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Schacht, Robert M.
The Utilization of IWRP (IPE) Goals Other Than Competitive
Employment for American Indians with Disabilities: A
Preliminary Study. Final Report.
Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff. American Indian
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center.
National Inst. on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
(ED/OSERS), Washington, DC.
Proj-R-39
ISBN-1-888557-97-4
2001-00-00
100p.; Co-investigators: Karla D. Wagner; Julie Anna Clay;
Rebecca Vanderbilt; and Margaret Ligaya White.
H133B30068
American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center,
Arizona University Affiliated Program, Northern Arizona
University, P.O. Box 5630, Flagstaff, AZ 86011. Tel:
520-523-4971; Fax: 520-523-4791.
Tests/Questionnaires (160)
Reports - Evaluative (142)
MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.
Adult Development; Adult Programs; Adult Vocational
Education; *American Indians; Case Studies; *Cultural
Influences; *Disabilities; Employment Opportunities;
*Employment Programs; Individualized Programs; Rural Areas;
Sheltered Workshops; *Vocational Rehabilitation
*Individualized Written Rehabilitation Programs

ABSTRACT

This final report presents conclusions of a study of
culturally appropriate employment goals in individual written rehabilitation
plans (IWRPs) for American Indians with disabilities. It focuses on goals
other than competitive employment and reviews national statistics on work
status at closure from all state agencies and 18 tribal VR (vocational
rehabilitation)projects. Results are also presented from focus group
interviews with state and tribal VR counselors who have experience with
placements involving alternatives to competitive employment. Factors in the
success of and barriers to the success of these programs are discussed.
Certain work status alternatives to competitive employment, especially
self-employment, unpaid family worker, and homemaker, are suggested as
appropriate for clients living in rural reservation communities.
Recommendations urge: (1) recognition of the cultural importance of
alternatives to competitive employment; (2) workshops highlighting effective
and appropriate uses of the alternatives to effective employment; (3) fully
informing clients about legal alternatives to competitive employment; (4)
encouragement of self-employment solutions; (5) consultation involving the
whole family unit; (6) case studies of successful examples of sheltered
workshop programs; and (7) outcome assessments of unpaid family worker and
homemaker placements. Four appendices provide additional data on the study's
small businesses, focus groups, and data collection instrument. (Contains 35
references.) (DB)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.

The Utilization of IWRP [IPE] Goals Other than
Competitive Employment for
American Indians with Disabilities:
A Preliminary Study
Final Report
2001
Principal Investigator: Robert M. Schacht, Ph.D.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

ED VC ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
This document has been reproduced as

received from the person or organization
originating it.

0 Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality.
Points of view or opinions stated in this
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position or policy.

Co-Investigators:

Karla D. Wagner, M.A.
Julie Anna Clay, M.P.H.

Rebecca Vanderbilt, M.A.
Margaret Ligaya White, Ph.D.

American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center

_.-...A111.-A1114111
NORMERN ARIZONA UN1VERSUI Y

Arizona University Affiliated Program
Institute for Human Development
P.O. Box 5630
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5630

Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC
Grant No. H133B30068
The contents of this report are the responsibility of the American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center and no
official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education should be inferred.
Northern Arizona University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Institution

ec. 30595:3
The Utilization of IWRP IIPE] Goals Other than
Competitive Employment for
American Indians with Disabilities:
A Preliminary Study
Final Report
2001
Principal Investigator: Robert M. Schacht, Ph.D.

Co-Investigators:

Karla D. Wagner, M.A.
Julie Anna Clay, M.P.H.
Rebecca Vanderbilt, M.A.
Margaret Ligaya White, Ph.D.

(Project Number: R-39)
American Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center
Arizona University Affiliated Program
Institute for Human Development
Northern Arizona University
PO Box 5630
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
(520) 523-4971 Voice (520) 523-4791 Fax (520) 523-1695 TDD
website: http://www.nau.edui-ihd/airrtc

ISBN 1-888557-97-4

This report is available in alternate formats by contacting
the Institute for Human Development at (520) 523-4791.

Table of Contents

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

Abstract

vii

INTRODUCTION
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Economic and Cultural Variables

Sheltered Workshops (Extended Employment)

Supported Employment

Least Restrictive Environment

Community-Based Rehabilitation

Self-Employment

Business Enterprise Programs

Homemaker

Unpaid Family Worker

Working for Pay In-kind

METHODS

Tracking National Data on IWRP Goals

Quantitative Data

State VR Data

Tribal VR Data

Qualitative Data
RESULTS

Quantitative Results

20
20

State VR Data

Tribal VR (Section 121) Data

Qualitative Results
Development of Employment Goals
Self-Employment

When and Why it is Used

25
25

26
26

Barriers

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies

Sheltered Workshops

When and Why it is Used

Barriers

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies

Supported Employment

When and Why it is Used

Barriers

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies

Business Enterprise Programs

When and Why it is Used

Barriers

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies

Homemaker Placements

When and Why it is Used

Barriers

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies
Unpaid Family Workers
Barriers

Other Issues: Considerations Applying to All Alternative Placements

59
61

Cultural Relevance

Socioeconomic Circumstances

DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS

Sheltered Workshops

Supported Employment

Self-Employment

Business Enterprise Programs

Homemaker

Unpaid Family Worker

Recommendations

REFERENCES

Appendix A:

Small Business Enterprises

Appendix B:

Focus Group Participants

Appendix C:

Tribal VR Data Collection Instrument

Appendix D:

Focus Group Questions For VR Counselors

List of Tables
Table 1

Work Status at Closure (FY1996)

Table 2

Types of Employment Reported by Tribal VR Programs

Table 3

Sample Job Placements (Alaska)

Acknowledgments
This project could not have been completed successfully without the help of many

people. The vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors in Alaska (Pat Kuchenberg, Larry
Hintz, Rick Hoover, and Russ Music) reminded us about their innovative state policy that

resulted from a concept paper by Keith Anderson and Richard Corbridge. This concept
paper stimulated our thinking in new ways. Richard Corbridge also provided the best
short summary of Business Enterprise Programs. Other counselors in other states and
tribal VR programs did much to help us understand their creative approaches. Barry
Connors in the Rehabilitation Services Administration offices in Washington, DC
provided a summary of national statistics on alternatives to competitive employment.

Jim E. Warne provided valuable insights on the creative approaches that the tribal VR
projects were using.

This report received major initial development by Karla Wagner, especially in the

Introduction and Methodology sections. Julie Clay set up and assisted with most of the
conference calls with counselors, resulting in data upon which this report depends. She
also assisted with the initial compilation of the transcripts of these calls, which functioned
like focus groups. Rebecca Vanderbilt analyzed the transcripts of the conference calls
and wrote the first draft of the Results section. Margie White assisted with editing the
references and the organization of the Results and Discussion sections, and added text.
Robert Schacht was the principal investigator, supervised all stages of report

development, wrote the Discussion and Conclusions section, and contributed to all other
sections of the manuscript.

When the data for this report were collected, the term "Individualized Written
Rehabilitation Plan (IWRP)" was established by legislation, regulation, and practice.
Since then, new legislation and regulations replaced the term IWRP with "Individualized

Plan for Employment (IPE)." This change does not affect the substance of this report
because the alternatives to competitive employment remain valid under current

regulations. Therefore, the substance of this report has continuing relevancy to the needs
of American Indians with disabilities that is not diminished by the change from IWRP to
IPE.

Abstract
The vocational rehabilitation (VR) system provides for several kinds of individual

writteerehabilitation plan (IWRP) goals other than competitive employment, such as
sheltered workshops, self-employment, state and tribal agency managed business

enterprises, homemaker, and unpaid family worker. When the data for this report were
collected, the term IWRP was established by legislation, regulation, and practice. Since
then, new legislation and regulations have replaced the former term with "Individualized

Plan for Employment (IPE)." This report examines culturally appropriate employment
goals other than competitive employment that have been used by state VR agencies and

tribal VR projects. National statistics on work status at closure from all state agencies
and 18 tribal VR projects are presented and discussed. Results are also presented from
focus group interviews with state and tribal VR counselors who have experience with
placements involving alternatives to competitive employment. Factors in the success,
and barriers to the success of these programs are discussed, and recommendations are

proposed for use in rehabilitation agencies where employment opportunities other than
competitive employment are needed. Certain work status alternatives to competitive
employment, especially self-employment, unpaid family worker, and homemaker, seem
especially appropriate for rural reservation communities in developing IPEs, despite
federal pressures to suppress them, which appears to be culturally insensitive.

vii

The Utilization of IWRP [IPE] Goals Other than
Competitive Employment for
American Indians with Disabilities:
A Preliminary Study

In a national needs assessment survey conducted by the American Indian

Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (AIRRTC), respondents assigned a high
priority to the item "Increase employment and employment status" for American Indians
and Alaska Natives with disabilities (Schacht, Vanderbilt & Dorris, 1997; American
Indian Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, 1998). Open-ended comments
further supported this response and encouraged the AIRRTC to consider researching

employment options other than traditional competitive employment, including
subsistence-based employment, traditional jobs such as ranching and farming, self-

employment, supported employment, and transitional employment. Thus responses
provided by the needs assessment survey indicated a need for investigation regarding the

utilization of alternative employment goals in the vocational rehabilitation (VR) of
American Indians and Alaska Natives.
In 1989, Keith Anderson, Director of the Alaska Division of Vocational
Rehabilitation (DVR), and Richard Corbridge, Associate Commissioner, Region X,

Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), wrote a concept paper on what constitutes
employment that they presented at a RSA administrator's meeting (Anderson &
Corbridge, 1989). They believed that the definitions of work, employment, and employ as

presented in federal regulations, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, and the RSA
manual (referred to in Anderson and Corbridge, 1989) allow for a broad interpretation

that emphasizes competitive employment but does not impede the use of noncompetitive
employment opportunities where suitable. Accordingly, they defined employment as:
Any substantial, meaningful activity to which an individual devotes time and
exerts physical or mental effort toward the production or accomplishment of
something which significantly contributes to the livelihood of the individual and
which benefits society (Anderson and Corbridge, 1989, p. 2).
This became the working definition of employment for the Alaska DVR.
Accordingly, Anderson and Corbridge emphasized the need for an investigation into

occupational environments other than the traditional competitive job market. They
stressed that competitive employment is not always available or feasible in certain

communities, such as small American Indian or Alaska Native villages and areas of
Indian reservations with a dispersed population and little traditional commercial activity.

An examination of the criteria used by VR counselors in writing individual
written rehabilitation plan (IWRP) goals may indicate whether or not clients' cultural

backgrounds are elicited to inform employment outcome selection. [When the data for
this report were collected, the term IWRP was established by legislation, regulation, and

practice. Since then, new legislation and regulations revised the former term with
"Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE)." The terminology change does not affect
the substance of this report because the alternatives to competitive employment remain
valid under current regulations.] In this report, the authors analyzed data in RSA
employment statistics to determine whether alternative employment options for American
Indians with disabilities were being underutilized, despite the economic and cultural
advantages of IWRP goals other than competitive employment. Contained herein are

data obtained from VR programs that utilized alternative employment goals. The goal of
this research was to enable VR programs working with American Indians and Alaska
Natives to utilize all appropriate VR employment options to enhance the quality of life of
American Indians and Alaska Natives with disabilities. The questions explored were as
follows:

1. On a national basis, what is the relative frequency of alternative employment
goals other than competitive employment (e.g., sheltered employment, state

agency managed Business Enterprise Programs (BEP), homemaker, and

unpaid family member) for American Indian VR clients, compared with other
clients?
2. If the utilization of employment options other than competitive employment

differs between American Indian and other VR clients, what are the reasons

for this difference? Is the difference due to reluctance on the part of
counselors, lack of knowledge of the role Indian crafts can play as an income

generator, or lack of interest on the part of clients? Are some of these options
more culturally relevant than others?

3. Do successful employment programs other than competitive employment
currently exist for American Indian VR clients? If so, where, and what are

their characteristics? Are they more culturally appropriate?
The general hypothesis was that, in some cases, alternatives to competitive
employment may be more culturally appropriate, especially in rural American Indian and

Alaska Native communities where unemployment rates are high, and opportunities for
competitive employment are scarce.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Economic and Cultural Variables
Both economic and cultural variables may affect the extent to which various

communities utilize different employment options. Economic factors such as the
availability of competitive employment are especially significant in an examination of
employment options used for American Indians, given the high numbers of Native people

who live in rural areas and on reservations. The U.S. Census Bureau reported an
unemployment rate of 25.6% for American Indians living on reservations and other tribal
lands (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1993a; U.S. Department of Commerce, 1993b).
This figure is almost four times the reported 6.3% unemployment rate for the general

population. The statistics for American Indians living on and adjacent to reservations are
worse: according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, "unemployment on Indian reservations
averages about 37%. They experience extreme lack of economic opportunities

and a lower than average quality of life when measured against the dominant society"
(Bureau of Indian Affairs, n.d.).

