Postsecondary employment (PSEmp) is a mandated component of the IEP. For many students PSEmp means working in a job for pay once they have graduated from public school with a diploma, or by exiting public school by aging out. PSEmp can vary widely depending on the needs of the individual and may include competitive employment, supported employment and/or volunteer work.
Competitive employment means working in a job for pay without additional support. Key characteristics of competitive employment include market driven jobs, equal opportunity, market driven wages and benefits, inclusive environments, and advancement opportunities. Essentially it is a job where individuals compete to be hired, receive at least minimum wage, work in the environment associated with the position, and have the chance to move up the ladder through additional training and/or experience.
Supported employment means that the individual is receiving support in some form from, usually from a third party like an agency that serves adults with disabilities. Supported employment can look exactly like competitive employment where the individual works alongside nondisabled peers doing the same job for at least minimum wage but with some level of support. Support can be in the form of a job coach that assists the person to perform the job through supervision and training, with the overall outcome of the individual becoming independent in the job.
Supported employment can also take place outside of the mainstream workplace and offer fewer distractions and flexible expectations, enabling the individual to work successfully while earning at least minimum wage. Supported employment also includes “sheltered workshops” in which individuals with disabilities work in environments outside of the mainstream work place, performing work tasks for less than minimum wage. In 2010 sheltered workshops were challenged as being discriminatory and in direct violation of the ADA. Disability rights groups have deemed that sheltered workshops are discriminatory and exploitative and over the years many states have enacted legislation to eliminate them altogether and to move toward the attainment of community based employment for individuals with disabilities.
The elimination of sheltered workshops has been controversial; many individuals with disabilities, parents, and legal guardians have been against terminating them as they present the only opportunity for some people to be employed and earn money. Realistically, not everyone is able to work in a competitive job on a regular basis for a specific number of hours with or without support due to the impact that their disability presents. For those individuals who are capable of working at their own pace in a smaller, separate environment, the closing of sheltered workshops eliminated the only opportunity that they had to be successfully employed in a manner that was meaningful and purposeful to them. Shutting workshops down also presents the dilemma of how the person should fill the time that had been spent working. It was hypothesized that by eliminating sheltered workshops, people would receive training that would enable them to become employed in the community, which as mentioned, is not realistic for many people.
For people who cannot find or who are not able to work in competitive employment, volunteer opportunities are often the answer to postsecondary employment. Volunteering has many benefits including the opportunity for a person to develop and demonstrate characteristics or skills that can eventually lead to competitive employment. For others, volunteer opportunities provide an environment in which the individual can contribute meaningfully to the community, develop social relationships, and gain personal satisfaction.