis,
Training Coordinator, Missoula Developmental Service Corp.
A Montana Consumer Controlled Careers Demonstration Site
IN EARLY FALL1997, I had the pleasure of meeting Lynn at the Missoula Chapter of People First. Lynn sat
quietly during most of the meeting as others discussed their ideas for activities for the upcoming winter.
At last Lynn’s hand went up; she wanted to share something with the group. Lynn was recognized and
given the floor—the whole room intent on what she was about to say. Proudly and firmly Lynn said, “I
want a job!”
November 17, 1997, was my first day as training coordinator with Missoula Developmental Service
Corporation. On that first day, as I walked through a noisy building with people going several directions
pursuing their particular interests of that moment, I spotted Lynn—a friendly and familiar face! Lynn
welcomed me and assured me we would see each other regularly as she spends most of her days in the
workshop.
Cary Griffin and David Hammis were advisors for the Missoula People First Chapter and had also met
Lynn during these meetings. As luck would have it, David and I were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at
Cary’s house. I had been sharing stories of my developing friendship with Lynn, so an invitation was
extended to Lynn also. As Lynn would discover later, this was a turning point in her life.
We began our Thanksgiving day by cooking the feast to be devoured later. I picked up Lynn at one of the
agency group homes and returned to our home. Our daughter was in from Denver and our son,
daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were visiting from Arizona. Our small home didn’t allow for that
size of a crew to get ready quickly. Lynn settled in comfortably with this motley crew and immediately
began entertaining our one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter and our 6-month-old puppy.
Later that day, as people continued to arrive for Thanksgiving dinner, Lynn leaned over to David and
said, “I want a job.” David’s reply to Lynn was that there were going to be many people at dinner and
perhaps she should let everyone know; maybe someone would know of an opening.
Dinner was almost over when Lynn spoke up, “I want a job!” Questions began flying around the table
immediately. Excitement over Lynn’s declaration grew. “What type of job do you want?” “What kinds of
things do you want to do?” Finally, from across the table came the answer Lynn had been dreaming
about, “I think we can do something about that.” Cary was referring to working with the Training
Department at the Rural Institute at The University of Montana. The sparkle in Lynn’s eyes matched the
sparkle in the fine crystal on the table. A job!
During one of the days following our dinner, I was asked to assist in the workshop. I was asked to work
with Lynn, since she and I had developed a recognizable relationship. I was thrilled that Lynn and I could
spend more time together and immediately began making plans for an afternoon adventure. Lynn and I
walked to the bus stop, stepped on, and asked if this bus would take us to the mall. You have to know,
eventually all buses go to the mall. After Mrs. Field’s cookies and some pop, we ventured back to the
bus for another ride. This time we were determined to figure out the bus system on our own. After
being on the bus an hour and laughing a lot, we realized we had no idea where we were going.
Fortunately one of Lynn’s friends had gotten on and told us the proper route to get back.
When it came time to begin work, we faced many obstacles. The Rural Institute is funded by grants and
funding for new staff positions needs to be included in grant application budgets, so there was no
money at that time to hire Lynn. Still determined to find Lynn a position, we decided to begin “visiting”
the Institute’s office. “Visiting” allowed Lynn to identify areas of interest and we could begin developing
a job description and find funding to hire her (since then, funding for Lynn’s position has been secured).
By Lynn’s first day, it was determined that David would be Lynn’s supervisor. He had set up a desk,
bulletin board, and all the basic office supplies. To our surprise, Lynn’s first comment was, “So where’s
my phone!” This would prove to be our the first lesson Lynn taught us.
Not only did we try several different job duties during our early “visits,” we were developing
accommodations for Lynn’s back, legs, and ability to reach. We went through just about every chair
available to find one that was comfortable. After several weeks, we settled on a shorter work day and
changing chairs every half hour or so to give her some relief. We considered building some fixtures that
would reduce the distance Lynn needed to reach to retrieve papers when making packets.
Then came the ever popular obstacle—transportation. How were we going to get Lynn to work? When
presented with this issue, I thought fondly of our trip to the mall and with a little more investigation, I
discovered that there was a bus stop at the end of the street where Lynn lived. It provided a direct route
to the University—no transfers! When I told Lynn that we could ride the bus to work, she was thrilled
and, of course, had to share the story to anyone who would listen of how “I” got us lost!
