The Rural Exchange, The Rural Institute: Center for Excellence in Disability Education, Research, and Service, Volume 13, Number 1, 2000 & Volume 12, Number 2, 1999
Note: Some of the projects and activies described in this docucment are no longer active so contacts and project opportunities may no longer be accurate.
Social Security
"Getting Ready" for Social Security's Ticket to Work
Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative
PASS Plans Turn Student Dreams Into Reality
Best Practice: Systematic Instruction
Rural Institute Training Department Receives Self-Employment Funding
Changes in the Training Department/WISER Demonstration Project Funded
Quick & Easy
Supporting Entrepreneurs with Disabilities: Vital Characteristics for Rehabilitation Personnel
"Getting Ready" for Social Security's Ticket to Work
By David Hammis and Nancy Maxson at the Rural Institute
On December 17, 1999, President Clinton signed into law the Ticket to Work and the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (TWWIIA). Disability activists lobbied Congress for more than four years to get approval of this legislation that reduces or eliminates some "disincentives to work" (such as the loss of medical coverage) for Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities. One of the most important parts of this act is the Ticket to Work and Self Sufficiency program, which offers SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) and SSI (Supplemental Security Income) beneficiaries a "ticket" to purchase vocational rehabilitation services and employment supports from networks of local employment service providers. While the Ticket to Work offers "ticket-holding" beneficiaries a choice of employment service providers, it simultaneously offers providers financial incentives to provide high-quality services. This translates into new opportunities and outcomes for beneficiaries and providers. This article outlines some of the benefits of Ticket to Work and discusses how the critical players need to "get ready" as Social Security rolls-out this landmark legislation.
The Magic $700 Mark
The Social Security Administration considers any employee or small business owner with a disability who earns more than $700 per month ($1170 if a person is blind, in the year 2000) working above the "Substantial Gainful Activity" (SGA) level. Prior to passage of this act, when a beneficiary began earning $700 per month, his/her SSDI, Medicaid, and/or Medicare benefits could be eliminated completely. Some people lost all of their Social Security and medical benefits. Consequently, some employment advisors (including case workers, job coaches, Social Security claims representatives, parents, employers, and just about anyone involved in supporting workers with disabilities) counseled and SSDI beneficiaries into NEVER earning more than $700. The SGA amount has been a magic ceiling in the minds of beneficiaries and consultants, and they have actively tried to limit earnings so beneficiaries do not cross that line, keeping beneficiaries trapped in poverty.
The Ticket to Work and the Work Incentives Improvement Act potentially make it possible for working SSDI beneficiaries earning more than $700 to keep medical coverage if needed, either indefinitely or for longer periods of time—the biggest disincentive to working above the SGA level. The legislation allows and encourages states to modify their financial criteria for Medicaid eligibility. States choosing to participate would allow working SSDI beneficiaries to earn up to 250% of poverty level ($20,000) and still retain Medicaid at no cost. SSDI beneficiaries earning more than 250% of poverty level could buy into Medicaid at reasonable rates. With the Ticket to Work, the $700 earnings level becomes the goal to surpass for SSDI beneficiaries rather than a barrier to cower beneath. Working beneficiaries benefit because earnings potential expands when many of the current work disincentives are either reduced or eliminated. It is a win-win situation with life-transforming outcomes for employees with disabilities. As income climbs, employees with disabilities can climb out of poverty.
Benefits for Employment Service Providers
Removing disincentives to work is just part of the Ticket to Work; it also provides new incentives, particularly to employment service providers, when beneficiaries earn more than the SGA level. Through the Ticket to Work, Social Security financially encourages providers who use high-quality employment services that support working beneficiaries to find and keep good paying jobs. Providers can receive up to 40% of the average SSI or SSDI benefit check if a "ticket-holder" remains employed beyond the first nine out of twelve months. This 40% provider payment from SSA can continue up to 60 months, as long as the employee with a disability continues to earn more than the SGA amount. This 40% is an incentive or bonus for the provider. It is anticipated that provider incentives will encourage employment service providers to structure high-quality supports for beneficiaries so that each employee will choose to earn more than $700 per month and continue employment, not only for the first nine months, but for the full 60 month period and beyond. Supporting "ticket-holders" to continue long-term employment means providers will need to find beneficiaries personally satisfying work, not simply work that pays well.
