Disability and Work: Barriers and Facilitators for Vocational - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Disability and Work:

Barriers and Facilitators for Vocational Rehabilitation Applicants

Debra Wright, Insight Policy Research Angie Eckstein, Mathematica Policy Research Purvi Sevak, Mathematica Policy Research New Orleans 2017

Support and Acknowledgments

 Project conducted at Mathematica Policy Research and

Kessler Foundation

 Funded by National Institute on Disability, Independent

Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Individual Characteristics, under cooperative agreement 90RT5017- 01-01

 Findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do

not represent the policy of HHS or NIDILRR; authors retain sole responsibility for any errors or omissions

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Purpose of Presentation

 Describe Survey of Disability and

Employment (SDE) and data

 Provide general descriptive statistics

based on survey results and implications

 Discuss other/current work and use of

data for future research

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Background and Motivation

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Disability and Employment

 Compared to working-

age people without disabilities, those with disabilities have persistently lower levels

• f employment and

earnings

 People with disabilities

are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty as their nondisabled peers

lo we r fo r

$10,000

fo r pe o ple with disa b ilitie s tha n witho ut

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Disability and Employment

 Research using administrative and survey data

reveals large differences in employment by—

• Type of disability
• Race
• Education
• State of residence

 Little information available on what factors are

associated with better outcomes and why some groups of individuals fare better than others

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Research Objectives

 Provide new insights into barriers and

facilitators to employment among individuals with disabilities and explain subgroup differences

 Examine individual and environmental

factors that contribute to successful

• utcomes

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Summary of Key Findings

 Most have worked or are working and have high

perception of ability to succeed in work

 A majority report it is very important they work  Health problems restrict work, but there are many

nonhealth barriers

• Difficulty finding a job
• Lack of skills
• Lack of accessibility

 Workplace accommodations increase success

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Study Design

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Questionnaire Content

ICF Disability and Health Model

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Population

 Target population: working-age individuals

with disabilities who had recently applied for state or federal vocational rehabilitation (VR) services through a state VR agency

• Avoids prescreening for disability
• VR applicants are employment focused
• Likely to have more recent employment

experiences

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Sample and Survey Methods

 Worked with three state VR agencies (NJ, MS, and

OH) to identify and sample individuals on rolling basis

 Sampled 5,153 applicants; 2,804 gave consent

and participated in the survey (57-percent response rate)

 All interviews were completed by telephone

• Assistive technologies and proxies used (4 percent

completed by proxy)

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Personal Characteristics Percentage SDE Percentage VR admin

Sex

Male 49.8 54.5 Female 50.2 45.5

Race

White only 57.4 68.7 Black only 33.3 27.0 Other 9.3 4.2

Age

25−30 16.9

16.9

31−50 54.9

54.9

51−60 28.3

28.3

Educational Attainment

< High school 15.5 17.4 High school 41.4 43.1 > High school 43.2 39.6

Respondents Report Physical and Psychiatric Conditions and Limitations

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Most Commonly Reported Impairments

Key Findings

Employment

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Employment History

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Years Since Worked

Importance of Work by Employment History (Extremely or Very Important)

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Self-Perceived Executive Functioning Is High

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Reliable worker 86% Perseveres until task done 78% Easily distracted 20%

Key Findings

Environmental Factors/Barriers and Facilitators

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Barriers to Work: Top Five Reasons Left Last Job

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Barriers to Work: Why Not Working

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Disability Related

Barriers to Work: Why Not Working

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Nondisability Related

Reasons Health Prevents Work

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Facilitators to Work: Accommodations Received

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Summary and Conclusions

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PWD Want To Work and Can Work With Accommodations

 Most VR applicants want to work and

place importance on employment

 There are many barriers to employment,

but accommodations have the potential to improve employment outcomes

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Implications for Policy/Practice

 Understanding underlying barriers that impact

employment outcomes can help us tailor services and resources to support people with disabilities

 Improved employment outcomes could result

in reduced poverty rates and reliance on social programs for people with disabilities

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Current Research on the SDE

Title Author Outlet

Personal characteristics of vocational rehabilitation applicants: Findings from the Survey of Disability and Employment Eckstein, A., Sevak, P., & Wright, D. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 46, 2017 The role of workplace accommodations in the employment of people with disabilities Sevak, P., & Anand, P. Under review Psychiatric versus physical disabilities: A comparison of barriers and facilitators to employment Sevak, P., & Khan, P. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 40(2), 2017 Variations in social capital among vocational rehabilitation applicants Brucker, D., Botticello, A., O’Neill, J., & Kutlik, A. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 46, 2017 Surveying vocational rehabilitation applicants online: A feasibility study Chandler, J. Under review

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Future Research

 Exploring VR and employment outcomes

• f SDE respondents
• Working with two states to obtain data from

agency’s case management system and state wage data (from UI program)

• Examine relationships between barriers and

facilitators reported in SDE and outcomes

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Data Access

 Survey dataset can be accessed and used

by other researchers with permission

 Contact

• Angie Eckstein aeckstein@mathematica-

mpr.com

• John O’Neill JONeill@kesslerfoundation.org

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Contact Information

Debra Wright

dwright@insightpolicyresearch.com

Angie Eckstein

aeckstein@mathematica-mpr.com

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