Additionally, who would work with Lynn as an employment consultant? I had been going with Lynn on
her visits, but my position is to teach other people. So dutifully, I began teaching one of the staff from
Lynn’s home to work with her at the Rural Institute.
Over the next several weeks there were additional problems. There were days that Lynn didn’t want to
go to work, days where everyone was running late and she had to be driven to work, and days when she
was sick. But persistence prevailed. We continued to make adjustments and problem solve each time an
obstacle appeared.
Finally a true breakthrough! As we (staff) sat making our notes of the day’s activities, Lynn told us that
she didn’t want us at “her job.” She wanted to work with her co-workers: David, Nancy, Diana, Mike,
and “the big boss.” We’d never considered this option. So, we went back to the drawing board.
David and Nancy agreed to work with Lynn when she came in, but Lynn still wanted to ride the bus. As
we sat and discussed options for the bus and how staff would be able to ride with her yet not work with
her, Lynn simply said, “I can ride the bus.” Yes, in fact that was another lesson for us. Why did we need
to be on the bus with her? We set up a system where Lynn would walk to the bus with us and we would
help her board. As Lynn was too short to see out the windows to know when she arrived at her
destination, we informed the bus drivers where she would be getting on and off. David and Nancy
agreed to meet her at the bus stop on the other end and assist her getting off the bus. Until we were
sure that the system was working well and Lynn felt comfortable riding alone, we also informed the bus
drivers that a staff member would be following the bus. Should any problems arise, they could pull over
and we would be able to assist. It’s probably no surprise to you that to date there has never been a
problem.
Lynn was doing great and really enjoyed working with her co-workers, but there were several days when
her supervisor David had to travel. Stepping up to the plate with enthusiasm was Nancy. Nancy and Lynn
began developing their own system of getting things done. Just as we had learned from what Lynn was
telling us, Nancy was picking up quickly on Lynn’s interests. First they developed a wish list together: a
computer, a telephone, water cooler, pink chair that felt good, etc. . . .
During one of the weeks when David was traveling, Nancy realized that there was a full staff meeting for
the Rural Institute and Lynn probably didn’t know. She called me immediately to inform me that it was
that afternoon and could I get Lynn there in time. When Lynn arrived and saw all of the wonderful pot
luck goodies that accompanied this meeting, she told me to “come back later.” In the following weeks it
became clear that Lynn made many new friends that day. The relationships Lynn developed from this
meeting are growing stronger. People from throughout the organization are making it a point to stop by
on the days that she works, just to say “Hi.”
This meeting was the first time Lynn had met Timm Vogelsberg, Executive Director of the Rural Institute.
He was curious as to who this young woman was. Timm asked David and Lynn to his office to discuss an
upcoming meeting. During their conversation Timm asked, “What do you do here?” Lynn replied, “I
work here.” Timm was pleased with Lynn’s ability to express herself and invited her to take part in the
federal site evaluation of the Institute this past March. Lynn was thrilled, particularly when she found
out that she would be paid $25 for her time! After this meeting, and now knowing where Timm’s office
is, Lynn stops by regularly to “keep in touch.”
Lynn and Nancy continue to work on their wish list and to date Nancy has been able to get a telephone
(and has it connected) and a computer. Don’t put it past her to find that water cooler someday! As most
of you know, when you have a telephone, it becomes clear that you also need a Rolodex. Nancy and
Lynn sat down one morning and wrote out cards for all the people Lynn knows with their telephone
numbers and put them in a Rolodex. During her work day, Lynn will take a break and call one of her
friends just to chat.
With each visit Lynn gets another list of the things to be accomplished during that day. I’ve seen a
couple of these lists and they can be very extensive. But I understand the two of them are quite a team
and the list never goes unfinished—particularly the photocopying! As Lynn passes through the hallways
of the Rural Institute, you will hear, “Lynn! Can you make me 50 copies of this?” “Lynn! I need 20 copies
of this by the end of the day. Can you do that for me?” “Lynn!” “Lynn!” “Lynn!” So just how did they get
everything done before Lynn got there?