Cultural factors may also influence the employment possibilities for American

Indians with disabilities. In her work with the Navajo living at Shonto in 1971, Ruffing
(1976) examined the economic decision-making processes that informed economic

development on the Navajo reservation. She found, as Adams (1955, cited in Ruffing,
1976) had before her, that the people at Shonto chose employment options in a system of
preferred ordering. The Navajos living at Shonto chose to perform traditional subsistence
activities first, followed by local wage work and nonlocal wage work. Even when the
nonlocal wage work consisted of railroad work that, at the time, was paying 95% more

than subsistence income, most people still opted to stay at home. Ruffing (1976)
explained this choice, seemingly illogical by economic standards, by examining the

cultural norms of Navajo society. She stated that Navajo society is communal and based
on the nuclear family, extended family, and tribe. The individual is not a central
influence in economic development or decision-making. Therefore, she stated that one
possibility for the hesitancy of Shonto Navajos to leave home for high-paying railroad

work is thk the psychological costs of leaving home outweighed the financial gains. The
cultural factors influencing economic decision-making at Shonto were obvious, and
Ruffing advocated for economic development strategies that followed social norms and
values. By acknowledging the Navajo emphasis on the communal group and designing
economic development programs to suit this cultural requirement (rather than forcing
programs upon the people that were entrepreneurial in nature and incongruent with
cultural values), Ruffing hypothesized that development would proceed more
successfully than in the past.

Although Ruffing's analysis did not concern people with disabilities, her attention

to the Navajo culture can inform VR as well as economic development. By examining
the cultural norms of American Indian people, rehabilitation counselors can ascertain if

there are cultural factors that should influence the choice of IWRP goals. Alternative
goals, such as unpaid family worker and self-employment, may in fact be more suitable
for people who share the Navajo social organization based on family groups.

Six employment options are recognized by RSA in the writing of IWRPs during

the rehabilitation process. These options include: (a) sheltered workshops, (b) selfemployment other than business enterprise programs (BEPs), (c) state agency and
tribally-managed BEPs, (d) homemaker, (e) unpaid family worker, and (f) competitive

employment. Each one of these options is considered as "work" for the purposes of
vocational rehabilitation (RSA, 1995, p. 23), and is a viable employment closure under
rehabilitation legislation that should be explored to discover the most appropriate
situations for its use.

Sheltered Workshops (Extended Employment)
Extended employment (workshops) refers to work for wages or salary in a setting

conducted by a nonprofit organization for persons with disabilities unable to enter into or
not ready for competitive employment. Such settings are variously referred to as
rehabilitation, community, curative, sheltered, industrial, or occupational workshops.
Not everyone employed in an extended employment setting is necessarily in extended

employment. Those who do not need sheltered work conditions but who are employed
by the workshop in competitive placements such as office workers, janitors, etc., are
considered competitively employed. Individuals are only classified as in extended
employment if they require a sheltered environment in order to perform their work (RSA,
1995, pp. 24, 38).

Sheltered workshops provide a protected environment where a person with a
disability can learn and work without the added difficulties presented by the competitive

workplace (Rosen, Bussone, Dakunchak, & Cramp, 1993). Nelson (1971, cited in
Murphy & Rogan, 1995, p. 8) argued that the concept of sheltered workshops was based,

in part, on Judeo-Christian beliefs about the importance of the individual, personal
choice, value of work, and the obligation of society to help those in need. This charitable
intent fostered an organization based on protecting its clients from the perceived
difficulties of the outside world (Rosen et al.).

The initial intent of sheltered workshops was to prove that people with disabilities
could work and contribute to society, but the concept soon led to segregation of the very

people it meant to integrate into the community. Murphy and Rogan (1995, p. 7)

reported that the primary participants in sheltered workshops are people with mental
retardation, developmental disabilities, psychiatric disorders, sensory impairments, or
multiple disabilities. For example, people with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, seizure
disorders, or autism are often placed in sheltered workshops. Many people believe that
this is the only place where individuals with severe disabilities are able to function
effectively and safely.

Although the terms sheltered employment and sheltered workshop are sometimes

used synonymously, sheltered employment may be characterized by the expansion of
sheltered services to community employment settings, including work crews or enclaves.
These are groups of workers with disabilities located in community work settings who
typically earn subminimum wages and receive significant agency supervision (Murphy &

Rogan, 1995, p. 5-6).
Several positive end results can be obtained through participation in a sheltered

workshop program. One is the development of skills necessary to make the transition
from the workshop into an integrated work setting. Sheltered workshops may include
transitional services such as pre-employment training, work adjustment, job placement,
and time-limited employment services (Parent, Hill, & Wehman, 1989). Bellamy,
Rhodes, Mank, and Albin (1988) included other types of services along with sheltered
workshops in the steps towards integrated employment, such as work-activity and day-

activity programs. They noted, however, that the goal of moving people through a
continuum of services in hopes of finally attaining full integration has met with little
success. Bellamy, Rhodes, Bourbeau, and Mank (1986, cited in Parent et al.) showed that
only 12% of sheltered workshop participants completed the transition into integrated

work environments. Only 3% maintained this status for more than two years. Another
positive result of a sheltered workshop program is for the worker to remain permanently
employed within the segregated environment (Bellamy et al., 1988; Murphy & Rogan,
1995).

One main criticism of the sheltered workshops is their inability to place people in
integrated work settings. This inability was more specifically targeted by Schuster
(1990) and Greenleigh Associates (1975, cited in Rosen et al., 1993). They discussed, for
example, the lack of rehabilitation and employment outcomes, a decline in the

availability of jobs using the skills taught in the workshops, and an inability to move

people through the continuum from sheltered to integrated employment. On the other
hand, Kern (1994) has argued:

Sheltered workshops are becoming increasingly successful in securing contracts

of increasing size and complexity. Production quotas and deadlines often make it
possible for the workshop to employ people who are nondisabled to work

alongside people with disabilities. Such integration is increasingly the rule rather
than the exception (p. 23).

The integrity of the work performed in the workshops is also a target of criticism;
Wehman and Kregel have claimed that people in the workshops spend a "lifetime of

performing meaningless work for inconsequential wages" (1995, p. 286). Mallas
described the negative image of workshops as a place for the "unwanted cast-off goods

and people" (1976, cited in Rosen et al., 1993, p. 31). Mallas, along with Greenleigh
Associates (1975, cited in Rosen et al.), also questioned the business procedures of the

administration and the skill and training of the staff members. However, "Mallas argued
for a changing attitude toward workshops as a valued and appropriate employment
resource, rather than merely as a last resort for placement" (Rosen et al., p. 31).

The substandard wages paid to sheltered workers have been criticized as
perpetuating society's devaluation of people with disabilities (Schuster, 1990, cited in

Rosen et al., 1993). As Kern (1994) has pointed out:
Most responsible workshops have responded to this criticism, however, and wage
rates are increasing. .

. .

Secondly, it should be noted that the sheltered workshop

certificate that allows workshops to pay the same rate of pay for similar work
based on the individual worker's productivity provides opportunity for people
who would not otherwise have the chance to work (pp. 22-23).
In summary, Kern (1994) argued:

The reality that sheltered workshops are no longer considered "politically correct"
does not negate the real need they meet for some people with disabilities, nor the

fact that sheltered employment is the stated preference/choice of some workers
and families (p. 22).
For American Indians and Alaska Natives, the suitability of the sheltered

workshop option remains largely unexplored, especially in view of new alternatives that
seem more appropriate. Although no literature specific to the experience of American
Indians and Alaska Natives analyzing the effectiveness of sheltered workshops could be

found, sheltered workshops are an option for an IWRP. They have been used frequently
in some places, such as Toyei Industries, Inc.1 and Coyote Canyon Rehabilitation Center2

on the Navajo Reservation.

Another example is the industrial laundromat established in 1990 by the Navajo
Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program in Tuba City, Arizona with financial

assistance from an Arizona RSA establishment grant. This laundromat provided training
to VR clients (Powers, 1991). In 1993, four VR clients were hired as laundry workers,
and contracts were obtained with five businesses in Tuba City. A revolving account was
established to operate the laundry, and plans were being made to contract with the Indian

Health Service (IHS), which would make the project autonomous (Roanhorse, 1993). In
conjunction with independent living (IL) programs, these settings can provide the kind of
sheltered working environment that some clients may need to succeed (e.g., Streissguth,
LaDue, & Randels, 1988).

Supported Employment
Sheltered work environments, whether they are the almshouse-workhouses of the
19th century or the sheltered workshops of the 20th century, have inspired criticism by

some since their inception. With the passage of the Education of All Children Act of

I Toyei Industries, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation near Ganado, AZ that has been in operation since 1977.
The Navajo Tribal Council granted it a corporate charter in 1979, acknowledging it as "a Navajo Tribal
entity." It provides residential and group home living services, day treatment program services, and other
social services (Toyei Industries, n.d.).
2
Coyote Canyon Rehabilitation Center (Brimhall, NM) was established in 1972, and currently provides
both sheltered workshop placements and supported employment. About 95% of their clients are
residential. Besides working on site, their workers commute to various communities in the eastern part of
the Navajo Nation, providing janitorial and other services (MacDonald Avery, personal communication,
February 25, 1999).
8

1975, people have advocated for the same free and appropriate opportunities in the

workplace that the Act guarantees in education (Parent et al., 1989), including supported
employment. Supported employment is defined as paid work in an integrated setting in
which the individual receives ongoing public support at the job site after placement
(Bellamy et al., 1988; Parent et al.).

As an alternative to sheltered workshops, some members of the rehabilitation
community recommend providing programs that emphasize supported employment.

Supported employment can be provided either in competitive or noncompetitive job
placements. Bellamy and others (1988) have described three developments in thinking
that led to the advent of supported employment as an alternative to sheltered workshops:
the realization that people with disabilities are able and willing to perform productive
work, the understanding that people with disabilities benefit from involvement with
people without disabilities, and the demonstration that some people with disabilities need
ongoing public support. Historically, only nonvocational services provided ongoing
support, and most opportunities were segregated. In response to the perceived
inadequacies of the existing VR service system, supported employment was created and

defined as paid employment of at least 20 hours per week in integrative settings with
ongoing public support.

Supported employment began receiving attention in the mid-1980s, when it was
developed in response to the segregation created by sheltered workshops. The initial
federal recognition of supported employment came in 1984 when it was defined by the

Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the
34 CFR 373 (Bellamy et al., 1988). The Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984 also
codified supported employment as a priority. The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986
and the Rehabilitation Act of 1986 (PL 99-506) both refer to supported employment as a

valid rehabilitation outcome (Bellamy et al.). Supported employment differs from
traditional vocational rehabilitation services primarily in its requirement of long-term,

ongoing support for the working individual. Traditional services emphasized
prevocational job skill preparation, whereas supported employment provides on-the-job

training and support. In fact, prevocational services may be completely absent from
supported employment (National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research,
1987).

Despite dramatic gains from 1985 to 1995, the supported employment movement
lost much of its early momentum. Additionally, the national system of activity centers
and sheltered workshops remains largely intact. This implies that for some, sheltered
workshops remain a viable and satisfactory placement outcome. Wehman and Kregel
(1995) lamented:

If left unaddressed, funding pressures and programmatic obstacles will confine

supported employment to marginal status as a small, optional program that
continues to be dwarfed by our nation's entrenched network of workshops and
activity centers (p. 287).

Wehman and Kregel, therefore proposed four challenges as central to future attempts to

implement fully the idea of integrated employment (which includes competitive
employment as well as supported employment): (a) Convert day programs to integrated
employment, (b) increase program capacity, (c) expand consumer choice and self-

determination, and (d) promote meaningful employment outcomes (p. 288). Another
option, to be considered below, is community rehabilitation programs.