Beneficiaries with Substantial Employment Support Requirements
Beneficiaries with substantial employment support requirements are often labeled "incapable of working." Employment advisors try to rationalize these labels with disability stereotypes and misinformation, or claim the additional costs associated in providing substantial supports are prohibitive. These are without a doubt mistaken ideas. Adults in our society work. Period. Any adult not working costs our world society and world economy much more than an adult who is not working, no matter how substantial his/her support requirements are.
More than 150,000 American employees with substantial support requirements are benefitting from supported employment (Griffin, RuralFacts, Rural Supported Employment, 1998). And the costs associated with those supports are not excessive. Vocational Rehabilitation case closures (Status 26 Closures) in supported employment cost only $1,255 more that sheltered employment closures (U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration, 1994).
Employees with substantial employment support needs are and can be part of the work force and the Ticket to Work potentially could provide new funding and employment service tools to support quality employment opportunities for all beneficiaries. Providers who understand and use high-quality supported employment techniques—such as Systematic Instruction, assistive and universal technology, augmentative/alternative communication supports, and natural supports—are successfully supporting beneficiaries. Ticket to Work, because it will encourage employment service entrepreneurs and reward providers who offer high-quality services, will mean that "ticket-holders" with substantial support requirements will be able to leverage more and better services from providers.
Getting Ready for the Roll-Out
There is a strong concern that beneficiaries with substantial employment support requirements will not access or benefit from the Ticket to Work provisions. If we are to ensure that all beneficiaries receive equal access to Ticket's benefits, we must begin thoughtful and inventive preparations for Social Security's roll-out of this legislation. There is a common misconception that people with disabilities need to "get ready to work" or must be "made ready." Adults with disabilities are ready for work and do not need to "get ready" for work. The actual situation is that we need to get ready. And we must get ready now.
The four critical players about to implement Ticket to Work— beneficiaries, employers, employment service providers, and Social Security—are currently involved in varying levels of preparations for the three-year roll-out (from 2001 - 2003) of this massive landmark legislation. At the time of this writing (October, 2000), only one of the four critical players, Social Security, is preparing in any significant way. Social Security is writing policies, selecting states for year one, two, or three roll-outs, printing Tickets and preparing to mail them to beneficiaries, and sending out general and specific information. A few employment service providers are engaged in some minor preparations and discussions. A few beneficiaries with disabilities are discussing the new law. And a few employers have been engaged in some discussions. But local communities need to bring the four key players together to begin preparations for implementing Ticket to Work.
What needs to be done in local communities is for all four critical players to sit at the table. Employers and employees need to be brought into this picture to discuss what is required for success and how it can be put together in a way that everyone wins. Employers may negotiate for equipment or customized on-the-job training and supports. Employees may negotiate for better transportation options. Of the four critical players (beneficiaries, employers, service providers, and Social Security), who will be involved in the process of successfully implementing the Ticket to Work, the players who have the most flexibility and control over the employment outcome are the employee and the employer. Social Security can continue to remove some of the remaining work disincentives, but certainly cannot control the outcome. A provider can develop a job, assist with on-the-job training and supports, but in the end cannot control the outcome. Only the employee can show up to work each day, choose to earn more than $700 per month, and choose to remain employed for an additional 60 months. Only the employer can agree to employ someone, pay more than $700 per month, and choose to retain that employee. So the employers and the employees in each community need to be at the table with the service providers and Social Security.