“Visits” continued while Lynn applied to Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) for Community Based Work
Experience money. Lynn will receive a pay check! Along with wages, VR will be paying for an evaluation
for a proper chair and purchasing the chair for her use. Not to stop there, VR has also set up an account
for Lynn to buy some new work cloths! Time to dress for success!
Another avenue we’re exploring is using a PASS (Plan for Achieving Self Support), a Social Security Work
Incentive. We are looking at the buying a paper folding machine and (to our surprise) a touch screen for
the computer to match Lynn’s interests with the tasks that need to be completed on a regular basis.
About a week ago Nancy set up a training evaluation data entry screen on the computer. Nancy had
Lynn doing the data entry on the computer. Though she was a bit slower than most folks because she
had never used a mouse, Lynn was relatively accurate and enjoyed working on the computer. There was
some trouble with the coordination between the mouse and the computer, but this could easily be
solved with the use of a touch screen.
Today Lynn is attending a department retreat meeting with all her co-workers at the “big boss’s” house.
I’m sure that our lessons have only just begun and that Lynn has more to teach us all. So what did we
learn from participating in the Montana Consumer Controlled Careers Initiative? How to listen and how
to let go!
Transition in the Bitterroot Valley
By Wendy Holmes, Transition Project Coordinator
Bitterroot Valley Education Cooperative
A Montana Rural Employment Initiative Demonstration Site
THE BITTERROOT VALLEY EDUCATION COOPERATIVE is one of four sites participating in the first year of
the Montana Rural Employment Initiative (MREI). The Cooperative provides related services, such as
speech and occupational therapy services, to students with disabilities in six school districts located in
rural Ravalli County in western Montana. Each of the member districts is working to improve school-towork transition outcomes for students with disabilities. Most of the high schools have programs to help
students identify and participate in employment options as a component of their course work. However,
creating employment options, supports and skills for students with severe disabilities in this rural area
presents challenges to the teaching staff, families, and students alike. In response to this need, the
project with the Cooperative focuses on enhancing the skills and abilities of schools to develop
employment options for students with severe disabilities as a component of their transition plans.
Three school districts are participating in the project, Stevensville, Victor and Darby. A team of special
education teachers and para-professionals from each district identified at least one high school student
who wanted to develop opportunities to gain work experience or paid employment while in school.
Ultimately four students were identified. Two of the students have previous experience with the world
of work, either through a work internship for credit or informal summer work. The remaining two
students have very limited experience with the idea or possibilities of the work world.
The teaching staff attended workshops during the spring of 1998 to prepare them with skills for their
roles as job developers and employment consultants during the summer. Workshop topics included:
techniques for job development, job coaching, job carving, and creating supports for persons at the
place of employment. Summer was identified as the time to concentrate on developing work
opportunities for the students. Unfortunately, as is often the case with a school year calendar, most of
the teachers and para-professionals who participated in the training were not available over the
summer months to work with the students. Consequently, late in the school year two para-professionals
were trained to coordinate job services for the students during the summer and early fall. Only three of
the four students received services over the summer. They live in Stevensville and Darby and required a
diverse approach to their programs.
C.H. is a student who has autistic-like characteristics due to a neurological condition diagnosed after
birth. He is now 17 years old and has been completing informal jobs at school with support through the
resource room curriculum. He is essentially non-verbal and extremely limited in his practical
communication with school staff and others in his environment. He is unable to write, use a
communication board, or other augmentative communication devices. He does use Facilitated
Communication techniques, but only with his mother and a family friend. Additionally, C.H. is often
uncomfortable in different environments and sometimes attempts to leave or indicates his discomfort
with loud noises and disruptive behavior.
With the exception of his school jobs, C.H. and his family had not seriously considered employment as
an option after graduation. To begin the process, C.H.’s employment interests and skills were identified
through a series of meetings using a person-centered planning approach. Through Facilitated
Communication at the meetings, C.H. indicated that he wanted to work at a job where he could help
other people. The team agreed that a reasonable first step would be to set up a series of job shadowing
sites for C.H. over the summer to give him more experience in the world of work outside of school.
When potential employment sites in the small town were mentioned, C.H. would indicate his willingness
to consider a visit to that business. Plans were developed to establish a minimum of six job shadowing
sites for C.H. to visit for up to two hours each to observe the work being done. The job coordinator
arranges the visits with the employers, accompanies C.H. on the visits and gathers information from him
about his observations and preferences. This information will guide the school team in further job and
curriculum development early in the 1998-99 school year.
