The Buzzz April, 2009

The Right to Live a Normal Life:  An interview with Carol A. Salter, Assistant Vice President for  Workforce Development and National Director( of the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) at Easter Seals

By Penny Reeder

I want to thank Carol A. Salter for so graciously agreeing to answer my barrage of questions about Easter Seals and the important work that the organization does on behalf of people with disabilities.  Although we were separated in time and space, while Carol was attending a conference and then flying on to the west coast and I was working from the opposite side of the country, we managed to develop a multi-week, bi-coastal e-mail friendship with the assistance of computers and Blackberries.  It is obvious that Gettinghired, and all of us who cope with our own or family members' disabilities are better off, by far, because of the commitment of people like Carol, and Easter Seals, Inc., to giving people with disabilities the right to live a normal life.

Q:  What would you like for our readers, who will be people with disabilities, employers, and other organizations who provide services and advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, to know about Easter Seals.

A:  Easter Seals, Inc. provides training and employment services to individuals with disabilities at more than 45 affiliate sites in the United States. We work in conjunction with other agencies to collaboratively serve individuals who are seeking employment.   One service that we provide is a personalized assessment of skills and interests to best match each job seeker with job openings in his or her community. We also work closely with employers by pre-screening potential job candidates so we can make the best possible recommendation for each job opening. Easter Seals providers also offer job retention services, such as job coaching, mentorship, and follow-up services to ensure successful job matches for both the employer and the employee.

Q:  I spent some time on your web site where I learned that Easter Seals is currently focusing on autism.  There truly does seem to be an epidemic of new autism diagnoses.  Can you highlight some of the findings from Easter Seals' recent ground-breaking report on autism, and can you talk about some of the specific programs that you sponsor which are helpful to people with autism and their families?

A:  One of the most striking findings from the Easter Seals "Living with Autism Study" was that only 24 percent of teenagers with autism have looked for employment, compared to 76 percent of typically developing teenagers, many of whom are already engaged in paid work long before they leave high school. Teenagers with autism are not even looking for work. Easter Seals provides many secondary transition support programs for high school aged students. These programs are intended to support a successful transition for individuals with disabilities exiting the public school entitlement programs. The transition programs have a strong emphasis on employment. High school students who are already employed when they exit school are much more likely to maintain employment than kids who exit high school without a job. Easter Seals works to support these transitioning students to exit their high school years with the greatest opportunity for success in adulthood.

Easter Seals also provides opportunities for individuals with autism to develop those social and communication skills that are so important for success in adult life. The Easter Seals' "Living with Autism Study" clearly stated that a major concern is the social skills of children with autism. Only 17percent of parents of children with autism felt that their children would have friends in the community. With effective instruction and intervention, individuals with autism can learn social skills that lead to friendship and success in a work environment. Easter Seals provides effective intervention.

Q:   I knew Easter Seals two decades ago when one of our children was experiencing a speech and language delay.  He attended an Easter Seals preschool program, where he absolutely blossomed.   Does Easter Seals still sponsor programs for children with hearing and speech and language difficulties?

A: Easter Seals continues to provide rehabilitation services to children, including speech-language pathology and audiology services.  These services are provided in a number of different environments including in families' homes, in inclusive child development centers and in out-patient rehabilitation clinics, as well as in schools.  In fact, Easter Seals operates the nation's largest network of inclusive child development centers and serves over 37,000 children per year through early intervention services, which work to identify children with disabilities at the earliest possible age.

Q:  How many employment training programs does Easter Seals sponsor, i.e., where are they?  And, how can people with disabilities take advantage of the employment and training programs you offer?  Does a person with a disability need to go through a state agency to access Easter Seals employment services?

A:  There are over 43 locations in the United States which can be located through our public web site:  http://www.easterseals.com by entering your zip code into our service locator. Most of our locations are funded through the state Vocational Rehabilitation agencies, however some have other sources of funding that allow them to work independent of those agencies. Individuals with disabilities who are interested in working through one of our local sites may call the contact number listed on the web site and inquire about the services provided at that site.