Finally, the other key players are the "employment service providers." There are now a significant number of local employment service providers: Developmental Disability services providers, Mental Health providers, Department of Labor/Job Service providers, Veteran's Services providers, Vocational Rehabilitation, employer service providers, temporary personnel services providers, et al. All of these providers could become "approved ticket providers" of services. In the Ticket to Work legislation, providers will be called "Employment Network Providers," which is an excellent title for the diverse and yet collaborative efforts of all providers that support people with disabilities in securing and excelling in community employment.
During the roll-out preparation meetings, providers can learn what employers and beneficiaries will need to make Ticket to Work successful. Then the providers can tailor their services to meet these needs. They will have time to build their agencies' capacities to provide the high-quality services that beneficiaries will need to get and keep jobs. Providers will have time to learn how to use Systematic Instruction, access assistive and universal technology, find augmentative/alternative communication supports, and take advantage of natural supports. With these skills in place, providers will be able to achieve Ticket to Work's goals and their agencies will grow and prosper. If the providers plan well, all beneficiaries should be able to access Ticket to Work services. Beneficiaries who require substantial employment supports will not be left behind again.
Summary
The Ticket to Work and the Work Incentives Improvement Act of
1999 is about to become a reality around the country. It has clear
benefits for beneficiaries and providers. Now is the time to begin
local preparations for implementing it. Beneficiaries have fought
long and hard for this legislation and have waited lifetimes for
employment providers and employers to move forward. It's time to
become "early adopters" and put together inventive and
innovative plans to utilize the tools of Ticket to Work now. Making
people with disabilities wait in line again was not Congress's
intent when it passed this legislation. Every person with a disability
is ready now. But the question is, "are we ready?" Let's
work to bring employers, beneficiaries, employment providers, and
Social Security together now in each of our communities, and develop
action plans and working agreements so that when ten million beneficiaries
receive their Tickets to Work in the mail, our communities and
employment networks are "ready!"
Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative
The Rural Institute Training Department and the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living (APRIL) recently received funding from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) for a joint Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative (RILLMI), a five-year project that provides training and technical assistance to rural independent living centers. The Rural Independent Living Leadership Mentoring Initiative addresses the need for rural Center for Independent Living (CIL) capacity-building. One aspect of the project involves selecting two sites annually to receive on-site leadership and management training and consultation.
The project's intent is to serve small CILs in remote communities that do not typically benefit from training and resources available in urban areas. To qualify as one of the project sites, a CIL must be located in a small community no closer than a one-hour drive to a city of 40,000 or more population. Although each site will have its own specific implementation design, a minimum of four three-day visits will occur over the year. The on-site training will follow a six-tier development process.
The efficient and effective operation of CILs is a complex undertaking. The emphasis on consumer power and control, a need for cultural diversity, the necessity for strong governance, shrinking state and local resources, the challenges of managed care and various government/taxpayer initiatives, and rising direct service personnel turnover rates make management more and more difficult. Add to this situation the fact that many CIL leaders have little opportunity for consistent, sequenced management training that teaches capacity-building and resource leveraging, and the need for this mentoring project becomes evident.
This project uses Cary Griffin's book Working Better, Working Smarter as the core curriculum. The book is available at www.trninc.com.
PASS Plans Turn Student Dreams Into Reality
by Marsha Katz, The Rural Institute
Last year George's teachers expected that when he left the school system at age 19, he would go to the local workshop where he would likely spend the remainder of his adult life in a day program or doing sheltered work. This year, George's teachers are among the customers of his western Montana food delivery service. Not only have they completely changed their minds about the prospects for George's future, but his success has raised their expectations for many of their students who have significant disabilities.