T.H. is a 17-year-old student with developmental delays. Previously, he had a summer job moving
irrigation pipes with his family. This past school year he learned word processing skills and enjoys using
the computer. His resource room teacher determined he needs the support of spelling and grammar
software to realistically use his word processing skills for employment. T.H. and his family are interested
in identifying employment that draws upon his new computer skills or skills he can continue to use after
graduation. His job coordinator is identifying several job sites for potential part-time employment.
Additionally, she will provide job coaching and train fellow employees to offer natural supports as
needed.
J.H. is 16 years old and uses a power wheelchair for mobility. She has very limited physical movement
and voluntary speech. Additionally, she has medical needs that require access to a nurse or trained
family members at all times. This past spring she received a new communication system that includes a
lap top computer, software, and head laser pointer. When J.H. is proficient with this system, it will be
the first time she is fully able to communicate with others at school and home. Of the three students,
J.H. has the least experience with the idea of work. In her planning meetings, she indicated an interest in
working with children or computers. Her summer program will include job shadowing visits to
employers both within her interest areas and in new employment fields. Her coordinator will help her
identify the work being done at each site and assess her interest in the various jobs. The job shadowing
will be completed during two-hour blocks when the school nurse is available at the school. Throughout
the summer, J.H. will be using her new communication system to explore the world of work with the
support of the job coordinator and speech therapist.
All of these efforts will enhance not only the transition plans of the individual students but also give the
schools guided experience in developing successful job experiences for students with special needs.
A Self-Employed Man
By Judy Porter, Job Coach, Achievements, Inc.
A Montana Career Design Initiative Demonstration Site
HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF NO ONE LISTENED to your ideas? What if you never had a chance to earn a
living doing something you enjoyed? How would you feel if others made your decisions for you?
These are some of the questions Jeff might have pondered last year—but not this year. This year Jeff is a
self-employed man, making plans to expand his business, and making decisions on what products to
offer his customers.
The big change in Jeff’s life started in August of 1997. I was attending a training session in Utah; while
visiting with other people attending the session who were using supported employment as a tool to help
people disabilities achieve their employment goals, one person mentioned that Vocational
Rehabilitation (VR) had purchased a Coke machine for one of the people with whom she worked. Click!
The light came on. One of my favorite people, Jeff, had told me he wanted to be a “Coke man.” When he
told me this, I must have been listening with only a small part of my brain, because I couldn’t figure out
how a person with limited vocabulary, no drivers license, a short attention span, and no counting or
reading skills could be a Coke delivery man. A COKE MACHINE! Yes, that could be the answer for Jeff.
Back home, the cold gray light of reality dawned. A Coke machine costs money, no matter how
wonderful a person you are or how much you deserve to have your life’s dream come true. I checked
with a few people, but to no avail. Jeff didn’t qualify for a PASS (Plan for Achieving Self Support—a Social
Security Work Incentive). The VR office in our area was hiring new staff and wasn’t able to help. Jeff’s
parents could not afford to underwrite the purchase of a machine. However, Achievements does have
an ace in the hole. Our board of directors is a caring and nurturing group of people. I drew up a proposal
for them and they agreed to finance Jeff’s purchase of a used machine to be installed at our agency. Jeff
was going to get his Coke machine!
As the big day approached, Jeff’s excitement grew. A thousand dollars is a lot of money for a small nonprofit organization to risk, and a lot of money for Jeff to pay back. What if Jeff decided that he didn’t
want anyone buying from HIS machine? What if he really didn’t want to work after all? What if I had to
take care of that darn machine for the rest of my life? What if, what if—STOP! What if no one ever gave
Jeff a chance? Now that is a really disturbing thought.
The Coke machine arrived. Jeff had tears in his eyes as he realized that his dream of being a Coke man
was really happening.
That was in November of 1997. Jeff has no problem staying on task when he’s working on his business.
He does a market survey about once a week—he asks his customers at Achievements if there is any
other kind of soda they would like him to stock. He does inventory control, letting me know when stock
is getting short. Counting money is one of his favorite activities (He has a sheet with four circles on it. By
placing a quarter on each circle, he is able to make one dollar stacks). He happily makes the payments
on his Coke machine to our business manager.