Least Restrictive Environment
The principle of least restrictive environment (LRE) is used by some to further

differentiate supported employment from traditional services. LRE purports that an
individual should be placed in the most inclusive environment possible, based on his or
her particular disabling condition (Abery & Fahnestock, 1994; National Institute on

Disability and Rehabilitation Research, 1987). Wehman and Kregel (1992) emphasized
the importance of assessing the integrative potential of a possible supported employment
placement. Abery and Fahnestock (1994), however, cited Taylor (1988), who cautioned
that, although inclusion is desirable, using the LRE principle may, in fact, lead to greater
segregation. He gives seven reasons why LRE may not be the most desirable framework:

First, it implies that, in some cases, segregation is desirable. Second, LRE associates

intensive services with increased segregation rather than evaluating service needs on a

case-by-case basis. Third, LRE is based on a "readiness model" which assumes that
people must earn the right to move to a less restricted environment. Fourth, the
framework empowers professional counselors and leads to decisions based on their values

rather than on the preferences of the clients. Fifth, LRE may limit basic rights to freedom
and community participation. Sixth, LRE may impose undesired movement or change on
people with disabilities, forcing them to move to a less restrictive environment and
destroying any sense of permanency they had developed in their present occupational

environment. Finally, the focus of LRE is mainly on the physical setting rather than
services provided to people in that setting. Taylor argues that a new framework must be
developed that overcomes these barriers and facilitates the integration of people into their
communities and the development and maintenance of relationships with other members
of that community.

Community-Based Rehabilitation
Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) received major impetus under the 1992

amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Community-based rehabilitation consists
of:

Rehabilitation processes that are brought together to assist individuals with
disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency and community integration goals.
The processes that are applied . . . are used to ensure that the achieved
improvements in personal and vocational status are likely to be long-lasting. .

. .

The emphasis within the processes that are included under community-based
rehabilitation is that the specific process(es) are provided in settings where they
will most likely be used and where acquisition of the information or skills is most
likely to be valid or applicable outside the rehabilitation experience (Menz,
Coker, Thomas, Botterbusch, & McAlees, 1997, p. 183).
Community-based rehabilitation may provide many options, including supported

employment and IL. It has received international attention from three United Nations

agencies: International Labor Organization (IL0); United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the World Health Organization (WHO), as a
. .

strategy within community development for the rehabilitation, equalization of

opportunities, and social integration of all people with disabilities. CBR is
implemented through the combined efforts of disabled people themselves, their
families, and communities, and the appropriate health, education vocational, and
social services (WHO, 1994, cited in Rodgers, 1999).
CBR differs from IL in that the entire community is the target of CBR programs.

The CBR model is one of community development or partnership. With IL ideology, it

places control squarely with consumers with disabilities (Rodgers, 1999). CBR is
included here because the concept may be of particular interest for American Indians and
Alaska Natives, and because community-based rehabilitation may include alternatives to
competitive employment as a kind of supported employment.

RSA defines community rehabilitation programs (CRPs) (RSA, 1995, p. 37) as
. .

programs providing services directly or facilitating the provision of services to

individuals to help them overcome the disabling effects of their impairment, and
to maximize their opportunities for employment, including advancement.
Some tribal VR programs are experimenting with these approaches:

Some of the programs that run CRPs include Eastern Cherokee in NC, Choctaw
of MS, Zuni of NM, and Sho-Ban of ID; Lummi of WA is just getting started with

a restaurant. There is a difference in the way the CRPs are managed. I think
Eastern Cherokee is managed by a subsidiary of the Tribe. I think Choctaw of
MS is administered by the VR agency. Zuni is managed by a non-profit

corporation that also administers the VR program. Sho-Ban of ID has tried
running the CRP by the VR agency and then by a non-profit. Lummi of WA, the
VR agency will likely run the cafeteria (Richard Corbridge, personal

communication, April 6, 1999).

Self-Employment
Another alternative IWRP goal is self-employment. According to RSA (1995),
This refers to work for profit or fees in one's own business, farm, shop, or office.
Superintendents, managers, and other executives hired to manage a business or
farm, officers of corporations, and persons working for sales commissions should
not be classified under this code, but under Code 1 (competitive employment).
"Self-employment" includes sharecroppers, but not wage earners on farms (p. 24).

Uditsky, Sannuto, and Waters (1996) have presented self-employment as an
option in response to the decreasing success and enthusiasm for supported employment

for people with disabilities. Reiter, Friedman, and Goldman (1995) agreed that supported
employment is not the only method of rehabilitation that should be considered. They
have suggested that self-employment is an important option for people with disabilities,
stating that there exists "an untapped source of possible entrepreneurs in this population,
new businessmen and women. Indeed, they have a right to access the same opportunities

as non-disabled people" (p. 258). Two case studies, the Self-Employment Pilot Project
(Uditsky et al.) and AVHA desktop publishing (Reiter et al.) support the authors' claims
that self-employment provides opportunities for entrepreneurial success to people with
disabilities.

According to Arnold and Seekins (1994), even with such examples of its
successful implementation, self-employment is not used as often as would be expected in
VR. They studied the nationwide use of self-employment rehabilitation closures and
found that 34 states have policies on self-employment. Only three of the states with
policies had positive statements about the use of self-employment as an employment
outcome; for example, stating that it fosters independence, allows the consumer to be

productive, and allows the counselors to be creative in designing IWRP goals. The
remaining 31 states placed restrictions on the use of self-employment, requiring that it be

used as a last resort or be reserved for people with the most severe disabilities. Eleven
states pointed out potential hazards to the consumer in writing a self-employment IWRP
goal such as the emotional and financial impact of failure, hard work, long hours, and low

potential income. Critics also lament the high cost of self-employment placements
($3122 versus $1939 working for someone else).
Arnold and Seekins (1994) countered the negative images of self-employment by

advancing the position that self-employment is a suitable option for specific situations,
especially people in rural areas who cannot access traditional employment venues. In
rural areas where wages are low and jobs are scarce, self-employment may be a viable

option, one that is already being used more often in these situations. Using this logic, it
seems reasonable that self-employment could be encouraged for American Indians

residing on reservations or in other rural areas. For this reason, Schacht and Minlder
(1991, p. 101) recommended that "training programs promoting the goal of selfemployment should be developed or enhanced, and publicized" for American Indians.
States such as New Mexico are already using self-employment more than other states, a
fact attributed to the high number of Native craftspeople there (Wayne Oyenque, personal

communication, 1998). Most tribal VR programs have established self-employment
ventures with their clients (Richard Corbridge, personal communication, April 6, 1999).
Because of zoning policies regarding commercial enterprises, it has been difficult
to establish medium-sized businesses on Indian reservations (e.g., Gilbreath, 1973).
Therefore, small-scale, home-based enterprises that do not require a business lease may

be easier to establish. Home-based employment is an option not only for able-bodied,
rural or reservation-dwelling people, but also for individuals with disabilities living in

those areas. The self-employment option as an IWRP goal, then, could be more
economically feasible than competitive employment in rural or reservation settings.
Seekins (1997) explained that self-employment suffers from a lack of viability as

an employment outcome and, in conjunction with the Rehabilitation and Training Center
on Rural Rehabilitation and the Self-Employment Initiative Group, suggested changes in
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that would afford heightened awareness and use of the
self-employment option. The goal of the proposed changes is for self-employment and
supported employment to be equally viable employment options for people with

disabilities. Seekins' comments advocated a shift in thinking about self-employment to a
framework that enhances its acceptability as an employment outcome.

This shift in thinking could particularly benefit American Indian clients living in
rural reservation communities where standard competitive employment options do not
exist or only exist in limited numbers.

Business Enterprise Programs
The business enterprise programs (BEP) concept began as a program of the 1936

Randolph-Sheppard Act that provided priority-vending opportunities for persons who are
legally blind in federal buildings. In non-tribal contexts, a BEP is managed by the state
agency, and is defined as:
. .

vending stands and other small businesses operated by persons with severe

disabilities under the management and supervision of a State agency. It includes

home industry, farming, and other enterprises. Home industry involves work
performed under the management and supervision of a State agency in the client's
own home or residence for wages or salary on a piece-rate, hourly, weekly, or

monthly basis. Such employment may be engaged in by persons capable of
activity outside the home, as well as by homebound persons (RSA, 1995, p. 24).

The vending opportunities can be gum and magazine type operations or a series of

vending machines or full cafeteria operations. Most states have a modified version of the
Randolph-Sheppard law that includes the priority in state buildings. The priority is for
persons who are blind or severely disabled.

In addition, and closest associated to BEPs, the authority in Title I of the
Rehabilitation Act provides for state-managed "small business enterprises" (Richard
Corbridge, personal communication, March 20, 1998; 34 CFR 361.49(a)(5), reprinted in

Appendix A). These small business enterprises were intended to include "individuals
with the most severe disabilities" (see Appendix A). By extension, tribal VR programs
could also establish such programs. Although no literature could be found on the use of
BEPs by American Indians and Alaska Natives, stories about specific tribal business
endeavors to benefit persons with disabilities are not uncommon.

Homemaker
Homemaker refers to men and women whose activity is keeping house for their

families or for themselves, if they live alone (RSA, 1995, p. 24). The Chickasaw Nation
Vocational Rehabilitation Program defines the homemaker alternative to competitive
employment as follows:

Homemaking may be an appropriate occupation for any client, man or woman. A
homemaker is defined as a person whose primary work is performance of duties

related to the upkeep and maintenance of a home. This work takes place in the
individual's own home, without remuneration.
(A) The IWRP can have a vocational objective of homemaker only when

services will directly and substantially improve the individual's ability to perform
the primary homemaking work activities for their home. Evidence of substantial
contributions to the home include relieving another household member of primary
homemaking duties in order to engage in remunerative employment, or increasing

the client's or other household member's ability to care for a dependent child or
disabled adult in the home.
(B) Self-care activities are not sufficient to meet the definition of gainful

occupation. The individual must not be receiving any type of assistance in
providing primary homemaking duties.
(C) A vocational objective of homemaker can be established for only one
person within the same household (Gayla Callaway, personal communication,
June 19, 1998).

This alternative to competitive employment has not received much attention in
vocational rehabilitation, and no literature could be found relating to the success or
failure of such placements, among either American Indians and Alaska Natives or
elsewhere.

Unpaid Family Worker
Unpaid family worker refers to persons who work without pay on a family farm

or in a family business (RSA, 1995, p. 25). The Chickasaw Nation Vocational

Rehabilitation Program defines the unpaid family worker alternative to competitive
employment as follows:

A vocational objective of unpaid family worker is appropriate when services will

enable the individual to perform work without pay on a family farm or in a fmily
business operated by one or more members of the client's family. The record
must document how the services will substantially improve the productivity of the
client and his or her contribution to the family farm or business (Gayla Callaway,
personal communication, June 19, 1998).

The authors could not find in the literature any systematic attempt to find out how this
option was working for American Indians or Alaska Natives.

Working for Pay In-kind
RSA also has several work status categories considered "Not working." These
include students, trainees or workers (non-competitive employment), and "other." The
"other" category includes six subcategories, one of which is "persons receiving only pay

in-kind (meals, lodgings, etc.)" (RSA, 1995, p. 25). The fact that this is classified as "not
working" reveals a cultural bias of the majority culture that does not recognize the
validity and significance of in-kind payments in some tribal cultures.
The category "trainees or workers (non-competitive employment)" refers to:
.

. persons who, although they may have received stipends during the week

before application for rehabilitation for work or services performed, were

functioning essentially in a non-competitive environment. This code should be
used mainly for persons participating in work experience, work training, or work
adjustment programs (RSA, 1995, p. 25).
If this category includes apprentice work, then it again fails to recognize the validity and

significance of work roles in some tribal cultures. For example, an apprentice to a
medicine man or tribal healer might fall into one of these categories.

METHODS
Tracking National Data on IWRP Goals
All employment categories are recorded in annual RSA databases under the

headings Work Status at Referral, IWRP Goal, and Work Status at Closure. By analyzing
reports provided by the RSA database, it is possible to track the utilization of these
categories for American Indian and Alaska Native people and determine the degree to

which each option is utilized by state VR programs in the vocational rehabilitation of

American Indians and Alaska Natives with disabilities. Due to the autonomy of tribal
VR programs, analogous data from these programs must be obtained from each tribe and
are not available from the national RSA databases.