What made all this possible? Money and expertise. Combined from several sources, money and expertise helped George and his family dream about his future and then take the steps to make those dreams come true. Rural Institute consultant with the Montana Transition Systems Change grant, Ellen Condon, the Bitterroot Education Cooperative, and school staff helped George identify his skills and interests and try out different work environments. Staff from Montana Vocational Rehabilitation and another Rural Institute project helped piece together money to provide George with job development, job coaching, and personal assistance. Finally, Rural Institute staff wrote a business plan for the food delivery business and a PASS plan to generate the money necessary for George to buy the van he needed to deliver the food.
PASS plans allow persons who receive SSI to set aside income and/or resources that SSI would usually count as income, and use that money to achieve a work-related goal.
In other words, the SSI recipient ends up with an extra pot of money to help him/her learn, find, perform and/or maintain a job. The extra money a PASS plan generates can be used for further training or education, for equipment or tools, for transportation to work, for job development and coaching, for work evaluations, or to start your own business, as George did.
Once used primarily for adults, PASS plans are being used increasingly for students in transition. This win-win situation assists students with disabilities to move into adulthood with real community jobs, and real earnings, while it helps schools and Vocational Rehabilitation stretch already strained funding as it tries to serve all students in its purview.
If you have a teenage student with a disability, who might benefit from having a PASS plan, call the Rural Institute to discuss your situation and see if a PASS is possible. Staff from the Rural Institute's Research in Social Security Employment Supports (RISES) project can help you. You can reach Roger Shelley in the Billings area at (406) 446-2065, or Marsha Katz in Missoula at (406) 243-2821 or 1-877-243-2476 Toll Free.
To apply for any of the benefits administered by Social Security, contact your local Social Security office. The Social Security Administration publishes a large selection of informational brochures that explain the different benefits in detail. You may access this information through SSA's website at http://www.ssa.gov
Go to the SSA Work Incentives Fact Sheet
Best Practice: Systematic Instruction
by Mike Flaherty, The Rural Institute
Last May, Ravalli Services in Hamilton, Montana hosted a Systematic Instruction seminar as part of its Montana Rural Employment Initiative project. Roger Shelley and I, Organization Consultants with the Rural Institute, conducted the workshop in this Best Practice employment and training technique. What the training participants learned was that Systematic Instruction, by definition and in practice, is a remarkable tool.
Values and Application
Systematic Instruction is the brainchild of Marc Gold, a pioneer in developing the "try another way" approach for teaching people with disabilities. Marc Gold's values about people with disabilities are at the heart of Systematic Instruction. He believed that everyone is able to learn, although each of us acquires information in a variety of ways. Our essential role as teachers or trainers is to discover the ways that best convey information to the individual learner. We began our seminar at Ravalli Services by emphasizing these values. For Systematic Instruction to succeed, the teachers must embrace the idea that everyone can learn and expect the learner to succeed.
After discussing the values, we moved on to the application of Systematic Instruction methods. The training participants were the Ravalli Services's staff members who were learning how to be the "teachers." In order to give the teachers a chance to actually practice Systematic Instruction methods, we hired eight people with disabilities to be "consultant learners" for the workshop. The consultant learners were people receiving services from Ravalli Services. The job of the teachers was to teach the learners a specific task. In this case our demonstration task was assembling a Bendyx bicycle coaster brake. Assembling a bicycle brake is a complex task that involves a clear sequence of steps that can be systematically organized. There is only one correct way to assemble the brake in order for it to work. The teacher's role is first to discover how the learner learners best and then to teach the steps involved in the task.
How Learners Learn
A key element of Systematic Instruction training is teaching the teachers how to recognize which cues or prompts best help the individual learner complete the complex task. Discovering which cues work, in the least invasive way, requires teachers to remain attentive, flexible, accepting, persistent, and gentle. Each learner may respond to different cues. For example persons with visual impairments may respond to auditory prompts while a person with deafness will use visual cues. There are a variety of types of cues/prompts to choose from:
- Demonstration-showing the person how to perform the task by doing it yourself
- Verbal-telling someone how to do a task
- Gestures-pointing- motioning with your hands
- Physical Assisting-using "hand on hand" approach, guiding the individual through the job steps
- Other-written symbols- instructions, audio tapes, physical adaptations to the task.