Jeff is now a contributing business owner in the Libby community. Jeff knows this, and that’s the
difference in his life.
Entrepreneurial Skills Building
By Kristi Wetsch, Literacy Program Manager, Career Transitions
A Montana Rural Employment Initiative Demonstration Site
THE GOAL OF THE ENTREPRENEUR CLASS at Career Transitions in Bozeman and the Montana Rural
Employment Initiative (MREI) was to help people write workable business plans in a nurturing
environment.
Members of SCORE (Senior Core of Retired Executives) from the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce took
turns teaching classes in their own areas of expertise. For example, a banker taught the financial
management class. We also hired a special education teacher to work as an assistant teacher to help the
participants write their business plans and budgets and help the SCORE instructors.
The class was a diverse group from the rural areas around Bozeman. Half of the class was eligible for
Vocational Rehabilitation services and many were interested in creating PASS Plans to purchase items
for their businesses. Their business ideas included teaching computer programs, becoming an
electrician, providing typing services, designing Web pages, becoming travel guides, cleaning big
equipment with environmentally-friendly products, becoming a legal nurse aide, and opening a mobile
knife sharpening business.
One of the most interesting people in this class was a 45-year-old man with developmental disabilities
who was interested in starting his own lawn care and snow removal service. His employment history
was full of jobs that he either quit or was fired from because he lacked of motivation or didn’t get along
with co-workers. He was labeled by others as antisocial, lacking self-esteem, and having personal
hygiene problems. The assistant teacher worked closely with this man, taking notes during class and
getting his ideas on paper.
The class accepted him and treated him with the same respect they gave one another. Because of the
class’s acceptance, he demonstrated incredible growth. He visited with his classmates and shared stories
and pictures about his family (which he was very private about before the class). He asked questions in
class. In addition, this student found a job on his own, doing work he enjoys. He now gets along with his
co-workers and is doing a good job.
Although the main focus and goal of this program was to teach the students how small businesses work
and how to get the businesses started, it was quite apparent that more was learned. Another special
needs student gained some much needed knowledge to achieve his goals, but he also became an active
participant in class and at the job site. This opportunity allowed him to grow, achieve higher self-esteem,
and the confidence to become a more valuable employee and potential new business owner.
A third student in the class was a 17-year-old high school student who works for his family business
sharpening knives during the day and attends an alternative high school in the evenings. His business
plan was to become a partner in the family business by purchasing a small truck and making the
sharpening service mobile. He would sharpen the knives on site so the customer wouldn’t have to give
up their knives for a few days. The student was working hard on this project and his potential for success
is evident. He also became more social and vocal in the class. The assistant teacher worked with him on
writing his business plan.
Small business ownership is a growing option for people with severe disabilities. Mentorship from
business owners, partnerships with Vocational Rehabilitation and other employment services such as
Jobs Training Partnership Act, use of Social Security Work Incentives, high quality support staff training
and technical assistance (like that provided by the Rural Institute), and inventive employment creation
are the elements of success.
Daniel’s Career Plan
By Karen Matovich, Parent, Snowy Mountain Industries
A Montana Consumer Controlled Career Demonstration Site
IN MAY, 1998, MY 17-YEAR-OLD SON DANIEL’S case manager told me that she had made an
appointment to see if Daniel would qualify for a PASS plan (Social Security Work Incentive: Plan for
Achieving Self Support). At the time, I didn’t have a clue what a PASS plan was, but decided to find out
about this wonderful opportunity for Daniel.
Daniel was born in Billings and lived there until he was eight years old, when our family then moved to a
ranch near the small town of Grass Range. He will graduate from high school in 1999 and has been
getting anxious about his future. His father and I were also wondering what would become of Daniel.
Keeping him on the ranch was tempting, but with his impulsive nature, it makes it too dangerous for
him. He is diagnosed with a cognitive delay with ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
Medication and maturity have helped him with his short attention span and mood swings, but he still
has his “bad” days.
Moving to Grass Range has been one of the best things we could have done for Daniel. Just getting him
into a smaller, supportive community has helped him grow into a special person with a wonderful sense
of humor. He has blossomed under the care and teaching of a fantastic resource teacher, Mark Beck.
