What is Supported Employment?
What Does Job Support Look Like for Neurodivergent Adults?
Imagine being a 30 year old with autism who lives independently in an apartment complex that houses others with intellectual differences. You receive your federal benefit money, however it makes for a very tight budget every month. You have worked in the past, at a fast food restaurant and a pizza place assembling pizza boxes. You liked these jobs, however you've always wanted to work at a movie theater, but have been hesitant to apply because you don’t feel confident about it. Your support team suggests to you to try supported employment…and the journey begins.
So, what is supported employment? The short answer is, when an individual with developmental disabilities achieves competitive employment based on their choice, interests and skills with assistance from a job coach and/or co-workers. This is the ideal outcome of supported employment, however it can sometimes be a long road to this outcome. Historically individuals with disabilities are underserved in all aspects of life, employment included.
There is a detailed process to finding employment for individuals with disabilities, often called vocational profiling. This is the process of getting to know the person’s aspirations, learning needs, skills, experience and job preferences. The odds are likely that the job seeker may not have had a job before, or has not worked for many years and they will need support to make informed decisions about their job choices. Parents, carers, and other important people in their lives are involved in the big picture of the job seeker. This process increases the odds of the supported employment team finding the job seeker the best job match, based on the person's preferences and individual differences.
A barrier to employment can be the employer themselves. In the recent past employers have seen employing someone with a disability as extra work for them or too much to take on, in spite of this, there has been an increase in employing people with disabilities because of the support that they receive. Most typical job seekers will have a traditional interview, but fortunately more and more employers are beginning to see the value in working interviews. A working interview allows for the employer to see the job seekers skills in action and then determine if they are the right fit.
Once the individual has secured work, their job coach begins their part in supporting that person in their workplace. What this looks like varies employee to employee. Some individuals will only need weekly check-ins, while others will require one-on-one support for their whole shift. It is necessary to encourage the employer and co-workers to be involved in supporting their new hire. In many cases individual goals are made and records are kept.
Ultimately the job coach’s obligation is to phase themselves out as much as possible, but just like any working person, one might want to seek training opportunities or increased responsibilities to improve their working lives and their job coach can support this too.
-Anne Retwaiut