- (Guide for Employment Specialists, Condon/Hammis 1997)
Marc Gold's values also drive the decision about which cues to use. For Gold, natural is always best. Natural cues, therefore, are preferred. Mike Callahan, President of Marc Gold Associates, use the Seven Phase Sequence Guidelines that outline the most natural and non-invasive ways to guide the learner through the task.
Prompting and redirection springs from the most natural methods that occur in the workplace. The ultimate value of applying Systematic Instruction is it allows the natural environment of the work place to provide cues.
Seven Phase Sequence
- Determine Natural Ways (Culture, Methods, Contents, Assisting Relationships, Procedures)
- Determine Natural Means (Training Approaches, Motivating Strategies, Rules)
- Identify & Enlist Natural People (Supervisors, Co-Workers, Mentors)
- Facilitate/Train (With Support From Job Trainer)
- Support/Assist/Substitute For Natural People (Other Co-Workers, Job Facilitator)
- Reconsider Natural Means (Determine Approaches Work Best, Are Some Motivating Strategies Working Better Than Others?)
- Adapt/Modify/Change Natural Ways (What Works, What Needs Adaptation) (Callahan & Garner, 1997).
Ultimately this relies on the efforts of teachers to diligently and consistently strive to uncover ("trying another way") the best teaching methods. "Trying another way" keeps options open and allows teachers to explore opportunities that might have never been utilized.
The teachers need to recognize that as they use prompts/cues to teach the learners and guide them through new skills, they also need to start planning on how to fade those cues to maximize the learner's independence and minimize dependence on the teacher/trainer. The learner focuses on the work task itself, not on the teacher or on the relationship with the teacher. The principle benefit to professionals using Systematic Instruction is it reduces training and fading time.
Results of the Seminar
The most remarkable element of this training was the interaction of teachers and learners. Perhaps the most important by-product of successfully learning new skills was the growth of pride and self-reliance in each of the consultant learners. This demonstration seminar afforded the consultant learners the opportunity to learn a complex task in a brief amount of time. The brake assembly exercise also proved to enlighten the teacher/staff members to the untapped learning potential of all the consultant learners participating in the exercises. Consultant learners demonstrated their newly learned skills with justifiable pride to both staff and their peers. Once again Systematic Instruction proved to be a Best Practice training technique.
Systematic Instruction is the most effective tool we have for teaching complex tasks. For training on Systematic Instruction, contact the Rural Institute Training Department at (877) 243-2476, toll free or Marc Gold Associates, Mike Callahan, President at (228) 497-6999 or micallahan@aol.com.
References
Callahan, M.& Garner, J. (1997) Keys to the workplace. Baltimore: Brooks Publishing.
Condon, E., Griffin, and Hammis, D. (2000) Guide for employment specialists. Missoula, MT: The Rural Institute/The University of Montana.
Rural Institute Training Department Receives Self-Employment Funding
The U. S. Dept. of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration recently funded a $1.25 million five-year national self-employment demonstration project developed by the Rural Institute Training Department. The Rural Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment Expansion Design Project (RESEED) will build self-employment capacity in rural/remote communities while addressing the needs of individuals with significant disabilities. This project addresses the Invitational Priority on Career Advancement and is unique due to its inclusive approach to consumer self-determination, Native American and minority engagement, staff training, and economic community capacity building. The project will select, with the assistance of a broad-based, Advisory Council, four nationally distributed community-based rehabilitation agencies and Native American Rehabilitation Programs (Section 121) per year (20 total sites) located in towns no larger than 15,000 population. A total of $300,000 will be distributed to demonstration sites. Each site receives a sub-contract averaging $14,000 through RESEED to build self-employment capacity in replicable ways, and receives intensive on-site technical training and consultation focused upon entrepreneurship, business planning, financing/alternative funding, and supports for individuals with disabilities.
