This document analyzes employment programs for people with disabilities in Canada. It identifies several effective practices: programs that focus on individualized, holistic planning; build self-confidence; and help clients achieve a good fit between their skills and available jobs. It also discusses the importance of overcoming barriers through workplace supports, employer education, and improving access to education and training.

1. Towards an Understanding of
Effective Practices in Employment
Programs for People with Disabilities
in Canada
Cameron Crawford
January 24, 2012
1

2. Objectives
• Identify and analyze domestic best practices in
programs, approaches or initiatives that support the
participation of people with disabilities in the labour
market
• Show how people with disabilities can overcome
barriers to labour market participation
– Thereby allowing governments to draw lessons from
effective and successful employment programs for people
with disabilities and develop policy options to optimize
labour market outcomes for this group
2

3. Research tasks
• Review best practices based on relevant
reports and literature on the situation in
Canada
• Consult with provinces and territories about
their current labour market programs
• Analyze existing evaluation findings
• Identify and compare best practices that
could be adopted
3

4. Scope
• Employment programs, esp. active
labour market measures related to
people with disabilities‟ participation in
the labour force
– The research did not place a significant
focus on income support and social service
programs, although these could not be
entirely overlooked
4

5. Data sources
• Documents:
– EBSM evaluations
– LMAPD Annual Reports
– Evaluation of the CPP-D Vocational Rehabilitation Program
– Promising Practices in Employability assistance for People with
Disabilities (EAPD) Funded Programs and Services
– EI Reform and Persons with Disabilities
– Summative Evaluation of the Opportunities Fund for Persons with
Disabilities (2001 and 2008)
– Journal articles and other scholarly publications from 2000
onwards and various other sources, e.g., employment
organizations‟ websites
• Interviews:
– With government officials from all provinces and territories
5

6. The literature in general
• EBSM evaluations – little that is specific to
people with disabilities
• LMAPD Annual Reports – high level
descriptive information about programming
but little in the way of analytical detail about
factors that contribute to the effectiveness of
programming
• Difficult to achieve comparability in analysis
of programs across jurisdictions
6

7. General challenges
• Some improvement in the employment rate of
people with disabilities in recent years
– Yet, low employment rates persist
– Only about half who are outside of the labour force
feel completely prevented from working because of
disability (534,190 ÷ 1,068,150) and many face
social and economic barriers to obtaining
employment
7

8. The employment rate of people with disabilities is
consistently lower than that of people without
disabilities, but has been improving (HALS & PALS)
90.0
% employed in reference
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
week
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
86 (HALS) 91 (HALS) 01 (PALS) 06 (PALS)
With disabilities Without disabilities
8

9. Explaining the issue:
GENERAL SOCIO-
DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS
9

10. The gap in employment for people with
disabilities has historically persisted
across gender lines, but is narrowing (PALS)
80.0
% FT employment all year 75.0
70.0
65.0
60.0
55.0
50.0
45.0
40.0
35.0
30.0
Men Women Men Women
2001 2001 2006 2006
With disabilities 44.9 38.5 54.1 48.9
Without disabilities 78.5 69.1 80.0 70.3
10

11. Employment levels vary by age…(but
worsen in relative terms for people with
disabilities as they get older) (PALS 2006)
100.0%
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
.0%
15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64
WO disability With disability Disability-No Disability Ratio
11

12. Employment rates increase with
increases in education level (PALS 2006)
90.0% 83.7% 82.6% 83.4%
80.0% 74.2%
70.0% 58.4% 59.4%
54.8% 51.5%
60.0%
44.8%
50.0%
40.0% 29.9%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
.0%
Less than high High school Trades College University
school certificate or
diploma
With disabilities WO disabilities
12

13. Highest level of educational certification
has increased, showing disability status*
(SLID, 1999, 2004, 2008)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
99 04 08 99 04 08
With disability Without disability
University certificate 10.2 14.3 16.9 17.9 22.5 25.4
Non-university post-secondary
certificate 27.1 31.3 30.9 28.2 30.1 29.9
Some post-secondary (no
certificate) 13.2 13.0 14.3 15.9 16.2 16.4
High school diploma 16.7 16.3 14.4 17.6 15.3 13.8
Less than high school diploma 32.7 25.1 23.5 20.3 15.9 14.4
* Totals exclude missing cases (i.e., “not stated”) and have been rescaled to 100%.
13

