DISCOVERING JOBS: Linking the Discovery Process to Employment for Youth

PROJECT ABSTRACT. Individuals with disabilities are an important, overlooked part of the labor pool. The disturbing rate of unemployment among individuals with disabilities is 14.5%, compared to 9.1% for individuals without disabilities; and the labor participation rate for individuals with disabilities is 21.5% compared to 69.8% for individuals without disabilities.

In a newly released study published in the TASH journal, Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, supported employees returned an average monthly net benefit to taxpayers of $251 (or an annual net benefit of $3,016.08 per supported employee) and generated a benefit–cost ratio of $1.46 for every dollar spent. The comprehensive research looked at all 231,204 supported employees funded by vocational rehabilitation throughout the entire United States from 2002 to 2007.
 
As a result the project partners from Georgia Department of Education, Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Services, the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Georgia Advocacy Office and Employment First Georgia asked: “Why are there not more individuals with disabilities working?”
  
We know the Discovery Process effectively creates an outcomes-based foundation for employment planning. It enables a good match between the strengths, needs and interest of the job candidate and the business needs of the potential employer, but this critical process is also under utilized.

Therefore the pilot project DISCOVERING JOBS: Linking the Discovery Process to Employment for Youth evolved as one-way to attempt to impact some of these issues in the four-county area of Hall, Clarke, Walton, and Whitfield.

METHOD. This collaborative initiative will support 10 students and their support teams in utilizing the Discovery Process and the resulting Discovery Profile to customize employment for the focus students.