First year sites were developed during the preparation of the proposal, but in years two through five, a national competition will be held to recruit sites. The first year demonstration sites are:
- Community Entry Services in Riverton, Wyoming in partnership with the Eastern Shoshone-Red Feathered Eagle Tribal VR Program
- New Horizons in Harlem, Montana in partnership with the Fort Belknap Tribal VR Program
- The Center for Community in Sitka, Alaska
- The ARC of Stanly County in Albemarle, North Carolina
RESEED is based on the work of the Training Department staff who have assisted, along with a host of other community entities, such as Small Business Development Centers, over 100 individuals in starting their own businesses.
Changes in the Training Department
The Training Department at the Rural Institute is undergoing some significant changes. First we are changing the name to Community Adult Services and Supports to better describe our role and purpose. Next, as many or our readers may know, Dave Hammis has moved to Ohio to assist with family matters. In response, Cary Griffin and Dave have formed Griffin-Hammis Associates, LLC in order to continue their long-term working relationship and to pursue a long-time dream of going for-profit. Cary remains at the Institute part-time as the Director of Special Projects and Dave continues to offer assistance with Social Security and related content areas. Dave can be reached at dhammis@griffinhammis.com or (513) 424-6198 and Cary can still be reached at (406) 273-9181 and cgriffin@griffinhammis.com. Griffin-Hammis Associates is working closely with the Institute to build lasting change and development through out the country. For regular updates on activities check http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu or www.griffinhammis.com.
Projects with Industry
MontanaWorks, the direct service employment arm of the Rural Institute, recently received funding from the Rehabilitation Service Administration for a Projects with Industry program. This funding allows MontanaWorks to serve anyone with a significant disability seeking employment in western Montana by underwriting service costs from referral agencies such as Vocational Rehabilitation, Veterans Administration, mental health services, the Job Service, Welfare-to-Work, and others. The program will be administered by the Community Adult Services and Supports department.
WISER
Demonstration Project Funded
The Rural Institute was recently awarded a four-year, Transition Demonstration grant by the U.S Department of Education. The Work Incentives for Student Employment Revisited project (WISER) will increase the number of employed students with severe disabilities graduating from special education in rural remote areas. The project will create an innovative model of transition planning that maximizes the use of innovative resources such as Social Security Work Incentives and Natural Supports to promote the quality, community-based, paid, work experience and longitudinal transition planning. The model will be developed and implemented in a total of eight rural schools in the Bitterroot and Mission Valleys of Western Montana, placing 40 students with severe disabilities over the course of four years.
Local capacity will be enhanced through:
- on-site technical assistance and training around transition planning, community-based work experience, supported employment and alternative resource development,
- peer mentors for parents and students,
- developing local interagency transition councils, and
- creating consumer controlled, alternative funds and resources, thereby increasing student and family choice and empowerment during transition.
Partners in the project for year one will be Polson schools, Stevensville schools, and the Bitterroot Special Education Cooperative.
For more information, contact Ellen Condon, Project Director,
at the Rural Institute (406) 243-4134.
Quick & Easy
by Roger Shelley, The Rural Institute
"It's gonna be how long?"
Like all true entrepreneurs, she would have liked her business start-up money yesterday. As an Organizational Consultant with the Rural Institute, I'm the one who tells her about all the hoops she is going to have to jump through. Here is a person who thought through a business proposition or self-employment opportunity, saw the obvious advantages—extra money, ability to do what she had dreamt of—and was ready to get started. Here I am telling her about policies and procedures of organizations and institutions that are supposed to facilitate employment of people with disabilities. Oh brother, now I'm explaining that she'll need a business plan, and where to go to get assistance with it.
"But I've got customers NOW! And all I need is the necessary money for equipment/flyers/ print advertising. So I can get into operation."