Quantitative Data
State VR Data
Data were collected in 1997 from the RSA national database for FY 1996 on the
employment outcomes of American Indians. [RSA collected data from each state

vocational rehabilitation agency with the year-end 911 form.] These data contained
information on the work status at referral, IWRP goals, and work status at closure for any

American Indian or Alaska Native rehabilitated by state programs. Again, tribal VR
programs were not represented in this database.
The research design called for the analysis of RSA data and the identification of

trends in the utilization of employment goals other than competitive employment. Five
states were to be identified as model programs, operationally defined as those using an
alternative to competitive employment at a rate higher than the rest of the United States.
Rehabilitation offices would then be contacted in each of these five states to verify the
statistics from RSA and to establish dialogue with the counselors or administrators
involved in the alternative placements.
A preliminary phone survey was designed for use with the VR programs in each
of these five states. A contact person was selected and asked questions regarding the use

of alternative employment placements in that state. This information was recorded and
used to compare with the statistical data from RSA regarding the use of alternative
employment goals. Key informants were identified through conversations with the
18

contact person at each site. These key informants were then contacted and asked to

participate in more formal interviews. VR counselors were included as potential key
informants (see Appendix B). Occasionally, the contact person also served as a key
informant.

Initially, the researchers intended to distribute a more formal written
questionnaire to VR counselors. This questionnaire was designed to identify model
programs within the VR system that successfully used alternatives to competitive
employment. After a careful examination of the statistical data from RSA, however, the
need for a formal questionnaire-type survey became unnecessary, as this would duplicate

the data already collected by RSA. The VR counselors' time would be better utilized
through participation in semi-structured, qualitative interviews rather than collecting
quantifiable data that was already available through the federal agency.

Tribal VR Data
Because tribal VR data are not reported in the national RSA statistics, a letter was
sent to each tribal VR project (as identified in the 1997-98 AIRRTC Directory of Tribal

VR Projects) asking for placement statistics for the past year ("Section 130 [now 121]"
signifies tribal VR programs and is based on the legislation language that authorizes

projects). Statistics were requested for each closure option, divided into male and female
placements in each category. Because tribal VR programs are not bound by all the same
regulations as state programs, the letter also requested information on how "past year"
was defined by the program (see Appendix C). These data were analyzed using the same
procedure as the state data analysis, selecting five model programs based on the
frequency with which they used the alternative placement goals.

Qualitative Data
Key informants (VR counselors and other staff) were selected from all model sites
or states based on their familiarity with the alternative placement categories. The
sampling technique was based on a snowball, convenience sample because the entire

population size was small and the community networks were relatively integrated. Focus
group-style conference calls were conducted with these counselors in each tribal or state
19

VR program. A semi-structured interview protocol consisting of open-ended interview
questions (see Appendix D) was followed initially. As each focus group progressed,
however, the participants often anticipated questions not yet asked, making it
unnecessary to formally ask those questions later. When it was impossible to convene a
conference call, individual counselors were interviewed using the same interview format.
Interviews lasted approximately one hour, consisted of 18 open-ended questions (see
Appendix D), were tape-recorded, and transcribed for analysis using the software
program NUD*IST [Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and

Theorizing] (Qualitative Solutions and Research, 1997).

RESULTS
Quantitative Results
State VR Data
Data were obtained from RSA on work status at closure for FY 1996, as
summarized in Table 1 (Barry Connors, personal communication, November 24, 1997).

The alternative to competitive employment reported most often by American
Indians and non-Indians alike was the homemaker placement. However, this placement
was reported for American Indians at an even higher rate (7.2%) than non-Indians

(6.9%). The greatest difference was in the unpaid family worker category (5.5% of
American Indian closures vs. 1.7% of non-Indian closures). This was the second most
common alternative to competitive employment among American Indians (see below),

compared with non-Indians, for whom it was the fourth most common alternative. Selfemployment closures were also more common among American Indian VR clients (4%)

than among non-Indian clients (2.6%). However, sheltered workshops were slightly
more common among non-Indian clients (3.9%) than with American Indian clients
(3.5%). Business enterprise programs were rarely used by anyone, but non-Indians
(0.15%) used this placement about twice as often as American Indians (0.06%).

Table 1
Work Status at Closure (FY 1996)

Male

Employment Category

Total

Female

American Indian
Competitive

779

80.6

580

78.5

1,359

79.70

Homemaker

4.6

10.6

122

7.20

Unpaid Family Worker

6.0

4.9

5.50

Self-Employed

4.8

3.1

4.00

Sheltered Workshop

4.0

2.8

3.50

Business Enterprise

0.0

0.1

0.06

966

100.0

739

100.0

1,705

100.0

Competitive

102,262

87.8

77,281

80.9

179,543

84.70

Homemaker

3,951

3.4

10,674

11.2

14,625

6.90

Unpaid Family Workey

1,941

1.7

1,765

1.8

3,706

1.70

Self-Employed

3,469

3.0

2,074

2.2

5,543

2.60

Sheltered Workshop

4,654

4.0

3,671

3.8

8,325

3.90

220

0.2

0.1

309

0.15

116,497

100.0

95,554

100.0

212,051

100.0

Total

Non-Indian

Business Enterprise
Total

Note. % in Total column = 100% due to rounding

Researchers looked to see which states used these alternatives for American

Indian clients the most. The state with the largest number of American Indian
homemaker closures was Oklahoma, credited with more than half (65/122) of all such
closures nationwide. When contacted by AIRRTC researchers, an Oklahoma state VR
office administrator wrote:

Our recent evaluations by RSA have suggested to us that we need to reduce our
overall number of homemaker closures to become more in line with the national
21

average. As a result, I have been working with my staff so that they can reduce

the total number of homemaker closures. We have encouraged them to focus on
competitive employment since that is the standard that both the congress and the

RSA have called for. We are in agreement that competitive employment is the

most appropriate option for our activities. We continue to offer homemaker
closures, however, we are encouraging counselors to consider all options before

settling on that. It was our experience that there are occasions when individuals
may choose to settle for that option rather than pursuing the more appropriate, but

difficult option, of competitive employment. In 1996, we were roughly 30%
homemaker closures, we are currently at about 15% homemaker closures, and we

hope to get fewer than 10% in the near future (Michael O'Brien, personal
communication, June 3, 1998)
The state with the largest number of unpaid family worker placements was

Alaska, with eight. The Alaska state VR program was then chosen as the target state for
information about unpaid family worker placements. The largest number of selfemployed placements (work status at closure) was in New Mexico, where 21 such cases

were reported. The state office confirmed these data; thus, New Mexico was identified as

the model state VR program for self-employment placements. The largest number of
sheltered workshop placements, with 18, was in Minnesota. When contacted, the state
office confirmed the data; thus, Minnesota was identified as the model state VR program
for sheltered workshop placements for American Indians. The only BEP placement of an
American Indian anywhere in the United States was of a woman in South Carolina who
was blind.

However, these data must be interpreted with caution. RSA may report just one
vocational outcome at closure, when in reality several goals are in process
simultaneously. If both competitive goals and self-employment goals are achieved,
which is the one that gets reported by RSA? One counselor referred to this ambiguity in
data collection when asked about the totals reported by RSA for various work statuses at
closure:

I may use more than one vocational goal. I mean RSA might just get one. Our
bean counters might just decide to pick one of those goals and report that so I
can't speak from what RSA reads. But for me, writing the IWRP for the
consumer, I may have more than one vocational goal and one may be a
competitive goal and one may be a self-employment goal and one might pertain to

gathering resources or what we might call subsistence. Then I may have an
objective on the IWRP for each one of those, or something that addresses each of
those and ties it all together.
This counselor's comments serve as a reminder that closure data do not always present a
completely accurate picture of client goals that are achieved, and that it is necessary to be
careful when making assumptions about what data may represent.

In summary, the model programs identified through the RSA data for further
investigation were New Mexico (21 self-employment placements), Minnesota (18
sheltered workshop placements), and Alaska (8 unpaid family worker placements).

While Oklahoma had 65 homemaker closures, it might be questioned whether they would
serve as a model program because they were attempting to reduce their use of the
homemaker status.

Tribal VR (Section 121) Data
Letters of inquiry along with a one-page data form (see Appendix C) were sent to

each of the 39 tribal VR programs listed on the AIRRTC 1997-98 roster of such

programs. Follow-up calls were made to most of the non-responding programs after a
few weeks. In all, 18 programs responded, and the results are shown in Table 2. Because
the tribal VR programs are mostly small (and because the largest one did not respond),
for the process of data collection, it seemed best to target groups of programs that had a
common emphasis in specific alternatives to competitive employment, rather than
designating single programs.

The two noncompetitive work statuses at closure receiving the largest number of
client placements were self-employment and tribal BEPs. Thirty-eight clients were

reported in each of these work statuses, each accounting for 13% of all placements. The
four tribal VR programs placing the largest percentage of their clients in BEPs were the
23

v. 3 2

Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Idaho), the Confederated
Salish and Kootenai Tribes (Montana), and Stillaquamish InterTribal (Washington).
Each of these reported placing at least 25% of their clients in business enterprise

Table 2

Types of Employment Reported by Tribal VR Programs
Competitive
Employment

Tribul VR Project
Apache Tribe (OK)

ABristol Bay

48%

75%

Alternatives to Competitive Employment
SUP

SHW

SEL
8

BEP
15

Total

HMIC UFW
5

Cherokee (Eastern)

50%

,Cherokee Nation (OK)

67%

Chickasaw

62%

Choctaw,(MS Band )

89%

Choctaw Nation (OK)

72%

Colville Confedepted

87%

Fort Peck Tribes-

100%

33%

65%

10. Ft. Belknap Tribes
11. Iowa Tribe (01C)

Ogiala Sioux Tribe

12.
13.

Salish / Kootenai Confed.

14. Shoshone-Bannock

3
1

31
10

44%

-4
15. 4S illaquamish ntertribal

33%

16. Tanana Chief's Confer.

44%

17. Tlingit & Haida Tribes

64%

89%

18.

Yakima Tribe
Total
% of all placements

100%

186

62%

301

.7%

13%

2.3%

100%

Legend:
SUP

Supported Employment

BEP = Business Enterprise Program

SHW = Sheltered Workshop
IIMIC = Home Maker

SEL = Self-Employment

UFW = Unpaid Family Worker

programs. These tribal VR programs were contacted, and at least one VR counselor was
recruited from each to serve as key informant in a focus group conducted through a
conference call.

The five tribes reporting the largest percentage of clients placed in selfemployment were the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (Idaho),

the Colville Confederated Tribes (Washington), the Tanana Chiefs Conference (Alaska),

and the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Each of these
reported placing at least 13% of their clients in this work status at closure.
The next largest category of placements was in homemaker status (6% of all

placements). Most of these were tribes from Oklahoma, the state reporting the highest
number of state VR closures in homemaker status. In fact, all tribes reporting more than
one case closed in homemaker status were from Oklahoma. Counselors who had
experience with such placements in these tribes were therefore recruited to serve as key
informants in a focus group conducted through a conference call.

Qualitative Results
Based on the quantitative results outlined above, focus groups via conference call
were organized to explore what state and tribal VR programs were doing to successfully
implement IWRPs using alternatives to competitive employment. The focus group
format was semi-structured, beginning with the questions listed in Appendix D.
Although each focus group was geared to better understanding a particular type of
alternative to competitive employment, discussions ranged to other alternatives, as well

as to competitive employment. Quotes from the transcripts have been minimally edited
to delete redundant or extraneous material, and in a few cases to clarify the meaning.

However, the authors have attempted to minimize this editing in order to let the
participants speak in their own voices as much as possible.

Development of Employment Goals
Regarding the general VR approach to the development of employment goals, one
participant commented on the steps taken before developing a plan for employment:

What we do here is give them the thorough diagnostic study like we are supposed

to. This will help determine where they are going to be, because you are
appraising their ability, their intelligence level, their educational achievement,
their work experience, personal location and social assessment, learning

opportunity, educational skills, and all of that stuff Even some of the sheltered
workshops, so to speak, or community rehabilitation programs won't take people
that do not fit in with them. Like you get a violent person and they will not allow

them in there. You have to take them and get them treated first. All of this is
taken into account before we even focus on anything like [a plan for employment].

Almost all staff agreed that one of the most important considerations in

determining employment goals was the client's choice. They also talked about the
impOrtance of assessments and understanding the client's abilities. This was thought to
be essential for avoiding unrealistic goals, and setting the client up for failure. It was
noted that a goal for competitive employment might be unrealistic in one case, and in
another case a self-employment business plan might be unrealistic.

Self-Employment

When and Why it is Used
Generally speaking, self-employment was considered a more viable option when

transportation was limited. But, besides transportation, other problems associated with
rural areas were often cited as reasons for considering the goal of self-employment. The
biggest problem was, of course, the lack of available jobs. Also, in remote areas,
supported employment options may be just as limited as competitive employment

options. As one counselor put it,
The only type ofjobs where somebody can make money would be making arts or

crafts. The other kinds of cultural aspects don't pay money. So, that's the only
thing I can think of that

. .

would be based on their cultural heritage .

were looking for employment to make income.

if they

In other words, having self-employment as a goal may call for extremely creative
approaches and entrepreneurial skills if counselors and clients deem arts and crafts to be
unsuitable for a particular client.