Daniel has been helping in the school kitchen doing various tasks. This has helped increase his “staying
on task” time tremendously. However, Grass Range is so small and has limited training opportunities, or
so we thought. Enter the planning team for Daniel’s future.
We met at the end of May. Daniel and I; Mark Beck, the resource teacher; Barb Sanford, the case
manager; Anna Lankutis, the Vocational Support/Job Coach; and Dave Hammis, the Organizational
Consultant from the Rural Institute.
I left that meeting feeling confused, scared, overwhelmed, and excited all at the same time. Dave
showed me how the PASS plan worked and why they felt that Daniel needed extra support for his future
job training. I kept wondering if we were reaching for an impossible goal, training Daniel for a possible
job in his future–one that he would like. I wondered where could the training take place and how would
we finance the job coaches. My fears made me want to turn back time and leave Daniel in school
forever.
Our second meeting took place in June. Dave told me how PASS plans helped other people with various
disabilities who were now earning a decent wage and doing something they like to do. The team helped
me realize that Daniel could get job training in Grass Range.
Having someone like Dave lead us through the confusing mess of paperwork, guide and give
suggestions, and empathize with my fears has made this “stepping stone” so much easier. I’ve learned
that we shouldn’t put Daniel in a “slot” that seems easier for us, but help him figure what he wants in
life. After all, isn’t that what we all want for ourselves?
Thanks for listening.
Transition
By Anna Lankutis, Vocational Support, Snowy Mountain Industries
A Montana Consumer Controlled Careers Demonstration Site
LAST YEAR AT SNOWY MOUNTAIN INDUSTRIES David Hammis of the Rural Institute’s Montana
Consumer Controlled Careers project taught us that it is never too early to begin planning a career.
David showed us how to use a PASS plan (Plan for Achieving Self Support) to help a student make the
transition from school to work.
Daniel is a high school student in Grass Range, a small rural community in central Montana (only 153
people live in Grass Range and it is nearly 100 miles to the nearest metropolitan area). This summer
Snowy Mountain Industries in Lewistown (about 30 miles from Grass Range) is exposing Daniel to some
of the opportunities that will be available to him after graduation. He is learning how two of his peers
operate their own business. He will help them at a concession stand that is part of the American Legion
Baseball League. They operate the stand and train interested persons in how to sell menu items,
calculate prices, and make change. This also gives Daniel an opportunity for social interaction and a
chance to watch some great baseball.
When Daniel returns to school in the fall:
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A student peer, will be identified at the beginning of the term and trained as Daniel’s job site
support person.
Daniel will begin work experience at each of three job sites in the Grass Range community.
Daniel will decide which of the types of jobs he prefers, if any. If he prefers none of the existing
jobs, I will find others that are interesting to him.
By the time Daniel’s year with Snowy Mountain Industries has ended, we hope to have a clear
idea of what type of work/living setting Daniel wants when he makes his transition from school
to work. As for anyone, transition can be rife with possibilities. Our goal is to help Daniel begin
his adult career experience with a bit of security and excitement about the direction he has
chosen.
“Make It So”
By Pat Lockwood, Executive Director, Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow
A Montana Rural Employment Initiative Demonstration Site
JEAN LUC PICARD, CAPTAIN of the starship Enterprise, gets things done by saying “make it so.” Of
course, on television, things occur magically. A concept is born, then implemented. On Star Trek it’s so
logical and easy.
Almost a year ago we embarked on our mission—to boldly go where few have gone before—to
implement an employment program based on the Independent Living model of service provision. This
employment program would be different from many other employment programs because its focus
would not be on fixing people with disabilities. Our focus would be on changing local communities and
service delivery systems in order to expand employment opportunities for our customers.
Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow (LIFTT) provides services in 17 southeastern Montana
counties. It’s over 250 miles from our main office to one of our outreach offices. Only one town within
our 17 counties has a population greater than 8,000 people. We are talking about some of the most
rural of the rural counties in America. When LIFTT developed the proposal, we felt geographic distance
and ruralness would be the obstacles we would face. I have to admit that the problems we have
encountered have not been the ones we anticipated.