Now I'm in a panic. I've been self-employed. I know how this feels. She just wants to start the business. She wants to serve the customers and make some money, but she doesn't have any money to invest, no credit history, and no one to back her. Should I really start explaining authorization from the local Vocational Rehabilitation office for services, Social Security Work Incentives that she might access for funding, or micro-business loans? Not if I want her to get discouraged and hang up on me.
I have experienced the advantages of self-employment, and can see real benefits for people who build their own accommodations into the business. In many cases these accommodations take the form of hiring people to work with them, developing partnerships, working from home, defining their own goals for success, and adjusting hours of operation. Self-employment provides the ability to access the community on own their own terms and present themselves as competent and contributing people. It's an opportunity to build an enterprise that reflects their choices and values. All of these concepts are important to the people we serve, and reflect what we might call "Best Practices." Beyond that, self-employment is a chance to reduce the unemployment rate for people with disabilities that exceeds 20 times that of the typical population. Why isn't it easier for people to go into business for themselves? Why doesn't some system or institution step up to the plate and propose easier and faster funding for self-employment?
Then it happened. A work-first, full-choice project, the Montana/Wyoming Careers through Partnerships project, funded through the Department of Labor and operated by the Montana Job Training Partnership (Montana JTPA) and the Rural Institute Training Department. The project didn't start with the concept of providing funding for self-employment, but, by offering choice to people, and providing for an array of support services to facilitate chosen employment, it soon evolved into a source for business start-up capital. In fact, half of the people who accessed the direct service money the project supplied, used it to start their own enterprises. Jumping through hoops was minimized. Supports were supplied as necessary. Partnerships with other service agencies became more natural as funding streams were blended to the advantage of all concerned.
Some interesting concepts began to emerge. In the first year of the project, it became apparent that putting people into their own businesses cost less than getting them a job, on an average about $150 per person less. When people became responsible for the use of the government funding, they took just what they felt they needed to be successful, and then looked for ways to leverage those resources to expand their funding base and become even more successful. Could true supported choice engender individual responsibility and the will to succeed? The project proved it is so.
The trick became how could we get the money to people faster. What was the very minimum that we needed from the person in order to get a business started? Sometimes we needed a business plan, but not always. If people had investigated markets or had markets, we had the opportunity to get the money to them faster. Some business plans were more involved than others, depending on the amount of money that people requested. People demonstrated their motivation to us simply by making their vocational choices. We assumed competency. Some people built in their own accommodations and supports. Sometimes service provider supports were extensive, sometimes not. Supports were based on what was needed to make that specific business successful in that locale, and were agreed upon in partnership with the person. In business, less can be more. In business, getting the money to start quickly—while the ambition and will to succeed is still fresh—ensures lasting and profitable results. Recently Inc. magazine reported some interesting points. The first was that "despite what the experts may tell you, there is no ‘right way' to start a business," and secondly, "no particular sequence of steps from A to Z will insure your success." And the third thing was, "while no particular period of time is ‘normal' to get a company off the ground, most of those entrepreneurs who get a business going do so in about a year of concentrated effort. Those working on a start-up for much longer—apparently with less intensity—have more trouble getting their businesses going" (Reynolds, 1995). This means the sooner a person can get started in business and the easier it is to start the business, no matter the level of "supports," the greater the likelihood that the business will be successful. Putting hoops in people's way slows down the process and reduces the chance for success. Quick and easy is the best bet. And, there is no "blueprint for success." Each entrepreneur must choose his/her business and each define what success is. That, in fact, is a function of the person's choices. There appears to be no difference between a typical person and a person with a disability in that respect.
As a footnote, none of the 54 people who have become self-employed through the project have quit in the past year and a half. They are all in various phases of building their businesses.