14. Work-related training makes a
difference
• Training is associated with positive
employment outcomes
– Lack of work-related training is reported as
one of the main barriers to employment by
people with disabilities who are outside of
the labour force
• Various reports have pointed to the problem of
lack of training for people with disabilities
14

15. Geography matters
• The employment gap between people
with and without disabilities has been
longstanding in all jurisdictions
– But the gap has tended to be largest from
Quebec eastwards
15

16. The employment gap – 2001 and
2006 (PALS)
16

17. EXPLAINING THE ISSUE:
DISABILITY-SPECIFIC
FACTORS
17

18. Employment levels vary by whether
job supports are needed (PALS 2006*)
Employed
0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%
Job redesign
Modified work hours
Human support
Technical aids
Computer aids
Communication aids
Accessible workstation
Modified chair
Rails, ramps
Appropriate parking
Accessible elevator
Accessible washroom
Accessible transportation
* People active in the labour force at some point from 2001-2006
18

19. Employment levels vary by whether
needed job supports are available
(PALS 2006*)
.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%100.0%
Job redesign
Modified work hours
Human support
Technical aids
Computer aids
Communication aids
Accessible workstation
Modified chair
Rails, ramps
Parking
Accessible elevator
Accessible washroom
Accessible transportation
Supports available Supports not available
* People active in the labour force at some point from 2001-2006
19

20. Marked differences in employment
rates by type of disability (PALS)
20

21. Employment levels decrease with
severity of disability (PALS)
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
.0%
Mild Moderate Severe Very Severe
Employed Of not in the labour force, not feeling completely prevented because of disability
21

22. Employment levels also vary in
relation to
• Public perceptions and attitudes towards disability
• Cause of disability
• Age at disability onset
• A range of other factors
22

23. DEFINING ‘BEST
PRACTICE’
23

24. Little agreement in the research
and scholarly literature
• Claims are often made that a practice is „best‟
without sufficient evidence for the claim
• Some argue that approaches should be
evidence-based or science-based, allowing the
self-correcting nature of scientific enquiry
sort out what is actually „best‟ in the long run
• Some have argued that a causal approach
should be adopted that ties specific inputs to
predictable outcomes
24

25. „Promising practices‟ (HRDC) include:
• Strong client focus • Facilitation of access to
• Holistic approach to voluntary work and work
assessment of clients‟ experience that leads to
interests, strengths and remunerative employment
needs • Dedication and leadership
• Focus on ensuring by program staff
appropriate education and • High levels of client
/or training satisfaction
• Education and awareness- • Provision of wage
raising among employers subsidies in some cases
• Partnerships between
programs and employers
25

26. Selected other approaches
• Common principles and practices (intellectual
disability, brain injury and mental illness) tend to
take into account:
– Attitudinal barriers in the workplace (e.g., need for
supportive employers and co-workers)
– Ensuring employment and accommodations are congruent
with the needs of the person, the demands of the job and the
resources in the work environment
– Meeting the need for the individual‟s access to ongoing
support as required (professional or workplace-based)
26

27. Generally, „promising‟ or „effective‟
practices
• Focus on facilitating access to employment in the
open labour market instead of in sheltered /
segregated work
• However, some push back
– „Meaningful activity‟ a legitimate outcome for
some?
– And what about employment in the open labour
market that is „precarious‟?
27

28. Effective practices in post-secondary
education and training?
• Again, no consensus as to benchmarks
• Therefore, “indirect, proxy and subjective indicators”
(Canadian Council on Learning) revolve around:
– Educational attainment
– Participation rates
– Public expenditures
– Demographic trends and institutional capacity
– Flexible alternate delivery
– Credit transfer
– Prior learning assessment and recognition
– Public opinion polling
28

29. Characteristics of Effective Programming
29

30. Overview of service characteristics
• Skilled staff with positive views about the employment
potential of people with disabilities
• Measures to strengthen individuals‟ self-confidence
• Holistic, individualized, long-range employment planning
• Employment-focused approaches (e.g., place and train)
• Achieving a good fit between individual‟s interests and
aptitudes and employment opportunities / employer
needs
• Coordinated approach (funding, supports, education /
training, employment)
30

