Work Incentive and Disability Employment Grants

Conference

Washington Court HotelWashington, D.C.May 29-31, 2002

Michael Morris, DirectorRehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workforce Investment and Employment Policy

For Persons with DisabilitiesLaw, Health Policy & Disability Center University of Iowa College of Law

202-521-2930 / mmorris@ncbdc.org

Robert Silverstein, DirectorCenter for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy

202-223-5340 / bobby@csapd.org

Key Statistics on Working Age Americans with Disabilities

• Social Security Programs:

Number of working age beneficiaries as of 2001:

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI): 5,274,183

(Average monthly benefit amount: $814.46)

Supplemental Security Income (SSI): 1,511,000

(Blind or disabled individuals)

Key Statistics on Working Age Americans with Disabilities

• One out of every three adults with disabilities lives in very low-income households (less than $15,000 income).

• Seventy-two percent of working age Americans with disabilities do not have jobs.

• Even when people with disabilities are employed, they earn substantially less than their nondisabled counterparts – roughly 72 cents to the dollar.

Key Statistics on Working Age Americans with Disabilities

• Sixty percent of working people with disabilities report they are under-employed. Thirty-six percent of working people with disabilities report they have experienced discrimination at work.

• Only four percent of people with disabilities own their own home compared to seventy percent of Americans without disabilities.

Key Developments

and

Policy Challenges

Six Key Developments

1. Olmstead Supreme Court Decision2. Workforce Investment Act (WIA)3. Welfare Reform4. New Freedom Initiative5. Ticket to Work and Work Incentive

Improvement Act (TWWIIA)6. Barnett and Toyota Supreme Court

Decisions

Policy Challenges

1. Service Delivery System Integration, Coordination, Collaboration

2. Customer Choice and Self Determination

3. Asset Development and Lifting Asset Limits for Service/Benefit Eligibility

Policy Challenges

4. Performance Measurement – Core Indicators and Data Collection and Analysis

5. Connect the Dots: Multiple Federal Initiatives

State Partnership Systems Change Initiative (SPI)Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG)Work Incentive Grants (WIG)Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)Americans with Disabilities Act / OlmsteadBenefits Planning Assistance and Outreach (BPAO)

Performance Measurement

WIA is in its second year of implementation

WIA State Reports at:http://www.usworkforce.org/documents/AnnualReports/

The Department of Labor’s FY 2001 Report on Performance and Accountability at:

http://www.dol.gov/_sec/media/reports/annual2001/main.htm

Law, Health Policy & Disability CenterUniversity of Iowa College of Law

http://www.its.uiowa.edu/law/