2009 — Dignity Through Employment

The 2009 Report to the President focuses on four basic areas: (1) promoting employment, (2) connecting people with intellectual disabilities to employers, (3) employment supports, and (4) financial planning for long-term self-sufficiency and asset accumulation.  The report also discusses the role of research and public awareness in each of the four focus areas.

Introduction

This 2009 Report to the President and its recommendations address two closely related and persistent problems: high unemployment and lack of economic freedom for citizens with intellectual disabilities.

We make the argument that people with intellectual disabilities are fully capable of working successfully in integrated community settings, despite a history of unemployment and segregation from the mainstream of American economic life. We explore the argument in the following sequence:

1. The Current Employment Status and unrealized potential of people with intellectual disabilities,
2. The Evolving Policy and Legal Framework for employment that clearly establishes a framework of rights,
3. Employment Practices that show promise and may contribute to the goal of full employment for people with intellectual disabilities, 
4. The practical steps to Building an Education, a Resume, and Experience, and
5. The Family and Systemic Supports that make employment outcomes possible.  

We begin each section with a discussion of the relevant issues and include examples, where appropriate, of recent experiences of people with intellectual disabilities in the workforce.  In each section, we also offer recommendations to support the rapid expansion of employment outcomes and economic freedom for people with intellectual disabilities.