Some counselors and staff noted that health problems are often a consideration in

opting for self-employment. Some employers can ill afford to bear the burden of
employees who need to take frequent breaks due to the nature of their health problems.

These clients will be more likely to consider self-employment. Staff interviewees
mentioned that clients who have been injured or who do not get along well with others

may need to work alone in a self-employment context. Often clients with greater
physical limitations want to keep their income from SSI or SSDI, and supplement it with
self-employment income. One staff person stated that 95% of their clients with selfemployment goals lived on subsistence income such as SSI, and most were severely

disabled. Another counselor made the same point:
For severely disabled people who are living on the reservation and are going to
continue living on the reservation, I think that self-employment is a very viable

option for them and one that has to get looked at. Again, I'm not speaking of this

necessarily as subcompetitive or anything like that. I'm certainly talking about
that as a competitive placement. But self-employment might be more viable for
them, a cottage industry or home industry kind of thing, just because of the
severity of the disability and the lack offacility options.
However, another counselor in Minnesota had a different view of self-

employment. He explained how it is different from supported or sheltered employment
in that clients usually need to have specialized abilities that are above average:
Self-employment, I think, would be a little bit different because you'd probably be

looking at an average to above average ability there. 1 mean you want somebody
that has the ability to manage his or her own employment. There have been a

couple of cases of

American Indian caseloads in the last year where there

were actual business plans written up for self-employment where there was a

fairly substantial expenditure for equipment or tools or something of that sort.

But there are some other people who maybe become a self-employed handy man
or something. .

Or maybe the ability isn't there but you still want to at least

assess that they can run their lives.
Yet another Minnesota counselor made a similar point. She discussed the
difference between "true self-employment" in which someone has his or her own
business and is fully self-supporting, versus "cottage industries" such as arts and crafts

which barely supplement one's income. A VR counselor in New Mexico summarized
why self-employment was used at his office:
We generally try to work with the client, with what the client is able to do and

wants to do. But, as far as our supervisors and our manual, they prefer
competitive employment. A lot of times we are locked in areas where competitive
employment would be completely out for this person, due to transportation, family

problems, [or] health problems, and those are the types that we end up using
some of these other programs. Other times, these people make more money doing
this kind of work, than they would doing competitive employment, so that is

another reason that I use it, when I can see that they are going to make more
money in less time in the job that they don't have to have a boss. There are

several reasons that we use these. It is not just "we can't find a job," or the
person can't read, or something like this. There are a lot of reasons we use selfemployment.

The comments of all these counselors illustrate the variety of situations, from
classic textbook cases to creative individual scenarios that may fall under selfemployment. One counselor described how the needs of the local business community
helped to determine what area of self-employment a client should attempt:
One of the businesses we set up over here in Mescalero. They just opened up a

sawmill and in order for them to have their chain saws sharpened or fixed they
have to travel to Ruidoso or Alamagordo so we did set up a client and a business
there in Mescalero where he could do that for them.

This case example falls on the "creative individual" side of the self-employment
spectrum, as the local VR drew on local business needs to develop an employment
opportunity.

Barriers
One barrier to self-employment is simply that some rehabilitation programs need
to be better informed about how to make self-employment work, which points to the need

for technical assistance for both state VR and tribal VR programs. As one participant
suggested:

We are in our second year [as a tribal VR program] and we are beginning to
look at the possibilities of how to initiate our consumers with self-employment. I

think it is a little bit overwhelming and unsure about how to go about setting our
consumers up in self-employment. As we begin to have more training on self-

employment issues and things like that, where to go for resourcesthat helps.
We all know what sheltered workshops are. I think the number one word for this
program would be the unknown, fear of the unknown.

The barrier this counselor notes is a lack of knowledge, not only on the part of

consumers, but also on the part of counselors who inform the consumers. These are two
different training issues of equal importance.
In Alaska, one counselor spoke about the difficulty they have implementing self-

employment in conventional ways, which has led to experimenting with new ways on a
smaller scale:

Self-employment has always been a tough one for us in Alaska to grapple with

and most of us have just kind of shied away from it because in the pastthe way
we thought of self-employment has been a little more traditional, where we're

helping a person set up a business or buy a business or start a business or buy a
franchise. Something that may entail quite a bit of capital outlay and I think over
the years, our agency has developed guidelines and forms to help us basically
develop a full-blown business plan with a client. I've never really tended to get
very involved with many of those; I've just never had them. The kinds of self-

employment plans that I've gotten involved in are on a much smaller scale than

that, that don't require so much. They've been more like the individual who is
going to be running a service out of their home or the ivory carver out in the
village or something like that where it's not so intensive.
Self-employment goals can vary widely, from supplementing disability income by
selling craft items to establishing a lucrative business that can support a whole family.

While self-employment does not have to be a small business, if establishing a business is
the goal, one of the biggest barriers to self-employment is the initial capital that is often
needed. The following comment was offered with respect to business enterprise
programs, but it illustrates the problem of realizing the financial support to achieve a selfemployment business goal:

We had one client here who wanted to start a pizza place. He had a building,

owned the land, but nobody off the reservation is going to loan him any money
no banks or SBA [Small Business Administration] or anybody. The tribe's not

going to loan him any money either and we can't loan him any money. It's going
to take probably $70,000 to $80,000 just to get the place ready for starting up and
we don't have that kind of money.

VR had helped clients establish their businesses with some initial funds, but counselors
indicated reluctance to do so because, as one counselor mentioned, many new businesses

fail in their first year. Occasionally, they had helped a client with a Small Business
Administration loan application, which usually involves paperwork that few clients were

able to prepare. Sometimes, not enough marketing research had been done to establish
the viability of the enterprise.
Clients may get discouraged by any kind of roadblock, such as being required to

develop a business plan or having to get a commercial license of some kind. These
roadblocks also become barriers to self-employment. Several staff personnel talked
about how the business plan required for an IWRP can be a hindrance because the

paperwork is long and complex. A tribal VR project director described how selfemployment placements often fall apart:

Self-employment, we're real interested in doing that. And we've sent several
people through a system of trying to make that happen through helping them to

write business plans and that sort of thing through the small business centers that
we have at our community colleges. But we've never actually had that
materialize either because somewhere along the line, the person decides it's not
something they want to do. So we 've never really had a self-employment

placement I don't think
There are many other barriers to self-employment that present a challenge to

successful vocational placements. Several VR staff discussed the difficulties of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) housing regulations, which stipulate that clients cannot
do business at home if they live in HUD-supported housing. Furthermore, the clients
may have only a very small market that makes it hard to sell enough of their merchandise

or services. Another barrier often mentioned is a lack of bookkeeping and record
management skills. One staff person suggested that hiring an accounting professional to
teach clients how to do their bookkeeping may be part of the solution.

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies
Many of the staff participants mentioned that clients often know nothing about
marketing and usually have few resources to help them in this area. The VR counselors
in New Mexico have found a solution for many of their clients. They assisted selfemployed craftspeople in helping each other with group marketing efforts and teaming up

to sell their merchandise at the same time and location. The counselors helped one client
learn how to develop Web pages so he can advertise on the Internet for several other
clients who were self-employed in arts and craft skills.

VR policy typically has certain requirements for the self-employment option. For
example, the IWRP must include a business plan that the client can understand and agree

with. Counselors said their cases varied in how complicated the business plans were and
how much assistance was given to clients in developing them:

For instance, we have one gentleman who has strong banking background and
business background and he suffered a stroke a few years ago and we actually

contracted with a small business agency to help him work up a business plan for
consulting. So, it depends on the degree and the amount of complexity to the

plan. But, yeah, all along the way no matter what

. we are supportive and in

the end we assist them in mapping out what they want to do.
The flexibility of support exemplified by this counselor seems typical of the help that
many clients receive.
Often, clients may have limited literacy in reading and writing and are unable to

formulate plans for themselves. A New Mexico VR counselor explained how he got
around this limitation to enable the success of his clients:
Generally for the people at the pueblo, I do it myself because some of them do not
read and write too well and i f I ask them to do it themselves they will give me two

or three little sentences and then my supervisor will not approve that. I make one,
have them read it, have somebody who is with them that knows how to read well,

read it with them and see if they agree with it and then they sign it. We have to

have at least three to four pages.

The process outlined here took additional time on the part of the counselor and reading
assistants, and indicated their strong commitment to their clients.
One staff person mentioned that whenever a client's case is closed with selfemployment, it is a good idea to maintain contact with that client to determine if there is
continued success and to see if the case file needs to be reopened at some point.

Maintenance of self-employment in each case is an individual matter, as one counselor
emphasized with the following illustration:

I had a lady who had a heart transplant and she has been working for three years
now, doing her own thing. Nobody would even look at her as far as giving her a
job on account of insurance and liability problems.

She is able to work an

hour and then take an hour to rest, work for four hours and rest for four days. It
is an individual thing.

The individual nature of each case sometimes makes categorization difficult. An
Alaska counselor looked at each case situation to deal creatively with employment goals

and closure statuses. He dealt with the ambiguity of employment categories in the
following way:

Here's what I think the difference is. Not in every case, but in some of the cases,
what we're doing is not meant to be income, not like you or I would need to

survive. Where it's meant to supplement to some degree someone's subsistence
lifestyle, I think you can draw the line. It still is to some degree, I mean you could
call it a self-employment plan. In fact, we have had people develop selfemployment plans .

individuals we're working with that this income alone

would be enough to sustain them. They're not expecting that it is, we're not

expecting that it is. In other words, it's just another component to that
subsistence lifestyle. So i f I were doing a self-employment plan with somebody

who's living in Juneau, who has a family to support, they're not involved in any
kind of subsistence activities, and they came up with a similar kind of plan, it

probably wouldn't fly.
This counselor sometimes found categorization difficult because clients with a
subsistence lifestyle could be categorized as either self-employment, or unpaid family

worker. On the data collection form (see Appendix C), the question was asked, "If the
closure categories used by your agency are not the same as the ones used above, or you

have unique interpretations of the categories, please explain." One tribal VR counselor

responded that self-employment occupations included subsistence activities (e.g.,
trapping, beading, selling wood, and sled building). Another participant wrote:
Self-employment is how we categorized two successful outcomes but both clients

started home-based businesses. This required less than a $750 investment per
client and the results were immediate.

The successes described by these counselors, who stretch the traditional definitions of
self-employment from the owning, operating, and managing of his/her own business as
described by Arnold & Seekins (1994) to the subsistence activities mentioned above,
were counter-balanced by a few failures, as another participant reported:

Tried self-business development, but they didn't work well. Seasonal and no

marketonly intended for other Native people and ceremonial use.
33

Sheltered Workshops
The state with the largest number of sheltered workshop placements was

Minnesota. When asked to comment about this, Allan Lunz, Rehabilitation Specialist,
responded with more information in a letter dated December 23, 1997. He noted that, for
all of Minnesota, there were 16 sheltered workshop placements for American Indians in
FFY 1996, followed by 8 in FFY 1997. Yet only three placements each year were

located in the Twin Cities. He observed that "northern Minnesota utilizes sheltered
workshop placements more frequently than the rest of the state; however, placements

occurred in all regions of the state." The most frequently used vendor in northern
Minnesota was Goodwill Industries, the only such vendor in the region. There was no
concentration of sheltered employment placements by geography (other than the
designation of northern Minnesota), nor was there any concentration by counselor or by
disability.

Lunz attributed the higher rate of sheltered employment placements to the order
of selection of the Minnesota VR, which focused on serving people with more severe
disabilities. He also noted that whereas in some states efforts were focused on converting
sheltered workshops to supported employment, Minnesota had instead decided to add
supported employment to the services available through the community rehabilitation
programs, which meant that sheltered employment was still available as an option to
Minnesota clients. Lunz volunteered yet another reason for the high number of sheltered
workshop closures in Minnesota:
At closure, the person may be employed in more than one job. This is especially

true for sheltered workshop placements, where the person may also have a part-

time supported employment job. The counselor usually codes the most

restrictive placement (sheltered employment), even though the person is also
working in a community-based job. Since there has been no clarification from
RSA on how we should code people working in multiple programs, each state has

developed their own procedures [emphasis added].

Because each state has different placement definitions, offerings, and coding procedures,
there may be other states that actually have a higher number of sheltered workshop
closures than their numbers indicate.

