Collaboration between Career Services and Disability Services Works The DCO Model

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Collaboration between Career Services and
Disability Services Works! The DCO Model

• Alan D. Muir, Executive Director
• Career Opportunities for Students with
  Disabilities
• Sarah Helm
• Disability-Careers Office
• The University of Tennessee
• August 16, 2006

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Objectives of Presentation

• Introduce the Disability-Careers Office (DCO)
  model
• Provide information on the history and
  implementation of the DCO
• Cover services provided through the DCO
• Review roles and responsibilities of the DCO
  Coordinator
• Discuss campus and community collaboration
• Highlight future goals of the DCO
• Introduce COSD Career Gateway

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Background Information

• Observed low participation by students with
  disabilities within University Career Services
• Needed to identify methods of increasing traffic
  of these students
• Extensive research on transition from HS to work,
  yet no information on transition to work from
  Higher Education
• No statistics on the unemployment rate of college
  students with disabilities Best estimate is
  near 40
• TN State VR provided a small grant, mainly for
  travel expenses
• Required results of research

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Research Hypothesis

• Collaboration between Disability Services (DS)
  and Career Services (CS) is needed
• CS is the only office at which employers visit to
  recruit
• Without students with disabilities participating
  in CS programs, they are invisible to employers
• CS needs exposure to disability
• DS needs exposure to careers

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Research Results

• University
• No active model program
• Several attempts that withered away
• Some DS and CS offices were unaware of each other
• Other possible programs were active but
  ineffective
• Assigning a specific person in CS as the
  disability expert
• Limited hours with limited disability experience

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Research Results

• Employers
• Great enthusiasm and recognition of need to hire
  people with disabilities
• Changing workforce with looming labor shortage
• Disability is a new source
• More questions than answers
• Where do we find students with disabilities?
• When we do find students, why are they
  unqualified?

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UTK Solution

• Creation of the Disability-Careers Office
• Liaison between Office of Disability Services and
  Career Services
• Serve students who are registered with the Office
  of Disability Services and/or are funded by
  Tennessee Vocational Rehabilitation
• Provide services to over 750 current UTK students
• UT Funding

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Disability-Careers Office

• In cooperation with UT Career Services and the
  Office of Disability Services, the purpose of the
  DCO is to assist individual college students and
  alumni, with various disabilities, by providing
  career planning services and guidance.

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DCO Organizational Chart
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Dean of Students
Director, Career Services
Director, Disability Services
Disability-Careers Office
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DCO Annual Budget(Approximate)
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Office of Disability ServicesDisability Type
Breakdown

• ADHD 188
• LD 153
• Psychiatric 100
• Chronic 82
• Deaf/Hard of Hearing 38
• Mobility 37
• Blind/Low Vision 21
• TBI/ABI 10
• Temporary Disability 9

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DCO Services

• Services provided
• Career path and major exploration through
  assessment tools
• Career counseling
• Job seeking skills
• Self-advocacy skill development
• Self-disclosure skill development
• Interview techniques and preparation
• Information regarding an individuals rights and
  responsibilities under the Americans with
  Disabilities Act of 1990
• Informational resources for students, staff,
  faculty and employers
• Referrals to UT Career Services and the Office of
  Disability Services

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Self-Advocacy

• Difference between K-12 and Higher Education law
• Articulation of ones disability
• Low expectations inhibit self-advocacy
• Career Services and Disability Services are
  generally unfamiliar with the functions of the
  other. Therefore, the student is caught in the
  middle without proper self-advocacy training.

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Self-Advocacy

• Two transitions
• Transition from high school to higher education
• Transition from higher education to work
• Definition of self-advocacy and disclosure is
  very different within this transition
• The stakes are much higher
• protected vs. non-protected environment
• We need to teach self-advocacy at the next level
  in order for students to be successfully prepared
  for the workforce

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Disability Disclosure

• Definition
• A voluntary act of revealing
• a disability for the purpose of receiving
• accommodations and/or providing
• awareness

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Disability Disclosure

• Who am I?
• Questions that should be asking during the
  college years
• How does my disability play a role?
• What is the best match for me and my career
  choices?
• What are my needs beyond the classroom?

