Research shows unemployment programs lacking for people with disabilities
(麻豆淫院Org.com) -- The University of Kansas study, published recently in the Career Development Quarterly, shows two major federal programs have inadequacies in aiding people with physical or mental health impairments.
Federal programs to assist the unemployed are failing job seekers with disabilities, according to an investigation by Jean Hall and Kathy Parker of the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas.
The KU study, published recently in the Career Development Quarterly, shows two major federal programs 鈥� the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which requires recipients to find employment within two years, and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which set up 鈥淥ne-Stop鈥� centers to cluster services for the unemployed 鈥� have inadequacies in aiding people with physical or mental health impairments.
鈥淭he biggest problem is that these are one-size-fits-all programs,鈥� said Hall, associate research professor in the Center for Research on Learning鈥檚 Division of Adult Studies. 鈥淧eople with disabilities, because they are a smaller subset, don鈥檛 get the kind of services they need. They are lost in the system.鈥�
The insufficiency of the programs is striking because about 63 percent of Americans with disabilities are unemployed. Moreover, 29 percent of TANF benefit recipients nationwide have physical or mental health impairments, as opposed to 11 percent of the population not receiving TANF benefits.
Yet counselors for the unemployed lack the training necessary to help clients with disabilities.
鈥淲hen we spoke with the service providers who work in these centers they expressed a level of discomfort working with people with disabilities,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淭hey really did desire training to learn how to do that better. It鈥檚 a matter of a comfort level and availability of training or information that they don鈥檛 have.鈥�
Hall said that barriers to employment common to people with disabilities include r茅sum茅 gaps due to illness and the need for special workplace accommodations.
But the KU researcher said that attitudes about disabilities present the largest barrier to employment.
鈥淲hat we found is that people with disabilities who are in these systems, whether it鈥檚 welfare or trying to find a job, experience low self-esteem,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淲hen they go into a center, the staff at the center is not well-prepared to address their particular needs. That response reinforces their feelings of disempowerment 鈥� that the system is not really there to help them.鈥�
The KU researchers found job seekers with disabilities often experienced 鈥渁n endless loop鈥� without finding gainful employment through the center.
To study the TANF program, Hall and Parker conducted six focus groups and surveyed 57 TANF recipients with and without disabilities in Kansas. For the WIA study, the researchers used focus groups with consumers and staff in Kansas along with data collected from 鈥渕ystery customers,鈥� job seekers with disabilities who made visits to One-Stop centers.
Provided by University of Kansas