When and Why it is Used
People placed in sheltered workshops tend to be severely disabled. Those who
are placed in sheltered workshops typically have mental retardation, severe health

conditions, or severe physical limitations. Often, they are young adults and may come to
VR through referrals from high schools. However, there is a definite trend away from the
use of sheltered employment in some areas, as mentioned previously.

In the focus groups, one staff person explained why the use of sheltered employment
is not popular at her agency:

Sheltered employment I don't like and I don't agree with. We don't place any
clients there because our belief is that if we can't place them through supported
employment, then we need to improve on our supported employment skills. We

just believe that people with disabilities don't have to be in segregated-type work
environments unless they want to be.

In Minnesota, which reported a higher number of closures in sheltered
employment as described above, several participants noted recent discouragement of
sheltered employment:

I think even agency contracts where money goes directly to facilities, there may
have been more encouragement in some financial arrangements for them to move

toward supportedfrom sheltered It certainly has happened with some of the
rehab centers.
Another Minnesota counselor said it was becoming more rare to use sheltered

employment as an ultimate goal. Several participants mentioned that it is more often
used as a transitional goal, so that skills are gained and some work assessment can be
done, until a more appropriate supported or competitive placement opens.
On the other hand, two counselors stated that the sheltered workshop was a very

common placement, and a legitimate and permanent one, in their locales. One counselor
35

said this was partly due to the availability of a sheltered employment facility in her rural

area, where there were few other options for employment. From what some staff
members reported on the use of sheltered workshops as a goal, it may work quite well

when the placement is on the reservation. At one site where participants were
interviewed, the tribal VR program had a working relationship with the sheltered
employment program.

Barriers
The primary barrier to the use of sheltered workshops was that they are, by

definition, segregated. For example, the Minnesota VR policy manual states, with
respect to IWRP development, that "the vocational goal . . . must be, to the extent
appropriate and consistent with the informed choice of the individual, in an integrated

setting" (Allan Lunz, personal communication, March 3, 1998). In the Casework
Standards section, it further states, "if the goal is not for an integrated setting, the case

file must document the consumer's rationale for choosing an segregated setting." These
two statements emphasize that if the IWRP is for a sheltered workshop, it must be the
consumer 's choice, justified by the consumer 's rationale, rather than the counselor's
choice.

In our interviews, VR staff discussed a number of barriers to the use of sheltered

workshops. One staff member talked about the lack of technical assistance:
There is really not a lot of technical support on self-employment, [or on training

people] how to start a sheltered workshop. We have some around us here, but
when you go out and do in-service with them, how to bring your programs
together, how to co-service with those sheltered workshops.

I have talked

with several people in our area that have sheltered workshops and there's still not
really a lot of action on that. It's maybe training us on how to do that.
Second, there is often a long waiting list for sheltered employment. This is
especially a problem in North Carolina and Montana where placements are prioritized by
level of need. As a result, counselors may refer clients to the workshop, but they have
little control over whether or not placement is successful.

Third, financial restrictions such as limitations on benefits from SSI or SSDI

prevent some clients from working full-time. To comply with the SSI regulations, only a

minimum number of hours may be worked. Other barriers mentioned include a lack of
IL skills and adequate transportation.

In addition to information gathered from focus groups, the following data
collected in Arizona from the State Independent Living Council (SILC) related to the

general discussion of sheltered workshops. SILC had a debate about sheltered workshops
versus integrated work settings. One state entity, the Arizona Rehabilitation Advisory
Committee (AZRAC), supported sheltered employment, but SILC as a whole supported

integrated work settings. They decided to "compromise": as new dollars came in, only
15% would be designated for "protected" employment, and the remainder for integrated

employment. This was an important change, since previously 45% of new funds were
being allocated to sheltered employment. The meeting concluded with the following

statement (Arizona SILC, 1998, p. 52): "All consumers who are not being placed in an
integrated work setting will be considered exceptions and reviewed by a SILC

subcommittee." The focus was to be put on integration. Here, state-level policy
decisions were a barrier to implementing sheltered workshop placement options by
restricting available funds.

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies
In Minnesota, where sheltered workshops were most frequent for American
Indian clients, as compared to all other states, counselors were asked why they used this

option more than counselors in other states. Some believed it was simply because the
option was available (i.e., more workshops were established and had openings in their

area). One counselor explained the use of this option in terms of the relationship between
the VR program and the tribe:
I truly feel that the Indian community has never had the option .

workshops. It has been common

. . .

such as

that people [with disabilities] live at home,

stay at home. People do things according to their own ability and aren't asked to
do more than they're capable of doing. That being the case, people have been
sheltered in their own homes and never reached

. to receive the services. And

suddenly they are and the services are available

. .

; we have people that have a

trust level perhaps, that the American Indian culture's actually going out off the

reservation. [Our staff are trusted] when they suggest things. The program

senses thisthe idea is received better and we are able to make connections for
people so they are not just flung out into the community and ripped away from the

comfort of their home and family. More options are available.
In other words, as trust is established between the VR program and members of the tribe,

clients have the assurance to follow recommendations of the counselors, to the extent that
clients are willing to leave the security of their homes for a variety of employment

options, including the sheltered workshop. Thus, the sheltered workshop may come to be
seen as a service option that can be attained with confidence.
One respondent gave an example of a case in which severe health problems were

a barrier to placement, partly because transportation was considered too risky. In this
unusual circumstance, the client began a sheltered work situation at what turned out to be
her own residence:

Here on the reservation, we had to place our consumer, she was having really

bad seizures and she had to have brain surgery. She was then placed into a care
home here and they ended up giving her a job to help take care of and change

people and talk with them and read to them. So that's a placement up here. An
elderly home. That's also where she is living now.
Staff members at two VR programs reported seeing more success with sheltered

employment placements if the clients also had access to IL services. However, this may
have been more appropriate for clients with more severe disabilities. They also discussed
how, in other cases, it is appropriate to use sheltered employment in the interim until a
more desirable placement materializes, in either competitive or supported employment.
One counselor described an agency that helped with this process:

I was just thinking about an organization (that's not actually a rehab center) with
a contract with us .

. .

PPL Industries or People Unlimited in Minneapolis who

states its role is to work with people of color with little or no recent job history.
As a matter offact, I think they have about 60 to 70% American Indian employees
38

4 '7

a good deal of the time. I've got a lot of guys from my halfway house and several
of those have gone to work there. If they are qualified for something that pays
more, they often want to get out but at least they're willing to work for $5.25 an

hour. It's a place that will tolerate perhaps a little more attendance problems
and does offer some support services and a limited amount of training to upgrade

people's skills. So I think it's been a culturally friendly environment for several
of these people that I work with.

Other respondents agreed that this sounded like a very valuable resource to have.

Further examples of successful sheltered employment facilities included second-

hand shops similar to Goodwill stores. These were on reservations with little industry
and very limited options for sheltered workshops.

Supported Employment
When and Why it is Used
As mentioned in the previous section, when VR staff discussed the option of
supported employment, it was often in the context of the recent trends encouraging it as a

substitute for sheltered workshops. One staff member gave a succinct explanation for
why supported employment may be necessary:
When we 're working with people that have the most significant disabilities, we

find that the traditional VR model does not work. We find that first, we may spend
years trying to get a person ready and they may never get ready because there 's
always so many little details that are left to be taken care of that the person never
gets ready for placement.

In cases based on the traditional VR model to which she was referring, there are usually

intermediate objectives that are defined and met before placement is attempted. But
supported employment directly contrasts with traditional VR services, where competitive
employment is the placement goal. It offers the client the chance for a more immediate
placement, because there are fewer hurdles to cross and training can take place on the

job.

Counselors recognized that supported employment was not the most inclusive
setting, and if clients were able to move on to a more inclusive one, then they should be

helped to do so. However, they recognized the value of supported placements both for
helping clients who need longer periods of rehabilitation to become ready for competitive

jobs, and for transitioning many people from exclusively sheltered workshops into
settings that were at least more inclusive.

One counselor described the use of supported employment as "work hardening."
It is used to get people in the habit of working again as well as for an extended period of
assessment. This may be especially appropriate when a person has had severe injuries
and needs a transition from physical labor to skills that are valuable in a sedentary work

setting. It was suggested as appropriate for clients with no employment background.
Respondents mentioned that those with severe disabilities were well suited for supported
employment, including those who need jobs specifically developed for them or who need

to share jobs. They noted that supported employment placements were likely to be longterm and that there were a variety of client backgrounds, disabilities, and skill levels that
would indicate this type of employment.
Job coaches were essential for getting clients ready for completing rehabilitation
goals in supported employment and were described by one focus group participant when
discussing supported employment:

The job coach can work on things like transportation situations, getting
somebody's physical condition improved, or whatever it is with that client. The
job coach works with that client every day as much as needed to help them to
meet the requirements to be successful in that job. And most of the time, training

is not the primary need. The person normally can learn the task It might be
getting work sped up [i.e., up to speed] to meet an employer 's expectations, or

work quality. And so the job coach can hang around and do that.
She went on to explain how the job coach's role is phased out:
After the job coach is getting to the point offading almost completely away, then
our placement specialist would work with that client to identib) what we call a

long-term service provider. And we get what we call a third-party agreement.

And that's just where vocational rehab is saying, okay, this person is successful.
We 're getting ready to close their case and we need someone to be responsible to

check in with this person, make sure things are going good, and to notibl
vocational rehab if things weren't going well.
She explained that the third party could be a family member, a coworker, or someone at
another agency.

She also discussed how the supported approach usually emphasizes the principle
of least-intrusiveness. This is intended to show respect for the client by not risking being
unnecessarily intrusive or appearing condescending by offering help that is not needed.

Training is approached beginning with an assumption of a low need for assistance. For
example, the job coach began by simply explaining how to do the job, and if the client is
not responsive to this, more intrusive assistance is given.
In one case, the reservation was identified as an excellent setting for supported

employment. A casino had just been opened on the reservation and offered many more
opportunities for supported employment placements where clients could work in an
inclusive setting and increase their skill levels.
The best reasons and cases for using supported employment as a vocational goal

varied among staff respondents. Levels of use varied not only according to the different
needs of individual clients, but also to regional differences in available resources.

Barriers
Perhaps because of the transitional nature of supported employment, one of the

greatest barriers to its success was related to attitude. One woman explained that this
included employer, family member, client, and VR staff attitudes. All participants in the
rehabilitation process need to really believe that everyone can work. Counselors noted
that the best way to change client attitudes was to show them examples of people
working, people who have severe enough disabilities that others may have doubted they

could work. But the biggest attitude barrier was perceived to be that of employers. One
suggested solution to raise the comfort level of employers was to invite them to

informational meetings; the VR staff promised them free training on how to work with
people with disabilities in their workplace.
41

According to focus group participants, the lack of a tribal disability policy was

found to be a barrier with supported employment. Counselors emphasized that the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not apply to tribal governments; therefore,
there was lower awareness of disability issues and less incentive for many tribal

employers to value helping people with disabilities make the transition to productive
work. This has led to a situation where people with severe disabilities have had very
little opportunity for employment, especially because there was not a policy to support

the employment of people with disabilities. For example, one VR program reported that
the local tribe was required neither to accept any of the program contracts nor to hire any
of the participants.
Income limits have often been a barrier for SSI and SSDI recipients for supported

employment placements as well as other placements. Counselors said that the clients and
their families were afraid of losing their SSI.
One participant reported that, for him, supported employment required extra
documentation:

Supported employment, because of a little bit of extra documentation, is a sort of

a nuisance. Frankly, I use the job coaching as a transitional tool from time to
time, but very seldom supported employment as a final placement.

Another participant, who worked with a rural reservation, said that he had few supported

placement options. He used his limited placement options for clients who could quickly
move on to competitive employment. Because he wanted each spot to be available for
the clients who were most appropriate for it, he had to consider each placement carefully.
One staff described how maintaining the job coach position could become a
barrier to supported employment goals:

Present barriers would be funding for job coaches,

. . .

having enough job

coaches at the right time and not too many at the wrong time. Because the job
coach position itself is something that is kind of on an as-needed basis. And if

you don't have a client, then you don't really need a job coach. But our
experience has been that i f you try [to] work with people on an as-needed basis,

you can't keep quality people that are trained to be job coaches. So what we've

had to work a long time to do is to try to get some permanent positions that the

people are job coaches and they really just have two job descriptions. They are a
job coach when the job coach is needed and when they are not needed, we have
other things for them to work on.

