Transcript Slide 1

WHAT MATTERS MOST
Media Landscape
The Media Landscape: Facts
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More than 34,742 stories mentioning disability rights
More than 3,265 mentioning “sheltered workshops”
Positive stories have tripled since 2012
Negative stories peaked between June 2013 (NBC) and February
2014 (EO signed)
– Positive turn around began in the late summer of 2014 with the
influx of editorials from families
– Interview requests from: NBC; Associated Press; NPR; Al-Jazeera
America; Huffington Post Live; New American Foundation; The
Special Education Connection; Mother Jones; Bloomberg
The Media Landscape: 2012 Facts
– 9,709 stories mentioning disability rights
– 677 mentioning “sheltered workshops”
The Media Landscape: 2013 Facts
– 12,010 stories mentioning disability rights
– 1302 mentioning “sheltered workshops”
2013 – NBC Sensationalizes Story
The Media Landscape: 2014 Facts
– 13,062 stories mentioning disability rights
– 1286 mentioning “sheltered workshops”
2014 – Bloomberg Presents Balanced Story
2014 – Bloomberg Presents Balanced Story
2013 – 2014 – Article Endings
NBC, June 2013
Bloomberg, September 2014
2014 – Shift in Tone
Springfield News-Sun
Springfield, Ohio
September 17, 2014
“I’m really not happy
with changing where
he is,” Sue Weldon
said. “He’s 35-yearsold. It would be a
midlife change. He’s
happy. He’s safe and
that’s why I’d like him
to stay.”
The Cap Times
Madison, Wisconsin
September 24, 2014
“Her program has been a
lifesaver. It’s one of the choices
that’s helped us be able to
keep her in our family home.”
“He has always needed 24/7
care, and he always will.”
What we and other parents of individuals with autism want for our children when they grow up is no different
than what parents of normally-developing children want. We want them to be physically well-cared for, with
appropriate food, shelter, clothing and medical care. We want them to be able to maintain the skills for living
and working that they were so painstakingly taught. And we want them to learn whatever new skills might help
them with living, employment and enjoyment.
But let’s not pretend: all of these needs are so much harder to provide for individuals with autism. And, many,
if not most such individuals, will not be able to earn enough to provide for their needs themselves, at least in
our present system.
What is the present system? We oversimplify, but the life of an individual with autism is divided into two parts.
The first is daytime activities; the second is residential. For those who can do some type of work, daytime
activities can include work, most often in a sheltered workshop or with a job coach. Employment outside of a
sheltered workshop is difficult to find and typically requires a parent locating an employer willing to hire an
adult with autism.
For those who cannot work, daytime activities are typically a day habilitation program run by a licensed agency
that offers life skills classes, outings in the community and volunteer work. The burden of finding an
appropriate day habilitation program rests largely on the parents, who rely on agency-sponsored fairs, word-ofmouth and their own investigation.
Residential care for many adults with autism means living at home. For those hours when the adult with autism
is not at work or at a day habilitation program, a caregiver is generally needed at the home. For parents who
work full-time, this is a costly endeavor. Caregivers for disabled adults are difficult to find and require hourly
rates of $15 to $25 per hour. In other cases, it is the parents who provide the at-home care. Even when an
outside caregiver is used, parents must provide care during the time that they are not working. The toll on
parents is tremendous, the stress exhausting.
September 12, 2014
The Arc and Hilltop are both among Livingston County’s top 10
employers. Closing the workshop would be akin to the county
losing a major employer.
For the employees at Hilltop, the work is more than a job. It
provides a sense of community and a means of socializing in an
environment where they feel safe and free from the pressures
of a competitive workforce.
The workshops contribute to the employees’ satisfaction with
jobs, life and their self esteem.
“I want to work. I don’t want to sit all day looking at four walls,”
Heather Bump, an Arc client for 20 years and a self-advocate,
told us earlier this summer. She works in food packaging at the
workshop, an area with more stringent dress and conduct
requirements than employees doing piece work.
The advocates are not opposed to integrating workers, but they
do not want those moves to come at the expense of sheltered
workshops. Closing the workshops, advocates say, is an overly
broad approach that limits the options available to
developmentally disabled individuals.
The advocates, such as the recently-formed family advocacy
group at The Arc of Livingston-Wyoming, want all choices to be
available.
The Arc’s Family Advocacy Committee is mobilizing along with
other like-minded groups across the state, to get their voices
heard.
The goal of the effort is to keep sheltered workshops open for
those who need that level of service, create better employment
support in the community such as pre-employment skills
training, support staff and transportation that meets the needs
of people working in the community; advocate for increased
funding to provide the individualized, community-based services
OPWDD is seeking; and advocate for integrated business
models.