What we discovered was that the first obstacle we faced was not geographic distance but philosophical
distance. Many of the “employment programs” in the region did not share our vision for people with
disabilities. Leaders in these programs believed that many of our customers were too severely disabled
to even work in a sheltered workshop, so how could we find them jobs in the community? How could
we do this without taking away the funding mechanisms that supported other segregated programs and
employment services (i.e., their piece of the funding pie)? We naively felt that if we could get people
jobs, people would support the program. Instead we found there was a reluctance to work with this
project and almost a fear we would succeed. If we did succeed what would be expected of the programs
who did not work with and even excluded the persons with the most significant disabilities from their
employment programs?
Our second obstacle was consumers who refused to be referred for services because of their past
experiences with the system. Some of these people had brought their vocational dreams to local
professionals and had been told their dreams were unrealistic. I am sure those professionals have a
different perspective, but this is the impression some consumers have. Because of this lack of trust,
some of our customers have refused to be referred to anyone but us.
Our third obstacle was the length of time it has taken for a consumer to get the augmentative
communication device she needs to fully complete all of the required parts of her job. She has been
employed since late 1997, and seven months later we are still waiting for her to receive her
augmentative communication device. Her present job duties require her to complete intake interviews.
Although she has great receptive language skills, her expressive skills are limited by aphasia. Once she
obtains her assistive technology she will finally be able to complete all of the essential functions of her
job.
Thus far we have found two people employment and two others will be employed soon. One is a person
with a significant learning disability, fybromyalgia, and other health limitations. This person has moved
out of her family home and is now living independently in the community. Another person, in her late
20s, sustained several strokes and had to give up her position as a registered nurse. She now works 20
hours a week as a case manager.
We have two people who have developed PASS plans to go into self-employment—one with traumatic
brain injury and one with Downs Syndrome. We are also working on a business plan with another
person who has quadriplegia.
Thus we have boldly set forth and gone where other persons have not gone before (at least in
Independent Living in Montana). In spite of the resistance to working with us from older, more
established service providers, people have jobs and are fully participating in their communities. We have
made it so . . . .
Jonathan’s Small Engine Repair
By Carol Dossett, Program Director, Little Bitterroot Services, Inc.
A Montana Consumer Controlled Career Demonstration Site
LITTLE BITTERROOT SERVICES, INC. (LBSI) helps people with disabilities live, work, and recreate in their
communities. LBSI is a small agency serving fewer than 25 people at a time. We receive referrals for
services from all over the state. That is how we got the chance to serve Jonathan.
When we first met Jonathan five years ago he was tall and lanky with longish hair and a shy, friendly
face. He looked in need of some good vocational and social planning. He needed a life and was ready
and willing to do anything we wanted him to do to get this new life on track—he became a model
consumer in our eyes.
Jonathan was able to keep up this model facade for about a month. Then he became belligerent and
staff had to constantly guess what he wanted. When we guessed correctly, all was well; but when we
didn’t, he would tell us in a loud voice and with profane gestures exactly what he wanted. We finally
realized that he was depressed and feeling worthless, possibly as a result of the trauma of witnessing his
little brother’s death, his only sibling. Jonathan was clearly crying out for help.
Once we realized that he was depressed, we immediately made an appointment for him with mental
health professionals. Before he could attend his first therapy session, another tragedy struck Jonathan—
he was injured in a house fire and explosion and rushed to the Seattle Burn Center. Jonathan was
plunged into intensive care followed by lengthy physical rehabilitation. It was in Intensive Care, he told
us later, that his little brother’s voice spoke to him and said, “It is not your time yet.” Jonathan said this
kept him alive during a time when he had no other reason to hang onto life.
Jonathan returned to Little Bitterroot Services a year-and-half later, more deeply depressed and thinner
than we’d ever seen him before. We knew we had our work cut out for us. Jonathan was so unhappy he
could not even say hello to anyone. We entered into a tug of war with him. If Jonathan didn’t do this,
we’d do that. If he’d promise to quit this behavior we’d let something slide. He continued to deteriorate
until it became a life or death situation and we pulled out all the stops. Doctors visits, middle of the
night trips across the state for treatment, and trips to the west coast for operations followed as we tried
to keep him alive and interested in life. Jonathan was telling us he didn’t want us or need us and finally
he told us that he didn’t even LIKE us.