Participants discussed the most effective ways to handle the barriers to supported
employment, such as communicating with the family of the client and with other agencies
involved in their support, and facilitating their working together. Staff training, wellprepared job coaches, and adequate evaluation periods were considered to be important
as well.

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies
Job coaches were considered to be the most essential part of supported
employment. Their tasks include doing a job analysis and determining step-by-step what
will be necessary to do the job. Family support also plays a very important part in a
successful outcome. One woman described how well supported employment placements
were working at her program:
I have used supported employment a number of times when it 's appropriate.

Again, the Goodwill Industries facility has very nice job placement with job
coaching and leading into supported employment for people and they've
developed some very excellent programs within the communities, such as with

various hotels doing housekeeping and things of that nature. So it 's a very nice

placement. In fact I have one very interesting client whothe facilitythe
supported employment job placement person there helped her write a PATH plan

that was used to pay for her own job coaching and that's when we got out. And
that 's the way we had to document that there would be a follow-along afterward.
Another participant explained that supported employment was more common and
successfully used at her tribal program because they had a very good relationship with the

state office. She was comfortable communicating with them about the tribe's needs and
she had obtained grant funds from them to do staff training. She said she realized that

many tribal programs did not get much help from state programs. She further explained
how the economy is an important factor in the success of supported employment:

Supported employment works better when there are plenty ofjobs because

employers need people and they get a little bit desperate and they are a little bit
more open to look at people that can do the job. Whereas if they've got 20
applicants for every position, they might be less open to working with vocational

rehab. So, I guess when the economy is better and there are more jobs, then it's
easier to make placements with employers because they don't have as many
people applying for those jobs. And the same with competitive employment.

Perhaps some of the most exemplary comments on the success of supported
employment came from staff people who went beyond addressing the disabilities of their

clients to looking at the whole life of each client. As one counselor said:

We 're building a philosophy, but in general, our services and our contacts and
the way we do our business here have just been holistic. Just concentrating on

the whole person. Yes the disability, but also what life beyond the disability and I
think we have been showing some success and feeling good about what we're

doing just concentrating on a holistic approach to each individual.
A second counselor echoed these feelings:
That's the way the Yakima people feel.

. .

I've never heard an elder tell me what

they can't dothe children that are in their care. They always try to emphasize
what those young people can do and that is what we've followed. I thought,
"Man, these elders have been around a lot longer than I have and they know."
We've tried to incorporate that into our philosophy at our program, you know?

Let's do an assessment. Let's look for their strengths, not their weaknesses, and
let 's build on those strengths. That is where you get that self-actualization going.

That's where you get that person feeling better about their self and their situation.

Employment is just a secondary thing, I think I've never heard one Native
American with a disability in our community get down on you about the wages.

They've never gotten down on me about their lack of responsibility. They've

always emphasized that they're working, they're part of society now. They've
44

been brought back in. They've been .

. .

mainstreamed again, back into the major

community. That is what we're after.
These participants did not just see an employment situation and a disability that needed to
be addressed; they were concerned with the whole quality of life of the individual, and
what they could do to help that person feel included and to realize their goals in all areas.

Business Enterprise Programs
State and tribally sponsored BEPs may be managed by the client and may include
a home office, computer, and additional employees. Alternatively, the BEP may be

managed by a tribal VR person based on the vendor model from the Randolph-Sheppard
Act. Because the BEP seemed to be used so rarely, researchers asked the participants for

more details. Researchers wanted to know how counselors defined BEPs as being
different from self-employment. In response, a counselor sent the researchers
information from a state policy and procedure manual entitled, "Policy: Management and

Supervision for Small Business Enterprise, Revised 7-01-94." This policy was "for
individuals with severe handicaps," and the type of small business enterprise (SBE) that
would be considered for funding was defined as "those that provide elements of being

successful and provide the client with severe handicaps a means of subsistence." It
excluded SBEs that "are unlawful, have no elements of success, or are not controlled by

the client with severe handicaps." These restrictions resembled those for selfemployment. Other provisions in this policy manual governed the acquisition of
equipment and initial stocks, financing, management and supervision, and assurance of
severe disability.

Another program director said that although they may have indicated BEP in their
report form, it was actually more like a self-employment goal. His point seemed to be

that a BEP with only one employee was, in effect, a self-employment placement. A
second program director indicated that the difference was that self-employment is home-

based, but a BEP is more elaborate, perhaps involving rental of a facility and so forth. In
a separate focus group, one program director, when asked about BEPs, responded this
way:

Let's see, business enterprise program, is that like the program that the state
operates for blind vendors, is that what you are talking about?
Later in the same interview, she lamented not having the BEP option available on her
reservation:

The business enterprise program that I'm familiar with

. .

. we don't have that on

the reservation. I'd like to get it started. I've gotten a lot of information from the
state about how they operate it. But basically the state serves as a consultant to
the person with a disability and also as a technical assistance person in terms of
getting started in a business. In our state, the state owns the equipment. For
example, they have a cafeteria set up where the state owns the equipment and they

provide the technical assistance to the person with a disability in getting business

started up. The state assists with like equipment maintenance and that sort of
thing. But the person with a disability or persons actually run the business in
terms of managing it and performing the work and they make the profits and that

sort of thing. But the state is there to provide some startup costs for equipment
and then provide technical assistance along the way to keep it going.
A new tribal VR director was also very enthused about the business enterprise concept,
but also perhaps a little confused about the exact definition of BEPs:

Good, that would be, and then as far as the state or federally managed tribal
enterprises, that is most definitely something we all have available in our areas,
especially all of us who have trust lands and we are spread out all over 13%2

counties like a lot of us are. The Choctaws have what? 14? Then that makes for
a lot of possible enterprises and supported type of employment opportunities out
there, competitive employment that we can actually do within our own enterprises

and just starting from scratch and how to go about working within your own

tribal enterprises to set up this type ofjob development. That would be most
helpful because that is where we are right now. We have tremendous amounts of

jobs out there, we just have to get the right people together and start trying to get
a placement system going. .

The director of a tribal VR program that uses the BEP placement summarized
how a BEP would be set up:

According to ours, we have acquisition of equipment and stocks, financing, and
management of supervision, which is assisting the client . . . or purchasing the

management services for the client which include the specs and quality control,

consultation, accounting, regulating, and the list goes on and on and on.
Because, most people really don't know how to operate a small business. We
purchase the services for them until such time as they learn how to do taxes if it is

applicable to selling things off of the reservation and set up the books and all of
the things like that.

When and Why it is Used
AIRRTC researchers wanted to know why some regions might use BEPs more

than other regions. One respondent explained:
For the Apaches, it is because our unemployment is so high in this little area that

we are in; it is just a high unemployment rate. It's hard for clients to get
competitive employment so we 'ye really looked at creating business ventures

within this tribe for our clientele. Our tribe is real open to that, not just Section
130 [tribal] consumers, but the whole tribe has a high unemployment rate.
Because we try to work all of the programs together and because we specifically
have to come out with employment outcomes, our tribe has been very helpful

about creating jobs for these people and we're looking at a lot of things. We're a
subcommittee of all of the directors in the tribe and we're called the economic
development subcommittee. We all work together trying to make employment
opportunities.

Thus the regions that use BEPs may have some of the same characteristics as regions that
use self-employment and sheltered workshops. That is, they may be rural and isolated
with a high unemployment rate. The varieties of jobs stimulated by BEP range widely,
especially when they are located on a reservation with few other options. One participant
commented:
47

They also want to do a construction business. The tribe wants to employ some of

our clientele. There are several things that you can go towards doing. Basically,
we're saturated with arts and crafts people.
This is an indication of the kind of tribal interest that might serve as a basis for
establishing a tribal BEP.
Because using a tribally run BEP as a placement goal might require collaboration
with another tribal agency, the principal investigator asked how closely the participants

worked with their tribal economic development agency. A participant replied:
I work really closely with ours because it is in the same building about 10 feet
away. .

. .

Unfortunately, they are directed by the council to do things for the

whole tribe, not individuals. That is kind of the way. You have to do things for
everyone, not just one person. So we just have to kind of go out on our own and
do what we do, which is like the lady that was talking before, there is not much

work around here so we sit around with the clients and think of businesses to

start. What would work here.
One project director expressed her concern that sometimes working too closely with the
tribal economic development agency results in a less client-centered placement.

Barriers
Researchers asked the participants, when considering what kind of placements

might work for their clients, what barriers come up that would make it difficult to

consider BEPs as a placement. Perhaps the largest barrier could be expressed in terms of
various financial snags. One program director outlined the problem in the following
terms:

Financing. We have a rule here that we can only go up to $5,000 on any business
enterprise. They have to have a business plan from the small business association
down at the university. That is where they learn how to fill out their applications

and make applications and write up their proposal and all of those kinds of
things. If it is feasible and within the law, we can fund it up to $5,000, because
the SBA isn't going to give you anything less than $100,000. So, it is not even
48

worth trying to ask them for money because that is just too much money to start

small businesses around here.
With regard to tribal enterprises, finances loom large again as a barrier, as explained by
one tribal VR director:
Yes

. .

. we try to start a bunch of small businesses . . . we have this training

program and we're trying to turn it over to some clients so they can do it so they
can have income. The tribe here won't let us have program income so that is why

we started a community rehabilitation program. We've got to start another
nonprofit; that's the only way we can get anything going here. We have some
people that want to be groundskeepers, window washers and we can get contracts
that are off the reservation, but the tribe won't let anybody come in. They said
we '11 have to hire them and you just can't hire them. People working at subminimum wage and the tribe wants them to buy $121 worth of insurance every

two weeks and they take 30% indirect costsyou just can't do things like that.
We're just going to start moving off of the reservation. Where we can start some
businesses, like normal people do, without paying the tribe that may supply you

with, actually, nothing. Toilet paper and lights and that's about all.
In a follow-up call, the participant explained:
We had to give up on the idea of tribally run business enterprise under the VR

program. Reasons(1) council said "no program income"; (2) the tribe wanted
to have participants, 25 tribal employees; (3) the tribe wanted indirect costs,

participants to be enrolled in life insurance, health insurance, and dental

insurance. If we did all thesethe business would be broke in 6 months.
One financial aspect that may be unique to the BEP option is the issue of taxes:

We've got the tribal taxes and then we have the tribal businesses on [tribal] land
and then we have to deal with the state wanting their share of the taxes. We try to
maintain sovereignty, but there are still some things we are subjected to. So,

those are the kinds of things we are dealing with. Back to barriers. That was one
of our barriers. We're not on a reservation in Oklahoma; we've been given

allotted land and we're like in a checkerboard area so we have a lot of
jurisdictional issues on that. We are on an official share of land of the Kiowa and
the Comanche tribes. A lot of our clientele are on their allotments. We've got a

lot of those issuesjurisdictional. Who pays taxes to whom and whatnot right
now? [That's] one of the things we are dealing with. I think that would be our
barrier.
One of the lesser barriers to BEPs was alluded to earlier: Neither staff nor clients

know enough about them to be fully able to explore their potential. In the words of a
program director:

In our program? Well, the clients don't seem to ask us about those alternatives
like self-[employment] and homemaker and unpaid family worker. That's one
reason that when the clients we have . . . come in, they don't note those kinds of

things as their goals. That's number one.

. . .

And I guess the other reason we

wouldn't use it is, maybe we weren't familiar enough with it, like the business
enterprise program, for example.
As was suggested earlier, BEPs are not usually suitable for clients with exceptionally
severe disabilities. In fact, the disability in itself was brought up by counselors as a
barrier to employment placements of this type:

The client's disability. Depending on what their disability is, like if they have a
disability where they can't really work full time and then if they want to get into a
business, like for example the catering person, you have to be here, every day,

and i f you're not here, then people get upset and maybe they don't go to your

business anymore. But, we have alternatives. We tell people you have to have
someone who can go do this for you. Now we encourage them to hire more voc

rehab clients. We can provide them with on-the-job training and tax credits and
all of that kind of stuff So i f you have all of the incentives there, they're more
likely to take advantage of it.

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies
One good example of a small business enterprise is the not-for-profit organization
that runs the Zuni tribal VR agency and is also providing management services to a BEP
that supplies transportation and operates a convenience store and a recycling project

(Richard Corbridge, personal communication, April 6, 1999). As is the case with so
many types of alternative employment, the most successful BEPs seem to be those where

creativity is the rule. One promising approach that could lead towards tribally managed

BEPs is a tribal business assistance center, described here by a VR staff member:
First of all, I guess we don't have what is being defined as a business per se.
Tribally owned, it's pretty much self-employment. We hope to do some piggy

backing so in terms of numbers, one person starts and then they might hire on
other individuals that we can place with them, for example in a greenhouse
situation. We have another case now where we would like to hook a VR client up
with another person who has a grass-cutting maintenance type of business.

