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Supported employment vs. sheltered workshops for individuals with disabilities
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A sheltered workshop is a workplace which provides employment to people with disabilities who can benefit from a protective and supportive work environment. In a sheltered workshop, people perform a variety of tasks that provide work experience and on the job training.
Problems with sheltered workshops include the fact that the pay is often low, that there are limited opportunities for advancement, and that employees do not necessarily branch out into the workplace at large. Studies have shown, however, that people with disabilities can actually do very well in a mainstreamed workplace, if given the opportunity to do so.
Yet there are many roadblocks to employment for individuals with disabilities. Dale Dileo, a well-known speaker, disability advocate, and author notes that people with disabilities, especially those with developmental disabilities, have very high rates of unemployment. Even students with disabilities may graduate only to become under-employed. According to a National Longitudinal transition study, 46% of all students with disabilities were unemployed and 29% were involved in sheltered workshops. He explains that the primary barriers people with disabilities face in getting a job are discrimination, lack of job experience in school and lack of support. Yet research shows that people earn two or three times more money, are more integrated, have a wider variety or jobs and are more satisfied in supported employment than in sheltered workshops.
About Dale Dileo: Dale DiLeo has provided training throughout the US and in Canada and Europe on community inclusion for persons with disabilities. Dale has served as the keynote speaker for the European Union of Supported Employment in Oslo, Norway and presenting again in Barcelona, Spain. He has consulted with state and private agencies, universities, professional associations, and corporations. He is the Past President of the Board of the Association for Persons in Supported Employment (APSE), and is the lead author of that organization's highly respected Ethical Guidelines in Supported Employment. His latest book, Raymond's Room, focuses on ending segregation of people with disabilities in community life.
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