References
Reynolds, P. (1995) Business plans. Inc. Magazine. Feb.1, 1995
Supporting Entrepreneurs with
Disabilities:
Vital Characteristics for Rehabilitation Personnel
By Cary Griffin, Director of Training at the Rural Institute
Traditionally, people with the most significant disabilities have been overlooked as candidates for self-employment. Indeed, even today, most entrepreneurship activity is not directed towards individuals with severe developmental or psychiatric disabilities. We are beginning to learn, however, that support systems, similar in concept to those utilized by the best Supported Employment practitioners, can help many people operate their own businesses, limited partnerships, and/or businesses within businesses. The key here, again, is the support that provides the entrepreneur a chance to compete in the open market.
The myriad of supports necessary for a small business owner typically include: accounting services, business planning, access to capital (loans), marketing consultation, and training in product or service production. The same needs are evident for individuals with disabilities, but sometimes the manner in which they are accessed is different. For instance, a typical entrepreneur has a credit history that a bank officer can review in structuring a start-up loan. In many cases, small business hopefuls with disabilities have little credit available and few savings due to long term reliance on Social Security. Support from rehabilitation personnel may be necessary to access Vocational Rehabilitation resources, determine useful assistive and/or universal technology, apply for local low interest loan funds, or to develop a Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS) through Social Security in order to self-finance.
Existing personnel who are paid to help individuals with disabilities
find success in the realm of employment will need new skills, and
new staff may need specific personality traits to best serve their
customers. Effective staff need many of the traits required of entrepreneurs
in order to identify and facilitate supports required by an entrepreneur
with significant disabilities to flourish. Small business now accounts
for over 50% of the jobs in the United States, so personnel developing
jobs and small business ventures need to share the spirit and enthusiasm
for entrepreneurship. Lately, the national Vocational Rehabilitation
system has increased attention to small business development and
helps start over 5,000 enterprises annually. The Community Rehabilitation
Programs (CRPs) need to study this national phenomenon and gear-up
through staff development, re-engineering consumer services, by
hiring new personnel with entrpreneurial instincts, and by becoming
more closely aligned with the Small Business Assistance Centers,
Microloan programs, Chambers of Commerce, Business Incubators, and
local entrepreneurs.
The Hagberg Consulting Group recently completed a ten year study of 400 entrepreneurs. The data collected provides insight into areas of support that may need facilitation for business owners with disabilities and for personnel who assist in designing and guaranteeing supports. Never should the absence of these traits be used to exclude someone with a disability from being an entrepreneur. Not all business owners understand accounting or investment strategies, so they buy those supports or hire others to work with them who do have those skills. Not all entrepreneurs have tremendous physical stamina, either, and may rely on co-workers or limited hours of operation to offset fatigue. Think support, not deficits; circumvent problems instead of trying to solve them. Re-think the situation and redefine employment based on the person's dreams and desires. For many people, 10 hours of work a week doing what they love, and being their own boss, is much more enjoyable and rewarding than 30 hours on a production line in a workshop. Magazines today are full of stories of small business owners who took huge cuts in salary to follow their life's ambition. We should be the last people to restrict these natural desires.
Dominant personality characteristics of entrepreneurs studied by Hagberg that may be advantageous in rehabilitation personnel who serve entrepreneurs with disabilities include being:
- Aggressive, competitive, and in control;
- Action oriented;
- Impatient for results;
- Positive, up-beat, cheerleaders;
- Opportunistic and calculated risk-takers;
- Values-driven, with a strong sense of what they consider right and wrong;
- Impulsive in their quest for results and solutions;
- Tenacious and focused;
- Emotionally resilient and sometimes emotionally distant;
- Autonomous, anti-authority, and non-conforming.
Creating a place for such individuals in our organizations may scare more conservative and traditional rehabilitation managers. But, the market is changing. More and more individuals with disabilities are expressing the desire to self-direct their careers. Hiring staff who are entrepreneurial in nature will challenge organizations with frozen corporate cultures, but it just may be the thing that prepares Community Rehabilitation Programs for the turbulent consumer-directed next millennium.