“Everyone should have the
opportunity to feel gratification and a
sense of accomplishment, which this
facility certainly makes possible,” said
Regina Rogers, a client advocate and
donor for the facility. “By giving these
wonderful individuals tasks that they
can perform well, it is truly
heartwarming to see how they
develop pride in their work and
enhanced self-esteem.”
Gazettes
Long Beach, California
October 9, 2014
Jefferson City, Missouri
December 15, 2014
“Our sole purpose is to provide
meaningful employment for the
disabled in the Jefferson City
community,” she said. “We don’t
have to worry about people not
showing up. They put the rest of us
to shame at times because they
love their jobs.”
…
“For most of our workers this is the
best place for them to work,” she
said. “When I hire somebody I want
them to know this could be a
stepping stone and they could move
on to competitive employment.
Some have succeeded and others
come back, and we always want our
folks to know that the door is open
and we don’t want them to fall
through the cracks and not have a
job.”
Dialogue
Opinion: Community jobs preferred for disabled
September 27, 2014
Jo Fessler is an Colerain Township resident.
Ask anyone with a family member who has a developmental disability, and they will tell you their dream is to see their loved one find a meaningful job and, through that
job, to contribute to society.
That dream came true for my son, Tom, more than a dozen years ago. As an employee of a fast food restaurant in North College Hill, his life has been positively impacted
by being part of a team. He has even earned the Employee of the Month award.
Thanks to a new program in Ohio, Employment First, more families have been given a chance to see that same dream come true. Established by Gov. John Kasich in 2012,
it's an effort to ensure that more individuals with developmental disabilities are successfully working in community-based settings. Until just a few years ago, that was an
impossible dream for too many Ohio families.
Every person has abilities, skills and talents that can enrich the community and the lives of people around them. For every Ohioan, working is a vital part of our life
experience, and we should expect the opportunity for meaningful work to be within the reach of everyone, whether or not they have a developmental disability.
Helping more Ohioans with a developmental disability find community-based employment benefits everyone. Those who have a disability gain greater independence,
increased financial security and improved self-esteem. Employers and co-workers are exposed to more diversity and a broader range of capable employees. Our entire
society benefits when all citizens are able to participate and contribute.
Employment First will help more individuals achieve those goals through its focus on community employment as the preferred outcome for individuals with
developmental disabilities.
Employment First is shifting expectations, and that is welcome news. Even if you haven't heard about it, there's a good chance you've seen it in action locally. If you've
eaten pickles from Izzy's restaurants, they were probably packed by Tony, who has been working at Kaiser Pickles for almost 20 years.
If you've ordered a pizza from LaRosa's, you may have talked to Mark, who has worked in the company's call center for close to a decade. Mark has learned to enter
orders with his feet because his arms were amputated when he was very young.
While Ohio is making great progress in creating new job opportunities for those with developmental disabilities, all of our businesses can help the state achieve more by
helping create job opportunities for everyone. OhioEmploymentFirst.Org has many resources that help individuals with developmental disabilities and employers
connect.
Ohioans are now coming to realize that every person can expect that community employment will be the preferred outcome for all working-age adults. Young people
with disabilities are planning for employment options during their school years, and working-age adults can get help matching abilities and interests with workplace
opportunities.
For the more than 90,000 Ohioans with a developmental disability, hope has never been more in reach. Cincinnati, known for its strong communities, is especially well
poised to play a major role in helping the state keep its momentum in finding employment opportunities for those who have autism, Down syndrome and other
intellectual disabilities. Our state – and our communities – will be stronger for it.
Opinion: Disabled workers need more options, not less
September 27, 2014
Last week I attended the Medicaid Home and Community Based Care conference in Washington, D.C., to learn more about changes that will most
certainly transform the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. My fear is that the change will be good for some, but devastating for many
more.
With the Ohio economy in a fragile rebound, it looks increasingly likely that Medicaid rules changes and an activist Department of Justice effort will
eliminate paid work training that allows more than 18,000 Ohioans – most with intellectual and developmental disabilities – to experience the
benefits of work.
Pre-vocational training centers like the ones at Easter Seals TriState are the result of family advocacy efforts to ensure that adults with disabilities
weren't isolated at home, but instead had opportunities to work with their peers at a wage commensurate with their productivity. Today, some
claim that work centers perpetuate the isolation of people with disabilities, and stand in the way of their finding work in the community. With the
Medicaid rules changes announced this year, it appears that over the next five years, states will be required to phase out support for facilities that
exist primarily to provide work opportunities for people with disabilities.
