Colorado’s skyrocketing job growth has driven the unemployment rate down to 4 percent and has made the state an economic leader in the post-recession era.
Sadly, one segment continues to suffer: people with disabilities.
In Colorado, 42 percent of people with disabilities have jobs compared to nearly 80 percent of those without a disability, according to a . Statistics get worse with the severity of the disability.
This must change.
Businesses must step up to hire people with disabilities, diversify their workforces and invest in capable workers who can help their bottom lines while giving someone hope.
And the state must continue moving to a system that supports individualized and integrated employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities — not programs that group people in anachronistic, segregated work environments.
“People can be vital,” said Joelle Brouner, director of community access for the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. “You don’t have to be perfect to participate. “
Gov. John Hickenlooper in January thankfully opened the door to a new philosophy in Colorado, telling business leaders he intends to roll out a five-point plan to get more people with disabilities and mental illnesses into the workforce.
Providing jobs could ultimately lessen the load on public services and taxpayers, Hickenlooper sagely told a City Club of Denver audience, .
“It’s especially important that we give them a 9-to-5 job that gives them a framework,” Hickenlooper said. “It’s a cash payout. But you’re also saving their lives. You’re giving them hope.”
The governor’s office is waiting to see what kind of legislation emerges from the current session involving workforce development before moving forward with a plan for the disabled and mentally ill.
Employment is so important. It helps build self-worth, connects people to the community, and pulls them out of isolation. Getting more people out of the shadows and into regular work environments will strip away any misconceptions about people with disabilities.
And employers will begin to see the advantages and how inclusion is good for their bottom lines.
Just ask Lloyd Lewis, president and CEO of Arc Thrift Stores. “Our company has never been more successful,” Lewis said.
Only 10 people with disabilities worked at Arc when Lewis started a decade ago. Now, more than 200 people with disabilities are his employees. Many of them have Down syndrome, like Lewis’ son.
“We have more than doubled our revenue and more than tripled funding,” he said. “I think half of that is better business practices. The other half is employing people with disabilities.”
They have much lower rates of absenteeism, there is less workforce turnover, and the employees have a higher commitment to their work, Lewis said.
“Frankly, if you are working around people who are appreciative of their jobs, it is a little hard to have a poor work attitude,” he said. “Plus, they will hug you right out of it.”
Employers’ misguided notions about people with disabilities are the main reason they aren’t being hired, according to a .
“Specifically, some employers have misperceptions about the abilities of individuals with disabilities and the costs associated with the provisions of accommodations,” the report states.
But costs to put in accommodations are typically minimal and worth the expense, the report says.
“The challenges revolve around education — making people in the business community aware of the abilities of people with disabilities, how much they want to work and how valuable they can be,” Lewis said.
Arc Thrift Stores hires people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as people with autism, Down syndrome and epilepsy.
Seventy-three percent of people in Colorado with cognitive disabilities don’t have jobs, according to the 2012 American Community Survey. Those with jobs are mostly employed in congregate group employment settings, typically with limited hours and low wages.
“We have done a great job of getting people out of institutions on the residential side, but we have fallen down on getting people out of institutional settings on the vocational side,” said Bob Lawhead, chief executive officer of Community Link in Boulder, an organization that helps people with disabilities find work in integrated settings.
The country has made strides in integrating people with disabilities in schools, housing and in the community. But the workforce is evolving, and is still largely segregated.
Slowly, Colorado is following the national trend of providing people with severe disabilities “integrated, individualized employment.” This is for people who need “supported employment,” or assistance with obtaining and maintaining work.
A 2012 survey of about 8,000 Colorado adults with disabilities who received public support for employment services found that 59 percent were being served in segregated facilities and 4.6 percent were in integrated settings.
In the past 18 months, Brouner of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, who was formerly the director of the division, has led an effort to get more people into individualized, integrated employment. Last year, the agency boosted funding to do just that.
“We have seen an increase in the numbers of people with developmental disabilities go to work in individualized settings in the past couple of years,” Brouner said.
Additionally, the state’s wait list to get vocational rehabilitation services to help connect people to employment is also disappearing, thanks to better funding priorities. In February 2014, 6,361 people were on the wait list. Today, there are 1,900, Brouner said.
“By the end of the month, we will be down to 900,” Brouner said. “We expect that wait list will be gone soon.”
The state also is part of a six-state research project that reaches out to low-income young people with disabilities who are ages 14 through 16, giving them information to further their education and employment.
“Research shows that young people who get exposed to work in high school are more likely to make money as adults,” she said. “A lot of people with disabilities haven’t been in experiences where they get paid as kids.”
The idea is to inspire them at a young age to seek to join the workforce when they get older, Brouner said.
Brouner, who has spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, is a success story herself. She worked her way up through the vocational rehabilitation program into an administrative job. When she was 18 and in the program, she says she was incorrigible and didn’t take to the program. She even got labeled “failure to cooperate,” “which I wore like a badge,” she said.
“From rebel to administrator,” she said. “It shows people the first time you try something isn’t always the time you get it right. I want people to know their journey to work is valuable.”
With a bully pulpit, Gov. Hickenlooper can be the state’s most visible advocate.
Behind the scenes, people like Brouner and Lewis of Arc are beginning to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people. Businesses need to follow their leads — it is the right thing to do for so many reasons.
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The mentally ill need jobs, too
Another looming problem for Colorado is the employment of people with mental illnesses.
In Colorado, 78 percent of people who receive public mental health services are unemployed, a And advocates attest that one of the key steps for recovery is employment.
Nevertheless, it can be a tough sell to persuade a skeptical business owner to hire someone who is bipolar, schizophrenic or has post traumatic stress disorder, said David Henninger, executive director of Bayaud Enterprises.
His business works with about 1,200 people a year, placing about 400 people into competitive jobs. Bayaud Enterprises runs a successful shredding operation, and puts people to work in hotels and government jobs and elsewhere.
“By being able to say to the employer, ‘We can help you with turnover, job retention and screening to get the right person for the right job,’ that is a big plus,” he said. “Through trial and error and long-time relationships with the business community, we have built up a lot of trust. We have employers who are willing to give people opportunities, and we provide support.”
Barry Koach, 46, of Arvada, has a mental illness that affects his short-term memory and makes him anxious. He was living in a car and couldn’t get a job because he has trouble reading and understanding basic things. He is now working through Bayaud Enterprises to find work and is about to start a job at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
“Barry has great skills,” said Linda Drake, a job developer at Bayaud. “He just needed a little help.”
E-mail Jeremy Meyer at jpmeyer@denverpost.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JPMeyerDPost
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