People with intellectual and other developmental disabilities can and should be productively employed in their communities. Supports must be provided for the individual, assisting them in making informed choices about their opportunities to utilize their talents and skills.

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It is The Arc New York’s position that Employment:

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• Is a natural part of the lifelong process of human maturity and self-determination.
   

• Includes a full professional assessment of job, technical supports and social skills development.
   

• Includes the opportunity for the individual to participate in a comprehensive plan for learning and structuring employment and career exploration.
   

• Is natural when it is fully included and supported in community settings.
   

• Is successful when individualized supports include appropriate transportation, travel training, job coaching, service coordination, child care and necessary technology sufficiently adapted to accommodate the individual’s needs throughout their lifetime.
   

• Is developed through knowledgeable partnerships with education, business and government to provide meaningful training opportunities from school age through adulthood in a variety of work settings with natural supports.
   

• Is responsive to individual choice and goals when a full range of options are offered including internships, a full range of fully included and inclusionary supported environments, competitive employment, volunteer positions, agency owned businesses and micro-enterprises (self-owned businesses).
   

• Recognizes the individual’s contributions and value with compensation which reflects a market driven wage for the work.
   

• Be responsive to individual choice and goals when the options include continued and ongoing exploration, educational opportunities and new work situations to encourage career development.

Even though many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities want to work and have the skills to do so, there are limited employment opportunities available to them. As a result, the majority of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are either unemployed or underemployed.

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The Arc New York recently initiated the Customized Job Programs legislation (S.3932-A/A.205-A), sponsored by Senator Young and Assemblyman Santabarbara. This bill would establish a pilot program that subdivides state jobs into simpler component parts to provide opportunities for minimum-wage, integrated employment for people who could effectively perform some, but not all aspects of a job.

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The Arc New York supports increased employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and will work to:

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• enhance employer tax credits for hiring people with disabilities;
   

• secure additional funding for job coaches and other supports;
   

• create new state job opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities;
   

• pay a subminimum wage when appropriate;
   

• pass the Customized Job Programs legislation; and
   

• continue to transform sheltered workshops into integrated businesses where appropriate.

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