News Feature

NCD #02-379
August 12, 2002
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov

National Council on Disability Feature: Eliminate Employment Barriers for People with Disabilities

WASHINGTON-The National Council on Disability (NCD) released its 2001 annual National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, on July 26, 2002. The report addresses several important issues related to people with disabilities. This feature highlights the complex and multifaceted barriers people with disabilities face in employment.

As it is for society as a whole, employment is a cherished goal for most Americans with disabilities, but one that continues to elude all too many. For this reason, NCD's discussion of this subject begins with an appraisal of the importance of interagency coordination.

Interagency Coordination
NCD commends Congress and the Administration for their establishment and support of the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) in the Department of Labor (DOL). The NCD Report addresses the importance of collaboration between ODEP and other agencies within DOL as well as outside agencies, such as the Rehabilitative Services Administration. The Report acknowledges the atmosphere of coordination and cooperation among cabinet level departments that currently surrounds the Olmstead implementation, and hopes this momentum will continue to prevail and distinguish federal disability activities. NCD also believes it would be critical to survey the mandate of and goals set forth in the 1998 Executive Order creating the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities (PTFEAD), which sunset in July 2002, and determine what work remains to be done and how it should be continued.

Baseline Employment Statistics
The absence of reliable statistical data on disability employment levels and employment trends represents a significant impediment to the forging of sound public policy. The information provided through the traditional statistical data collecting tools, the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the Survey of Income and Program participation (SIPP), include major shortcomings and should not be considered accurate. NCD has previously recommended that ODEP develop a system to track the employment status of Americans with disabilities on at least an annual basis. Collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau as it works to improve disability related information collected in the CPS is one way of approaching this issue. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports in Keeping the Promise on parallel efforts at coordination between ODEP and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Recognizing advances but no clear solutions, NCD recommends that ODEP ensure that all DOL units review research-funded grants and contracts to make certain federal funding does not support the production of research reports regarding employment of people with disabilities that rely exclusively on the SIPP, CPS or other flawed statistical sources.

Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act
The Ticket to Work and accompanying Work Incentives Improvement (TWWIIA) were both designed as tools to remove barriers to employment for people benefiting from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). In order for this new program to meet with success sufficient Employment Networks must be available to support people in their quest for work and a Medicaid Buy-In program must be adopted by each state to allow SSI beneficiaries to purchase affordable Medicaid coverage when they become employed. To ensure access to the Medicaid Buy-In program NCD recommends that the Administration develop and Congress enact legislation to increase the federal share of Medicaid funds for those states that implement TWWIIA-based reforms in their Medicaid programs and that achieve predetermined levels of return to work and job retention among their recipients taking part in the program.

The Ticket to Work poses a real risk of "creaming" on the part of the Employment Network (i.e. targeting recruiting efforts or selection criteria to people with relatively less significant disabilities or few specialized service needs), creating barriers to utilization of the ticket for people with high support needs. NCD recommends that the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Administration be prepared to move quickly to implement or recommend to Congress such reforms as are necessary to remedy this situation.

The benefits planning, assistance, and outreach program (BPAO) offering grants for technical assistance, planning and related initiatives to assist people moving through a complicated system, holds great promise and should be considered as an option for the vocational rehabilitation system as well. NCD recommends that in the reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, the Administration and Congress give consideration to including a limited number of competitive grants to non-profit organizations to operate BPAO-type programs that deal with the broad range of employment issues, resources, and rights under the state vocational rehabilitation system.

Federal Hiring Initiatives
The NCD Report highlights two Federal Government initiatives designed to broaden employment opportunities for people with psychiatric disabilities: (1) a new government-wide excepted appointing authority for people with psychiatric disabilities, providing people with psychiatric disabilities an opportunity already available to people with mental retardation or significant physical disabilities; (2) additional measures announced through the HHS Olmstead Report to further increase employment opportunities in the Federal Government for people with disabilities and to create uniformity in provisions applicable to people with psychiatric and physical disabilities. NCD recommends that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) report to Congress and the public on the results of these efforts, particularly on the promotion and advancement opportunities available to people with disabilities in the competitive-appointment exception programs.

OPM also announced in December 2001 that all federal agency job vacancy notices must apprise applicants of the availability of reasonable accommodations. NCD recommends that OPM study and report on the level of awareness among federal personnel officers and other issues related to reasonable accommodations for federal workers with disabilities.

Demonstration Projects
The NCD Report highlights a number of interagency and public-private initiatives and demonstration projects designed to increase employment opportunities and break down employment barriers for people with disabilities. Projects included systems change grants established by the Department of Education to improve cooperation and coordination among state vocational rehabilitation; public employment training and other related programs; innovative projects from SSA to help adults with disabilities reenter the workforce; and a coordination by the Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities of commitments by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Society for Human Resource Management and other private sector companies to advance the employment of people with disabilities. NCD recommends that the agencies spearheading these initiatives provide updates on the status of the projects and the results or methodologies they yielded.

One-Stop Career Centers
In 1998 Congress adopted the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which sought to simplify the bewildering web of federal labor market and employment programs. One-stop centers were established to provide easy access to relevant public services from one central location. The VR system was not included in the "consolidation" leaving a parallel system for people with disabilities. However, the law requires the one-stop system to be fully accessible and available to all, including people with disabilities, with the expectation that the new system would establish a cooperative working relationship with the VR system. The NCD Report describes a troubling picture of one-stop inaccessibility. To address this serious problem, NCD recommends that DOL move to clarify the applicability of federal civil rights laws, including Sections 504 and 508, to the facilities and technology of the one-stop centers and to ensure that accessibility requirements are implemented with as much energy as any other legal standards that bear on the operation of these centers.

Licensing and Funding
To ensure full compliance with civil rights protections afforded under Sections 504 and 508, NCD recommends that the Department of Justice study the question of whether the Federal Government is making optimal or consistent use of the funding relationships with private sector partners that meet the standard for coverage of Sections 504 and/or 508. The goal of the study is to maximize leverage and advance adherence to legal accessibility requirements. NCD also recommends that each federal agency involved in job-creation efforts or in the funding of programs that create jobs or funds programs that create or support jobs, evaluate the extent of its responsibility and authority for ensuring the accessibility of the programs, jobs, and information resources.

Tax Incentives
Tax incentives targeted at the employment of people with disabilities, such as the work opportunity tax credit, are useful tools, but are in need of close scrutiny to determine which ones are outmoded and in need of overhaul. For example, the work opportunity credit is available only to people who have received SSI (not SSDI) in the past two months or who have completed a VR program-a very limited population. Pursuant to Section 303 of TWWIIA, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) is currently launching a study of existing disability-employment incentives. NCD recommends that GAO analyze the incentives with a view to measuring their economic and social impact, their cost to the Treasury, and the need to eliminate limitations that are no longer relevant.

For more information, contact Mark Quigley at 202-272-2004 or Celane McWhorter at 703-683-1166.

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Source: National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, December 2000-December 2001 http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progressreport_07-26-02.html