Enter Dave Hammis, the Rural Institute, and the Montana Consumer Controlled Careers project. Dave
and one of our staff sat down with Jonathan and wrote a PASS plan (Plan for Achieving Self Support).
They listened as Jonathan explained that he didn’t want us (or our services) in any way, shape, or form.
He stated that his dream was to work in a shop that repaired lawn mowers (he was fascinated with
them). Jonathan’s Small Engines was born. The PASS plan bought the tools and training that Jonathan
needed to open his own business. He leases space in a repair shop and provides repair and cleaning
support for the larger business. The business owner keeps a commission on all of Jonathan’s work and
Jonathan receives up to $21.00 per hour for his work.
Jonathan has left our services. His PASS plan and business have been such a success that Jonathan has
been able to purchase his dream home—a light, bright, and airy place—a sharp contrast to Jonathan’s
darkest moments.
“He’s Growing a New Tree”
By Debra Shelley, Supported Living Coordinator, Beartooth Industries
A Montana Career Design Initiative Demonstration Site
Imagine . . .
. . . a home of your own;
. . . a job outside the workshop setting;
. . . the ability to sleep in a bedroom without having to close the door to gain privacy from others;
. . . falling asleep on the couch because it was quiet and you felt warm and safe;
. . . taking all the showers you wanted without waiting for schedules;
. . . doing the dishes when you wanted;
. . . making food purchases for only yourself and not having to keep seven other people in mind;
. . . realizing that space, time, and decisions are entirely yours and not shared.
Now imagine waiting twenty years for that to happen. Sadly, Bernie K. did and without realizing until
just recently that these options were available to him.
Bernie moved into his own apartment on May 1, 1998.
I worked with Bernie in a group home for close to ten years. He was very unhappy and I helped him
through years of insecurity, explosive behaviors, violent episodes, and confusion. He secluded himself in
his room most of the time. He couldn’t deal well with activity, noise, “sharing,” and schedules. Each time
he participated in any event, staff could anticipate an emotional episode.
Over a year ago, he and his psychiatrist began working with different medications and through the
process of elimination, found a medication called Zyprexa. We started seeing some changes and noticed
decreased anxiety and episodes, but Bernie still had some difficulties within the group home.
Since Bernie moved into his own place, the changes are overwhelming to many of us who have worked
with him. His smile is constant and catching. He is calm, happy, content, and proud of his life and new
home. He is more attentive, focused, and relaxed. All his struggles in the group home setting were
eliminated with the help of the Zyprexa and his new lifestyle. Bernie has yet to “lose his cool” and deals
with problems that arise in a positive way. I overheard some say, “he’s not turning over a new leaf, he’s
growing a brand new tree!”
A month after this transition, Bernie started a new business. He sells puppets at the Beartooth Nature
Center (BNC). BNC is a non-profit facility that cares for wild animals who have been injured or are too
tame to be returned to the wild. Bernie’s puppets represent the actual animals being cared for and his
business is doing very well. What I find interesting about this is the responsibility he takes in making sure
the inventory is counted, the puppets are labeled and priced, and the tree he displays them on is
stocked and ready each week. He has been featured in our local paper, The Carbon County News, and
during the 4th of July his puppet stand was at a benefit for the Beartooth Nature Center hosted by Jack
Hannah, well known TV personality and Director of the Columbus Zoo. Bernie met Mr. Hannah and had
his picture taken with him. As I took the picture, I couldn't help but marvel. A year ago, I would have
said, “No way! This is too much for him to handle.” Instead I watched with great pleasure as Bernie
politely talked with Mr. Hannah, mingled with a very large crowd, and smiled from ear to ear.
Until I participated in this whole new adventure with Bernie, I truly felt we were successfully moving
ahead and promoting growth within the group homes by increasing personal choices, independence,
and quality of life. As I watched Bernie make this transition, I realized that the group home setting,
especially for long term residents, is really no more than a less restrictive “institutional” setting. Twenty
years is too long to wait for a home of your own. It’s unfair and unrealistic. With the right supports,
imagination, and dedication, everyone can live in their own homes and work or own their own
businesses. Bernie’s story can and should become reality to every single person we serve in our
organizations.