March 2021 Newsletter

Indiana’s “Work to Include” Coalition

Advancing Employment for Individuals with Disabilities

“Our anger was a fury sparked by profound injustices.
Wrongs that deserved ire. And with that rage we ripped a hole in the status quo.”
― Judith Heumann, Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

HOLD THE DATE! Transition & Pre-Employment Training Services (Pre-ETS) Webinar

March 25, 2021, 1:00-2:00 pm

The Indianapolis Work to Include Coalition Team is hosting a webinar on Transition with a focus on Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) on Thursday, March 25th, from 1:00-2:00 pm.

Featured Speakers: Michelle Oja (Indiana Department of Education), Jonathan Kraeszig (Vocational Rehabilitation), and Luke Labas (Mayor’s Office of Disability Affairs).

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) is required by law to set aside federal funds for Pre-ETS to students with disabilities who are eligible (or potentially eligible) for VR services to prepare students for a smooth transition from high school to employment or post-secondary education and training. Five core services of Pre-ETS are: 1) Job exploration counseling; 2) Work-based learning experiences; 3) Counseling on postsecondary opportunities; 4) Workplace readiness training; and 5) Instruction in self-advocacy. Watch for the Zoom link for the webinar, which will be sent to Work to Include Coalition members next week.

2021 General Assembly

The 2021 session of the Indiana General Assembly is over half-way. Now is when bills move between houses. Here are a few of the bills you may want to contact your legislator about and follow. Work to Include is working with a few legislators to hold a summer study committee on how to improve Indiana’s Medicaid Buy-In program, MedWorks, and other Medicaid eligibility issues. Once we have a resolution, we will ask you to contact legislators to be sure it passes and the hearing is scheduled. If you know of other bills WTI should follow, let us know.

• HB 1001

  • This is the budget bill and currently it includes a DSP wage increase to get them to an average of $13/hour. Let your Senator and Representative know how critical it is to increase DSP wages. Some are concerned it will lead to lower service plans under the Medicaid Waiver. Be sure to tell your legislator that this increase should not have a negative impact on the number of services people receive. The bill also includes language on Special Education Funding clarifying the classifications of categories based on disabilities.

• SB259 Parents with disabilities.

  • This bill specifies that it is the policy of the state to recognize the importance of family and children, including the parenting rights of a parent, regardless of whether the parent has a disability. This would ensure children would not be removed from parents simply because they have a disability.

• HB 1516 Licensure for ABA Therapists and Title Protection for Music Therapists.

  • Establishes the behavior analyst board (board) that consists of three behavior analyst members, one consumer member, and one physician member. Requires the board to adopt rules concerning the practice of behavior analysis and continuing education requirements for behavior analysts and assistant behavior analysts.

• HB 1313

  • Working with the Department of Workforce Development to contact students who left school since 2003 with an IEP, certificate of completion or a certificate of attendance to provide them with access to resources to get a diploma or workforce training opportunities.

 There is a great website where you can track the progress during the second half of the session. All you need to do is put the bill number into the block on the left of the screen and you can see up-to-date action.

Promoting Employment First with Indiana Legislators

How many of you have ever called or visited your Indiana legislators? If you are like the majority of Americans, you have not, even though that is one of the best ways of moving something forward. It has long been shown that a phone call to a legislator is worth a thousand tweets. The New York Times reported, “What representatives and staffers want to hear is the individual impact of your individual story,” a congressional office staff said. “I couldn’t listen to people’s stories for six to eight hours a day and not be profoundly impacted by them.” The more they hear from you the better. And while it seems daunting, it is really pretty easy to reach a staffer and schedule a meeting with your Indiana Senator or Representative. Common Cause has an easy-to-use website where all you do is enter your address and it gives you contacts for all your federal and state legislators.

What do you say when you call? It is always good to take some notes for your call before you dial the number. You may end up speaking to a staff person, but that is ok. They often keep the pulse for their representative. Be courteous, be brief, but do provide them with an action that you want the legislator to take and how it impacts you personally. For example, “Please support the DSP wage increase included in HB1001. DSPs provide me with valuable services and we need to recognize their importance in their wages.” APSE has a guide for self-advocates that has many resources and ideas for being a strong advocate. Check it out.

It is always helpful to build a relationship in your home community with those who represent you. Go to town halls, listen in on their Facebook live sessions, etc. That relationship will open the doors for even more discussion. Remember, they are people like you! After a while, they may even reach out to you to get your opinion on legislation. Then you have really done your work!!

#INCLUSIONWORKS

According to Forbes, “In recent years, there have been reports of an estimated 420,000 individuals with disabilities who have been paid an average of just $2.15 per hour.” Given how the FLSA was written, there is no floor for how little workers with disabilities can be paid. There are still over 100,000 workers with disabilities across the U.S. who are paid a subminimum wage and over 46 states with employers who have active 14(c) certificates. There is some momentum nationally and at the state level to change this. In the US Congress, the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act would phase out sub-minimum wage certificates and support employers as well as employees in creating inclusive workspaces. It would also support community rehabilitation programs to shift their business model to allow for this change. Since January eight states have introduced bills to phase out sub-minimum wage. We hope by our next newsletter to announce a webinar on organizational transformation to learn more about how Indiana should respond to potential changes.

Online Waiver Application

There are three ways to access the application for Medicaid Waiver services. You can contact your local Bureau of Developmental Disabilities Services (BDDS) Office and request an Application Packet to apply for the Family Supports waiver. Great news is that as of 2/1/21, the BDDS Gateway online application for services is open. This application is available 24/7 and can be used to apply for waiver services. For further information and to access this online application see the link below.

#INCLUSIONWORKS

CHECK US OUT…

Please help get the word out! Go to our Facebook and LinkedIN pages and share them widely. We hope you enjoy the access to employment-related content and are sure others will, too. Thanks!

HAVE AN EMPLOYMENT SUCCESS STORY YOU ARE WANTING TO SHARE?EMAIL SRINNE60@GMAIL.COM. SHORT, SWEET AND A PICTURE WOULD BE WONDERFUL! 

Thank you!

For more information please contact our Co-Directors,

Pat Rogan, Professor, IUPUI School of Education at progan@iupui.edu
or 
Susan Rinne, MPA at srinne60@gmail.com