TATRA Navigation Menu
Supported Employment
Supported Employment is for persons
- with the most severe disabilities,
- who need intensive or ongoing job support,
- who have traditionally been excluded from competitive work settings, or
- whose work has been interrupted or intermittent because of their disabilities.
Supported employment is based on the principle that individuals with severe disabilities have the right to be employed by community businesses where they can earn comparable wages, work side-by-side with co-workers with or without disabilities, and experience all of the same benefits as other employees of the company. Supported employment assists individuals with severe disabilities by providing individualized supports that enable them to choose the kind of job they want and to become successful members of the workforce.
There are two aspects to providing supported employment services -- purchase of the service, and delivery of the service. For high school students, the school usually both buys and delivers supported employment services. In the adult system, the organizations that buy the services are different from the organizations that deliver the services. Adults should be able to choose the type of community and workplace supports that will help them maintain employment.
In the Minnesota adult service system there are two vocational rehabilitation organizations that buy supported employment services -- the Division of Rehabilitation Services (DRS) and State Services for the Blind (SSB). Organizations that deliver supported employment services help an individual find a job and stay employed. Organizations that deliver supported employment services include Day Training and Habilitation agencies (DT&H), Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRP), and Community Support Programs (CSP).
Supported Employment Links
- ForEmployers.com helps businesses tap into a growing workforce that has emerged as a result of rapid and innovative developments in technology-- a workforce that includes people with disabilities...
- Supported Employment, a concise description of Supported Employment and its key features is provided on this web page from a joint Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and the Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston project.
- "Quality Indicators in Supported Employment: Core Values Underlying Supported Employment," another web page developed by VCU and ICI, presents nine values that have guided supported employment efforts from the early 1980's and a brief description of each.
- The Association for Persons in Supported Employment (APSE), a membership formed to improve and expand integrated employment opportunities, services, and outcomes for persons experiencing disabilities
- Supported Employment, a fact sheet from the Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor
- Supported Employment for People with the Most Significant Disabilities, a fact sheet from the Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor
- Supported Employment Resource List from WorkSupport.com
- The Supported Employment Model, a fact sheet from the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability
- Workplace Supports, a fact sheet from Virginia Commonwealth University addressing common questions about the kinds of workplace supports that individuals with disabilities may need to obtain and maintain employment
PACER's site offers many PDF files for download, which require 