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Disability Disclosure

• Preparing to disclose
• Exploring feelings
• Identify accommodations
• Weigh the benefits, risks and timing of
  disclosure
• Analysis of essential functions
• Script preparation

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Americans with Disabilities Act

• Title I - Employment
• Interview
• Hiring
• Essential functions
• Reasonable accommodations

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Internship and Employment Opportunities

• Disability Mentoring Day
• DO-IT AccessSTEM
• Entry Point!/ACCESS - AAAS
• Emerging Leaders
• Microsoft-AAPD Federal I.T. Internship Program
• Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation AAPD
  Congressional Internship Program
• The Washington Center for Internships and
  Academic Seminars, Scholarship Program for
  College Students with Disabilities
• The Workforce Recruitment Program

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Referral Sources

• DS professional staff members
• CS professional staff members
• Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors
• TN Career Centers
• Local disability service providers

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Outreach to Students

• Email listserv
• Orientation
• Campus newspaper
• Bulletin board
• Brochures
• Career Services job posting database

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Outreach to Employers

• Career Fairs
• On-campus recruiting
• Off-campus visits
• Become familiar with the employers company wide
  diversity efforts in regard to recruiting and
  hiring
• Career Opportunities for Students with
  Disabilities (COSD)

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Outreach to Community Constituents

• Knoxville Area Employment Consortium
• Business Advisory Council
• Tennessee Valley Human Resources Association

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DCO Student Contact November 2005 April 2006
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DCO Future Goals

• Double unique student participation numbers
• More focus on employer relations to create
  additional employment opportunities
• Increase participation in related experiential
  education opportunities for students with
  disabilities
• Create Graduate Assistant position to assist with
  student meetings, campus and community outreach
  and employer relations.
• Increase DCO funding to improve services

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Bringing It All Together

• Employers
• Specifically searching for students with
  disabilities
• Specific recruiting programs
• Specialized personnel in Disability Services role
• Greater sophistication in disability

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Bringing It All Together

• Career Services
• Understanding of key role as liaison between
  student and employer
• Need to be more helpful and attuned to needs of
  students with disabilities
• COSD training is getting out there
• COSD encouraging CS to reach out to DS

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Bringing It All Together

• Disability Services
• Expanding the continuum of service
• Understanding difference between disclosure in
  higher education and the workplace
• COSD encouraging involvement with students and
  employers
• COSD encouraging outreach to CS

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Challenges

• Confidentiality in sharing of student information
  between CS and DS
• Not enough time within the CS or DS office
• Not enough knowledge regarding disability and /or
  careers

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Additional Successful Programs

• Adelphi University
• Cal Berkeley
• Florida International University
• Ball State University
• DO-IT AccessSTEM

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Continuum

• The DCO is an example of an ideal model.
• What is best for your institution?
• Learn about the roles and responsibilities of
  both Disability Services and Careers Services
• Collaborate and provide staff training in regard
  to students with disabilities and career
  development
• Open up lines of communication if a question
  would arise from either department
• Appoint a professional staff member within each
  department to serve as the disability/career
  contact
• Create a program that bridges the two departments

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• The Disability-Careers Office is a national
  example, which is driven by Career Opportunities
  for Students with Disabilities (COSD)

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Career Opportunities for Students with
Disabilities (COSD)

• COSD is a unique national association of higher
  education institutions, well-known national
  corporate employers, U. S. Government agencies
  and private sector non-profit organizations
  focused on career employment of college graduates
  with disabilities. COSD is funded by a number of
  corporate partners that are committed to hiring
  people with disabilities.

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Career Opportunities for Students with
Disabilities (COSD)

• Career Gateway
• COSD is launching a national recruiting database
  that focused on college students with
  disabilities that will benefit both these
  students and employers. The database is an
  interactive environment where employers post job
  openings and students upload their resumes for
  review by employers. The database will provide a
  central point at which employers can identify and
  recruit qualified candidates with disabilities.

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Questions