MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) - North Iowa organizations serving people with disabilities are trying to meet new federal rules that allow clients to stay in pre-vocational workshops for only two years.
The Globe Gazette (https://bit.ly/2fyqFEx ) reports that the goal is to have more clients get jobs in the community rather than being segregated from the public in these workshops - which are also called sheltered workshops - or on-site at the organizations.
There have been success stories, such as Nicole Nosbich, a 23-year-old Opportunity Village client who was working on-site in kitchen services and recently got a new job at the BE WELLness Market, a health food store in Clear Lake.
Nosbisch, who lives in Clear Lake, said the best part about her new job is the people. She also likes that she does “something different every day.”
However, others are concerned about what will happen to those with disabilities currently in the sheltered workshops who can’t find a job in the community.
Tina Stange’s 24-year-old daughter works at the Comp Systems workshop in Mason City.
Comp Systems, which is based in Charles City, is discontinuing all its sheltered workshops as of June 30, 2017, because of the new rules.
Other organizations, such as Forest City-based Mosaic, have also announced they will be closing their sheltered workshops.
Stange said she would love it if her daughter could go out in the community and get a job, but that’s not possible for her. It is not safe for her because she tells everyone everything, including where she lives, she said.
Her daughter earns $2 an hour because of a rule allowing employers to pay below minimum wage to the disabled if they are in a sheltered workshop.
It’s not much, but for those with disabilities, “it gives them self-esteem,” Stange said.
Also, without that money those who are unable to find jobs in the community have to live on Social Security alone and might not have the extra money to do things like go to a movie, she said.
More and more parents are frustrated, according to Stange.
If their children don’t have employment, they sit around the house and become depressed.
“It is sad,” she said.
Day Habilitation programs are available for those with disabilities who aren’t working.
However, Stange said those programs are like “babysitting for adults” and don’t provide the same benefits as the sheltered workshops.
Bob Lincoln, CEO for County Social Services, said the move toward inclusion - to have the disabled living and working in the community rather than being segregated - is “what’s driving these very difficult decisions.”
“It’s a business decision based on a lot of factors,” said Lincoln, whose region includes Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Hancock, Mitchell, Winnebago, Worth, Wright, Howard, Kossuth and Chickasaw counties, among others.
The Olmstead decision is one of those factors, according to Lincoln.
This 1999 U.S Supreme Court ruling states unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Other factors include the mental health redesign several years ago and the privatization of Medicaid, according to Lincoln.
He also said communities are now more dependent on Medicaid than local funding for mental health.
There are benefits to having those with disabilities being included in the community rather than living and working in segregated settings, according to Lincoln.
“It’s about having a life,” he said.
Although there are challenges, “it is about respecting the dignity of those with disabilities,” Lincoln said.
He also noted there’s the question of whether it is right to pay those with disabilities below minimum wage.
But when you gain something you also lose something, according to Lincoln.
What is being lost is “some of the congregate sites that people have become accustomed to and depend upon,” he said.
Efforts are being made to improve Day Habilitation programs, which are geared toward skill-building and social engagement, he said.
“Providers have really stepped up to the plate,” Lincoln said.
Michael Mahaffey, chief development officer for Opportunity Village, said the workshop in Garner closed several months ago and was converted into a residence for some of the people the Village serves.
Opportunity Village has people currently employed at its one remaining workshop in Clear Lake, but no new referrals are being accepted.
The federal government will no longer help fund these types of workshops after December 2018.
This gives Opportunity Village some time to gradually faze people out of the workshop and into community employment, according to Mahaffey.
“That’s our biggest struggle right now,” he said.
As Village clients are moving away from housing in the cottages on campus in Clear Lake and into residences in communities around North Iowa, they are transitioning into “a different way of life,” Mahaffey said.
For some, this means going into “retirement mode,” which can mean volunteering in the community, he said.
For others, particularly the younger clients, this means finding a job in the community if that’s what they want, according to Mahaffey.
Opportunity Village has a Discovery Program in which clients prepare for this. They prepare for job interviews and learn the “soft skills” they will need, Mahaffey said.
Opportunity Village uses a customized employment approach. This means rather than taking clients to the human resources department at area businesses to see what openings they have available, Opportunity Village asks if there’s anything in the operation of the business that is making it less efficient.
For example, an Opportunity Village client might not be qualified to be a bank teller, but the bank might have a lot of documents that need shredding and would be happy to hire an Opportunity Village client to do that task rather than taking current employees away from their other duties to shred paper.
Opportunity Village has job coaches that go with clients into the workplace to help them communicate with their supervisor.
Nosbich has a job coach who goes with her to BE WELLness.
Marissa Fichter, manager of Lauryn’s Lunchbox, a carry-out lunch counter that recently opened at BE WELLness, said Nosbisch “is the most innovative and adaptive person I’ve ever met.”
She tries different methods that work for her, according to Fichter.
Working with Nosbisch involves “a lot of laughs and a lot of smiles and a lot of dancing,” Fichter said.
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Information from: Globe Gazette, https://www.globegazette.com/
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