Q:  I found Easter Seals' history to be so interesting.  Your web site outlines the organization's founding, and the creation of the very first Easter seal.  At that time, Easter Seals described the needs of people with disabilities like this:  "Those served by the charity ask simply for the right to live a normal life."  Do you think that the needs of people with disabilities have changed since the Charity came into existence?  Are the needs of people with disabilities more complex today than they were in the 1940s?

A:  Society's willingness to recognize and meet the needs of individuals with disabilities has certainly changed since the 1940s, however the basic needs of the individuals have not changed. We want to provide individuals with the basic tools to succeed in today's job market, enabling them to have family-wage job opportunities, leading to independence and choice.

Q:  Is the recession affecting Easter Seals' ability to keep its centers open, to employ staff, or to provide the services which people with disabilities and their families have come to depend upon? 

A:  As with all agencies, non-profit or for-profit, in the U.S., we have seen some of our centers go through some tough times due to the recession. Our donations have decreased in the past few years, however we have not seen any of our centers close. There have been some cases of down-sizing of staff, hiring freezes, and additional job duties added to the regular workforce.

Q:    I am interested in your operation "Employ Veterans."  Is that a partnership with the Department of Veterans' Affairs and how would a returning vet take advantage of the rehabilitation and employment services that Easter Seals is providing?  Are there any aspects of this program that make Easter Seals' range of services especially effective or unique?

A:  Operation Employ Veterans (OEV) is a year-long program that supports the McCormick Foundation's Operation Healing Freedom campaign and is currently being offered throughout the Chicagoland area. This training provides employers education on effective methods to recruit, employ, and retain wounded veterans.  The training modules are a product of identified employer needs and veteran challenges resulting from several focus group meetings that include representation from corporate employers, the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Labor, and Illinois Employment Services, and groups of veterans. Veterans with disabilities who are facing challenges in the Chicagoland area, as well as employers seeking to hire veterans with disabilities, are encouraged to contact Easter Seals at 1-866-423-4981 to identify available public and private resources they may be able to utilize. A unique aspect of the early success of the OEV program is that Easter Seals is able to leverage other programs, such as Community OneSource^TM, which not only provides veterans with employment resources but also helps connect them with other community services and supports, including benefits, housing, childcare, transportation, health care, respite, recreation, mental health and financial counseling-through individualized system and service navigation and personalized follow-up.

Q:  What do you see as the biggest obstacle Easter Seals has to overcome in order to find jobs for people with disabilities?

A:  The biggest obstacle that Easter Seals encounters, when assisting individuals who are seeking employment, is employer attitudes. There are stereotypes of this population that result in employers' believing that their health costs will increase, productivity will decrease and most of all; it will cost too much to make "accommodations" of work stations to be able to employ individuals with need of these services.  In truth, over 80percent of all accommodations cost under $500, health costs do not increase, and an appropriate job match will assure adequate productivity.

Q:  And, finally, do you believe Easter Seals' ability to help people with disabilities to find jobs has improved, or become more difficult, or stayed essentially the same in light of the new administration in Washington?  If you think the changes that have come about as a result of the Obama Administration have made it easier for Easter Seals to provide services, or to advocate effectively on behalf of people with disabilities, can you point to any specific changes that have come about because of the Obama Administration's programs or policies?

A:  The Obama Administration has placed a great deal of emphasis on domestic policy issues and how those areas connect with our nation's economic recovery. Its' call for investment in the environment, health care and education sectors of our economy  is intended to turn our economic direction around, which should help all workers - including workers with disabilities. The investment in job training programs such as vocational rehabilitation, community colleges and One Stops through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has already had a huge impact on people with disabilities by providing much needed resources to programs that have suffered cuts over the past few years. These investments mean more people getting more services - resulting in more people getting hired and going to work. President Obama stated in March that improving the employment situation for people with disabilities would be a top priority for his Department of Labor, a commitment we are very pleased to see. It's still early in this term, but the interest in helping people with disabilities move more easily into the workforce is certainly there.