31. Staff expertise and values
• Have finger on the pulse of the
community, are well connected and
aware of opportunities
• Treat clients with dignity and respect,
avoid labels and stereotypes and believe
in individuals‟ employment potential
31

32. Specialization and diversification
• A mix of providers
– Serves people with a diversity of disabilities who
meet various eligibility criteria (e.g., EI, social
assistance)
– Some organizations serve people with any
disability and have developed the expertise to do
this well
– Some organizations specialize, e.g., in intellectual
disability, learning disabilities, mental health,
physical disability, acquired brain injury, deaf or
hard-of-hearing
32

33. Building/strengthening self-
confidence
• Not so much an explicit program focus
• Occurs as a result of individuals‟
participation in planning, training, post-
secondary education, work experience,
etc.
– E.g., Students Exploring Through (SET)
Mentoring (NL) helps youth explore post-
school options with the support of adult
mentors
33

34. Individualized, holistic, long-range
approaches
• For counselling, planning, placement and
follow-up
• Individualized:
– Attends to individual strengths, skills, interests
and needs
• Holistic
– Takes into account other matters that may have to
be addressed, e.g., children, housing, medications,
etc.
34

35. Individualized, holistic, long-range
approaches
• For counselling, planning, placement and
follow-up
• Long-range
– Careers evolve and change
– Premised on the assumption that people need to
be „upskilling‟, networking and acquiring
references on an ongoing basis
– Helping the person to stay on the „career river‟
than simply helping to find a „boat‟
35

36. Coordinated approach
• Particularly important where an
individual has a complex mix of
programs and supports that has to be
accessed and managed
36

37. Achieving the right „fit‟
• Finding a match between what the employer
needs and what the individual has (or has the
potential) to offer
• For some, social enterprise, self-employment,
supported employment may be appropriate
– E.g., Adapted Enterprises (QC), BIZ Futures (ON),
Supported Employment Training Initiative (SETI
– SK)
37

38. Overcoming barriers in the
workplace
• Ensuring support is available:
– Ongoing support to individuals with disabilities
(human and technological supports; extended
health benefits)
• For people who experience factors that
aggravate disability and place their job at risk
• For people with late onset disability who are at
risk of job loss
38

39. Overcoming barriers in the
workplace
• Ensuring support is available:
– Ongoing support to employers (problem-solving
assistance)
– Wage subsidies of varying durations to employers
in some jurisdictions, e.g., Saskatchewan, Quebec,
Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland
and Labrador, Ontario
39

40. Overcoming barriers in the
workplace
• Providing employer education / awareness-raising
– About the employment potential of people with
disabilities
– Business case for hiring and retaining people with
disabilities
– About how to accommodate
– Various Employers‟ Forums are doing this kind of work
– Other: BC‟s 10 by 10 Challenge, Alberta‟s Employment
Innovation Project for Persons with Disabilities,
Saskatchewan‟s Supported Employment Month,
Ontario‟s Don‟t Waste the Talent campaign
40

41. Overcoming barriers in education
• Furthering post-secondary education and / or
training is key to increasing the employment chances
of people with disabilities
– Need to ensure that supportive measures are in place,
including human and technical support, accessible
transportation and educational / training facilities, funding
for tuition, books and supplies, modified curricula, mix of
classroom training and work experience, support for longer-
term rather than short-term programming, access to literacy
and numeracy upgrading where required
41

42. Organizational networking and
collaboration
• Effective organizations:
– Are well-connected to employers,
governments, educators / trainers and
other stakeholders
– Share experiences and best practices
– Examples
• Branches of the Canadian Association for
Supported Employment, Ontario Disability
Employment Network, New Brunswick
Disability Executive Network
42

43. Future directions
• Facilitate access to post-secondary education and
training and the supports needed to succeed, there
• Facilitate transitions from school to work, and ensure
necessary supports are available
• Implement individualized, client focused, well-
coordinated approaches
• Attend to issues facing youth, learn about what works
well and continue to build on successes with
upcoming cohorts of young people
43