Americans with Disabilities Must Know Our Civil Rights

If you do not know your Civil Rights as a disabled American living in the United States, how else would you be able to protect yourself and your loved ones if violated and stripped of dignity, independence, and the freedoms protected by US law?

It happens. More often then you think. Last Friday,  July 14, 2023 was a great example.

The US district court ruled the State of Florida has been violating the ADA for years.

And against one of the most marginalized, underrepresented minorities in the United States.

For years, Floridian children with disabilities have been torn from their unknowing families, stripped from the freedom of living within their community, and forced into institutionalized nursing facilities. Disgusting.

it’s actually worse than disgusting. It’s violating the civil rights of children with severe disabilities and stealing taxpayer dollars in the process.

If that’s breaking the law, why is there no criminal liability?

Whether driven by greed, profits, or a collective of narcissistic sociopaths, if someone didn’t stand up defiantly, how long would these heinous crimes continue?

The state of Florida is not alone in violating the ADA.

Everyone at AccessAbility Officer is dedicated to Make Work and the Web Better.

One of the ways we accomplish this is preparing, training, and helping place certified professionals with disabilities into lucrative technical and competitive employment roles.

Through The Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), AccessAbility Officer is able to receive the funding required to train people who are blind, visually impaired, neurodivergent, have a mobility impairment, or other severe disability.

This program is commonly known as Vocational Rehabilitation or VR. Funding is administered at the state level to comprehensively provision education, training, independent living, professional development, and soft skills services to enable a disabled person enter the workforce, sustain competitive employment, and come off of entitlement programs like Social Security Disability.

The big problem historically with Vocational Rehabilitation is how unsuccessful the program is.

Why is Vocational Rehabilitation so Unsuccessful Across the United States?

Whether you have a disability or not, the following two statements are true.

People rise up to the expectations and accountability they are held to.

People believe and achieve more when their support system believes they can do, be, and become more.

Unfortunately, this is not the current model or approach behind the 3.7 Billion dollar 2022 budget for Vocational Rehabilitation.

The Current Model and Approach for Vocational Rehabilitation

The current model and approach for disabled individuals receiving Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services is:

1. Don’t develop curiosity and possibility. Enforce tradition and antiquated careers.
2. Don’t create independence and urgency. Enforce dependence and passivity.
3. Don’t drive soft skills and professionalism. Enforce recreation and complacency.
4. Don’t push people beyond their comfort zones or self-limiting beliefs. Enforce mediocrity and stagnation.

This seems exaggerated. But not if your frame of reference is limited.

AccessAbility Officer works directly with individuals receiving Vocational Rehabilitation services in the later stages of their Vocational Rehabilitation journey from different state agencies across the US.

Meaning, we have visibility on the variable success rates of Vocational Rehabilitation services being provisioned across the US.

AccessAbility Officer’s Observations of those Receiving Vocational Rehabilitation Services

Note, the goal of Vocational Rehabilitation and its nearly $4 Billion budget is to maximize the employment, independence, and integration of people with disabilities into their community and the competitive labor market.

Keeping this in mind, here are some observations we have made since launching our Vocational Rehabilitation training and certification program in 2022.

1. Most have bachelors and masters degrees, but have little to zero competitive work experience
2. Most lack an ability to use Excel, PowerPoint, video conferencing, and other basic professional computer skills
3. Most deeply struggle with problem solving, time management, following directions, and ambiguity
4. Nearly every participant significantly lacks the minimum professionalism, interpersonal skills, communication, work etiquette, and technical efficiency to succeed in an office or remote work environment.
5. Many look for work without an account on LinkedIn or Indeed

This simply scratches the surface of the big self-induced problems faced by RSA and Vocational Rehabilitation. Another big one is accountability.

This is why Vocational Rehabilitation is historically unsuccessful creating employment outcomes for people with disabilities.

How Can Vocational Rehabilitation Make Work and the Web Better?

Yes, Vocational Rehabilitation does work for some individuals. Those who are self-motivated, with good support systems, advocates, mentors, and an unwillingness to take no for an answer.

What happens though to everyone else?

Change is required.

If Vocational Rehabilitation wants to achieve their stated goals and stop wasting billions annually in taxpayer dollars, something needs to change.

AccessAbility Officer suggests the following:

1. Assess the current model at a state level to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
2. Aggregate and analyze SWOT assessment through a national lens
3. Communicate findings to Vocational Rehabilitation state agencies and service providers
4. Improve counselor to client ratios
5. Mandate ongoing professionalism, soft skills, and interpersonal communication training in every stage of Vocational Rehabilitation
6. Require demonstrations of computer skills, technical problem solving, and Office application expertise commensurate with one’s vocational goal