The thought of what this means for the people we serve keeps me up at night. This decision will disparately impact those with the dual barriers of
disability and poverty, who often do not have family and neighbors to provide a network of jobs, social opportunities and transportation assistance,
and who can so easily wind up on the streets.
And there are people like Yolanda, who has worked with us for more than 20 years. She has a network of friends and co-workers, a manageable
commute, and is a leader who helps with agency tours. Nearing retirement age, Yolanda isn't interested in community employment or senior adult
day programs – she likes her job.
Or Paula, who after attending our work center for more than five years gained the confidence to pursue a job in the community and has been
successfully employed for more than a year. What will happen to Paula and Yolanda if options like our work centers go away?
I am unclear how closing a sheltered workshop creates job opportunities in the community for people with disabilities, or benefits the people who
currently work there. With the employment rate of people with intellectual disabilities stuck stubbornly at around 34 percent for more than a
decade, I believe we need to be fighting to expand and preserve employment options – not take one away. Why, at a time when all disadvantaged
workers are struggling in an increasingly competitive job market, would we choose to limit options for one of our society's most difficult-to-employ
populations?
I strongly believe that individuals who want to work in the community should have the supports to succeed in that option. But in states where work
centers have closed, there have not been significant and sustained increases in community employment. Many who used to receive pay in a work
center now attend recreational day programs or perform unpaid volunteer work – or worse, sit home. We believe the people we serve deserve
better.
The jobs of Nathan Cook and thousands of other Cincinnatians hang in the balance amid a national debate over whether $3-an-hour pay is exploitative or invaluable.
He works at the Easter Seals Work Resource Center in Walnut Hills, where intellectually or developmentally disabled workers spend five to six hours a day on jobs such as assembling
medical kits for clinical trials or recycling wood scraps into birdhouses.
Around 450,000 disabled people nationwide, including 18,000 in Ohio and several thousand in the Cincinnati region, have jobs in sheltered workshops like the Easter Seals facility. While
some earn minimum wage, others are paid according to their productivity.
A series of federal decisions – from a U.S. Supreme Court hearing to a U.S. Department of Justice settlement to a Medicaid directive – could mean the end of sheltered workshops here and
throughout the country. Critics say they isolate the developmentally disabled and exploit them to the benefit of the companies that hire them. The National Council on Disability argues that
paying the disabled less than minimum wage is discrimination. A new generation of disabled people, mainstreamed since childhood, and their parents and advocates want them to be
integrated into the larger community as much as possible.
But supporters of sheltered workshops say they provide a valuable alternative for people who would be unlikely to find jobs in the community, especially older people who have worked in
them most of their lives. Most employees in sheltered workshops have their daily needs covered by Social Security, Medicaid and other safety-net programs, and the workshops' advocates
say workers in them don't depend on their wages the way other people do. They worry that closing sheltered workshops will send the disabled into less fulfilling activities like adult daycare.
Cook and Robert Perry have both held jobs in integrated workplaces. Cook, who is 35 and lives with his parents in Newtown, stocked shelves at a dollar store for a time but was eventually
laid off. He's been back at Easter Seals for three years, but has spent a total of 18 years there. His current job is overseeing quality control for the medical-kit assembly. When the boxes
arrive at his station with tubes and bags, he's responsible for making sure the right components are in them, weighing and then signing off on them.
"Working out in the community, you learn more than you do here," says Cook, an avid sports fan who blogs about the Bengals, Reds and University of Cincinnati teams. "But I like working
this job. Whenever I have a problem, they always help me out with my situation."
There are six people in Cook's line, and each performs a task suited to his or her ability. One counts off the correct number of tubes, another puts in the appropriate color-coded lids. Cook's
duties depend on his ability to read and write. If the office had to pay someone minimum wage to assemble the kits, it's likely that all of the different responsibilities would fall to just one
person.
Though Perry has made less than minimum wage in the past, he's making minimum wage now working in material handling at Easter Seals and is eager to return to outside work. He hopes
to get a job sorting recycling materials and eventually would like to work in construction, a field he's taking classes in. With a child due in January, he's eager to make and save money for all
the expenses of parenthood.
"That's my biggest motivation now. That's probably why I take so much time and effort to think things through in my head," says Perry, who lives in Winton Hills. While he's eager to move
into a job in the outside community, he says the sheltered workshop has helped prepare him: "You learn more things here and they teach you more things. They get you ready for a regular
job and I already know the standards, but it doesn't hurt to learn more."
The push to close sheltered workshops stems from a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found segregating the disabled unjustifiably constitutes discrimination and violates the
Americans with Disabilities Act. It accelerated the push toward community-based services and treatment in everything from housing to education to work. Sheltered workshops, some of
which paid workers pennies an hour, gained a reputation as exploitative, dead-end warehouses that stunted the potential of many disabled workers who yearned to do more.
Decisions by federal and state agencies have also encouraged integration, and this year the Department of Justice settled a landmark lawsuit with the state of Rhode Island that will
eventually close all sheltered workshops. Medicaid officials have already released guidelines to integrate housing for the disabled, and they could issue guidelines for workplaces any day.
Many states, including Ohio, are shifting to a policy known as Employment First, which establishes work in the community as the preferred option for the disabled. Managed well, the shift
makes sense, since options for many disabled people have been unnecessarily limited in the past by low expectations.
But as officials and advocates manage the shift, they must keep in mind that economic prospects for the disabled remain stubbornly fragile. Only about a third of disabled people are
employed, compared with nearly three-fourths of the nondisabled population, and a third of the disabled live in poverty. The recent recession hit disabled employees hard, as they
competed with the nondisabled for jobs. In states that have abolished sheltered workshops, some disabled workers have found work in the community, but more have not, and many who
have found jobs work limited hours.
Moving the disabled out of sheltered workshops and into community-based employment is a worthy goal. But even worthy goals often have unintended consequences. Protecting the
rights of disabled workers – including the right to remain in long-held and much-cherished positions in sheltered workshops, if they choose – should remain the top priority for
policymakers and advocates
Create more employment options
Craig Harwood, guest columnist
DECEMBER 13, 2014 | 9:11 AM
The door is going to close on the Options of Linn County sheltered workshop after 40-plus years of serving a real need in our
community.
This program was started by parents of adult children with intellectual and developmental disabilities because of a legitimate need.
As it grew, it was moved under management and operation by the county.
There are not enough words to describe the depth and the breadth of good produced by this single program. It will be sorely missed.
Many of the workers at Options were there because they could not work in an integrated setting, whether because of behavioral
issues, physical limitations, safety concerns or other reasons. Options staff addressed all of these issues and concerns within the
workshop. In the future, these workers will have to compete with minimum wage employees without developmental disabilities.
Many of the current workers at Options will be unemployed.
There is only one question left: what can we do now?
Visit one of the local sheltered workshops like Options and see for yourself how they work. Volunteer at one of the agencies that
advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Demand elected officials change laws that limit employment choices for this community. Write letters to your congressman, the
governor, the Secretary of Labor, the newspaper and others.
Next time you are in a place of business, ask if they employ people with intellectual disabilities. If they say no, ask, “Why not?”
Business owners and managers, find some work to send to a sheltered workshop, or hire an employee with intellectual and
developmental disabilities.
As it has been said, when one door closes, another opens. Although the door at Options is closing, it is now up to all of us to open the
next door; these workers cannot do it alone.
• Craig Harwood lives in Cedar Rapids and is married with three children, his oldest is an intellectually disabled adult working at
Options of Linn County.
Shifting Tone from Opposition
Residential Services
Florida Times-Union
Jacksonville, Florida
October 29, 2014
How big is the need?
A whopping 200 people have already turned in
letters of interest to live in the neighborhood.
“The interest level’s off the chart,” said Jim
Whittaker, president and CEO of The Arc.
According to figures from the Census Bureau,
there are nearly 90,000 adults in Duval County
alone who have intellectual or developmental
disabilities ranging from mental retardation to
autism.
Although many have access to apartments, they
usually have little contact with other
intellectually or developmentally disabled
people.
In contrast, The Arc Village neighborhood will
surround its residents with the support of
caregivers and the friendship of neighbors who
share their challenges.
“This is a new model of housing for the country,”
Whittaker said.
Best Practices
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Don’t wait for an interview to start preparing
Define media-worthy topics
Craft three key messages on these topics
Develop your dream headline before the interview
Your answers are far more important than the questions
Create a guideline for you/your team to follow…
Challenges
On Camera Tips
– Refrain from quoting statistics
– Sit on the front half of the seat
– Don’t eat/drink/chew gum
Interview Checklist
1.
2.
3.
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Confirm the purpose and scope of the story
Confirm the deadline
Control the interview
Review your key messages and keep them handy
Be brief and focus on the positive
Thank the reporter and let us know how it went!
Recap
– To translate issues into personal stories
– To be “for” something
– To broaden your focus to include education, employment,
housing, community and long-term success
– To use our media tools and the What Matters Most Campaign