We're having some trouble with workman's comp on that. We do have a tribal
business assistance center here where any of the individuals that want to go into

business go over and talk to those folks and [get] some sort of guidance. We'd

like to expand I think that is the direction we are going to take in terms of
businesses in general and that might even include trying to co-opt the tribe into

starting some businesses at some point. I think that is the direction we would like
to go at this point.

Homemaker Placements
With homemaker placements, as with the other alternatives to competitive
employment, the main question explored with VR staff was, "When, or under what

circumstances, is this type of alternative employment a good idea?" The homemaker
program provides support for the family unit by freeing another member to compete for a

job. Because of the centrality of the family in preserving American Indian culture, this
seemed like potentially a very important alternative for some individuals.

When and Why it is Used
The reasons for placing a client in homemaker status were discussed by a number

of participants. Although homemaker placements have not been very prevalent
historically, there seem to be cases where that alternative is clearly the best option, not

only for the client but for the family as a whole. Besides citing specific needs of the
individual as reasons for homemaker placements, VR staff discussed the impact of
culture on placement decisions:

Participant: When we worked with .

. .

technical support and we ask about

homemakers, they do not discourage it because of our culture. Because it is a
difference that we may need to make within our own tribal VR.

Researcher: Are you saying then, that perhaps Oklahoma [VR], although it might
generally have a state attitude of discouragement, they do not necessarily apply
that attitude towards Indian programs because of cultural differences?
Participant: Well, I'm just only speaking again with the support that we've gotten
since it began through tribal VR, technical support, when we've talked about
homemakers, i f you have the funds and you can help them, that is allowed. I think

it is up to us at the discretion of each 130 [tribal program] whether or not or how
much or whether we can, but it is a gray area. It 's a gray area that I would like
to have more advice on. That is definitely going to be something that we will be
talking about when we get back with our tribal VR and technical support again.
You know I had also asked RSA about it when we first began the program because

the homemaker status was discouraged by the state.
This participant indicated that homemaker placements are rare because they are actively

discouraged by state policies. Yet, there is a growing realization that an understanding of
American Indian culture predicates a greater demand for this kind of placement. This
was emphasized by the opinion of another counselor in a different conference call:

So, that's the only thing I can think of .

. .

that a person could have that would be

based on their cultural heritage, would be to make arts and crafts, other than
things like homemaker. Because of the cultural heritage that, for example, a
mother thinks that she should stay at home and care for her children and clean
52

the house and cook for her husband and things like that. That would be a goal if
that's what that person wanted that was based on their cultural heritage.
The problem is that there is no clear direction for implementation, and this is

confusing for counselors who need more placement options. Another participant
commented:

It varies case by case I think That would be a tough one to generalize I think
because one of our problems with working with the direct consumer is you have to

take into consideration the family aspect and it is difficult to counsel with
everyone, but it is also difficult to counsel with just your consumer by themselves.

That is an ongoing case-by-case situation I think, for us here.
Some participants observed that homemaker placements were often used with
people who had more severe disabilities or long-term disabilities:

Participant 1: In our case, I would say it is probably the more severely disabled
people who are receiving these services.

Participant 2: I'll say the majority are, well yes, more severe.
Later, additional information about the disabilities of consumers with homemaker
placements was provided:

Participant 1: Both of our homemakers right now do have diabetes.

Participant 2: Both of mine are blindor just about blind. It is a congenital
defect and there are like four other people from that particular family in that

particular village that has about 170 people

. so I don't know if it is cultural.

It's not cultural, but it is a congenital disability that occurs in that particular
area. .

In our case we had an 0 and M [Orientation and Mobility] specialist

come in and it kind of gave us a heads up of what kinds of needs the individual

had to maintain herself in her home and the second individual also spent some
time with the 0 and M specialist. We did contract with somebody who had the
knowledge in the area of blind services come in at their home site where they

were able to do a complete assessment of what those needs are and he has been

very good about advising us on what types of equipment and implements to buy
for the folks.

Another factor that might lead to the choice of homemaker as a goal is the age of

the client, as was mentioned in the following exchange. The suggestion was that many
homemaker placements might be women who are middle-aged or older:
Participant 1: I think homemakers tend to be sometimes, from what I see of it,

possibly middle-age and up. I don't know if that's true, but are you all seeing
this?
Participant 2: Our youngest one is probably in mid-thirties.

Participant 3: That's not too old. Both of mine are well into their fifties. Over
55, I believe.

Homemaker placements can also be helpful when a consumer simply does not
seem to have any other options:

Researcher: Are there any particular socio-economic conditions that affect the
desirability or the feasibility of homemaker placements with your programs?

Participant: It is usually the people that are in the lowest economic [bracket] that

really don't have other possible resources. One with diabetes that we had that
had an amputation below the knee and then possibly looking at the other leg

going to be amputated soon. She's middle-aged, mother of three and divorced A
single lady, living alone to take care of her family. So, lack of resources. Low
economic resources. Utilizing as much as possible the resources right here in
Chickasaw Nation. I know that the community health rep visits to make sure she
has the right medical needs, things like that.
When there are absolutely no other options, the clients have a better chance of actually

being placed when more funds are available. One counselor mentioned that he
considered homemaker placements to be the most expensive, "because [the clients] are
most severely handicapped." Given the perceived expense of the homemaker placement,
researchers questioned why certain counselors were actually using it with above average

frequency. They responded:
54

Participant 3: In our, to answer the question for this particular 130 [tribal VIZ]
program, it is because we still have funding available. We are in our second year
and still have available funding and we feel like as long as we are doing that then
we should be helping as many people as we can with disabilities. If we can keep
them in a homemaker type role while we have funds available then that is why we
keep it going.

Participant 2: I think that is true with us too. We have the funds to be able to do
that and not be detrimental to the people in the other statuses, even though the
homemaker is actually more expensive in some aspects than the others.

Participant I: In our case, it is coincidental that both of the people that we are
servicing are low vision and they come from the same village. I think this is just

what they have selected. The second person selected it after the first person was
through. I think that word of mouth might have had something to do with that
one.

The perceived expense of homemaker placements may be one reason that
information about this employment option has rarely been actively disseminated.
Consequently, when homemaker placement has been set as a goal, the impetus has been

from the consumer, who may have heard about it by word of mouth. Other programs
found that to be the case. A client would come in and they would be working on the
IWRP together and the client would say, "So and so got a homemaker placement, can I

get one too?" VR staff participants had varying opinions as to the degree that this type of
placement actually occurred. In many cases, unless the client actually indicated where
she heard about this option, the counselor may not have understood the context for the

client's request.

Barriers
Earlier, it was reported that most homemaker placements among programs for
American Indian clients were from Oklahoma, yet the Oklahoma VR was under some

pressure to reduce the number of these closures. In the survey of tribal VR programs, it
was also discovered that most tribal VR programs making more than one such placement

per year were in Oklahoma. AIRRTC researchers wondered about the relationship

between these observations. One project director commented:
We are one of the newer 130s in Oklahoma and .

when we first began our

program almost two years ago, when we asked about homemakers, it was like

they did not really want to discuss that because, what we are hearing is that the
state is really trying to phase that section out. I think that they do it, but very

discreetly and very seldom these days. I believe that with our regulations [and]
after talking to a lot of people

. . .

in tribal VR about .

homemakers to benefit our consumers .

utilizing our

because of our federal regulations

being different than the state, do we have that flexibility to [provide services]? I

asked [a counselor] about that and he said as far as he knew, we could. That is a
little bit of a gray area for us right now with homemakers.
The attitude of state rehabilitation services has probably been directly related to

the perceived expensive nature of homemaker closures referred to earlier. Counselors
have tended to use financial reasons as a basis for prioritizing services. This is generally
acknowledged as a problem:
Participant 3: Well, I think that i f you were limited on funds, you would probably

do the most severe first and that may be your homemaker and it may be a need for
self-employment, but I think you would need to steer away from that, just like high

medical costs. Are we discriminating there?
Participant 2: Homemaker is probably the most expensive because they are the
most severely. .

disabled.

Although lack of funding is a barrier shared by most alternative placement options, it is
not the only reason that states or programs and counselors might hesitate to increase the

use of homemaker placements. Clients who are closed to homemaker status have a way
of coming back for repetitive services. This is a problem that was discussed in depth by
participants:

Participant 2: I have experienced the same thing with my one individual that I
had closed as a homemaker. She has needed to be reopened for post-employment
services. She finds that she needs more assistance than she did the first year we
had her.

Participant 4: There is a very fine line between entitlement and actually
homemaking. You know what I'm saying? Do we just continually keep servicing
this person for a long extended period of time or is that a discretion within each
counselor to the consumer or what?
This raised the question whether, in their IWRPs, the tribal VR counselors established
criteria that would be used to determine when they could close the case, with the

consumer's agreement. The participants responded:
Participant 1: Yes, we did that and this person keeps coming back and because
we put a particular type of shoe for her to gain more mobility around the home
that she continually needs an update on the type of shoe that we are getting her.
So that's the problem with the continuing dependency of homemakerism. But,
you're right; we do need to be more specific in our IWRPs.
Participant 2: We have experienced the same thing with the woman that has the

vision problems and she has found other things that she needs to maintain her
home and her working environment in her home. We did set the original
guidelines and followed them for 90 days and she keeps coming back too.

Participant 3: At this time, I think I need to go ahead and mention that earlier this

year, the programthis was prior to me coming to this programopted to stop
assisting homemakers and the problems that you all are stating is a lot of the

reason that Randy made that decision [to stop assisting homemakers]. It was
repetitive services. At the time, we are not serving in that status. We did earlier
this year, but like I said we opted to go ahead and not provide services.
The problem of supplying repetitive services after a case is closed can be
exacerbated when it is combined with the family-oriented nature of homemaker
placement. In some cases, either the family proves to be a resistant force against the

client's rehabilitation goals, or else everyone gets involved in the client's welfare, the
client's choice, and bringing VR services back into the picture:
Researcher: I was thinking that one of the situations might be that unless the
family buys into the solution, there may be problems achieving the homemaker
goals that you set up.

Participant: Well, let me tell you about the problem that we have had, and it goes
back to that same case; the family members that live with this particular
homemaker are the most persistent about getting services for that person. We've
even had a brother-in-law that works for the tribe call us wanting to know when

we are going to get this other particular service going for this person, which we
can't give the information to, but it gets to be a family ordeal. It really does with
the few cases that we have had.

Examples of Successful Cases and Strategies
At the beginning of this section, it was indicated that a typical reason for
counselors and clients to use homemaker status as a vocational goal is to allow another

family member to leave the home to bring an income to the family. One VR staff person
explained it this way:

Sometimes there'll be an incident where it's real clear that a person really needs
to stay at home and that's what they want to do and if they had some services,

then they could do that. For example, we have a lady now that has carpal tunnel
syndrome

[and] she has some problems like cooking and that sort of thing for

her husband and for her children and her grandchild. So we've been able to go
in and do some modifications to the stove and stuff like that so that she can pick
up pots better.

Providing homemaker services for this woman enabled her family to become more
productive in the workforce while saving on childcare.

Unpaid Family Workers
There is a traditional view of the unpaid family worker status. A program director
offered the following characterization:

Unpaid family worker..

. .

would be a person working for example on a farm that

a family owns and is not paid or they could be working in another family business

like crafts or something like that. So the person is not paid but receives other
benefits like shelter and food and clothing and has their needs met based on their

participation in their work
This is the more narrow definition. But, like so many of the alternative employment
options, AIRRTC researchers found that there are more ways of approaching this type of
placement.

One of the first focus group discussions was with state VR counselors from
Alaska. The focus group had primarily been arranged to discuss their unpaid family
workers placements. However, it immediately became clear that in order to understand
their use of these placements, it was necessary to understand that their approach was
based on an innovative and creative state policy:

Back in 1989, our agency's director got together with Dick Corbridge from RSA
down in Seattle and they went about the task of writing a position paper on what
constitutes employment, and in the end, what they came up with was a new
definition for employment that they presented nationwide at an RSA

administrator's meeting. Basically, it 's become our agency's working definition
of employment. Although it's kind of a mouthful in its one line,

. . .

what they

came up with was, "Work means any substantial meaningful activity to which an
individual devotes time and exerts physical or mental effort towards the
production or accomplishment of something which significantly contributes to the
livelihood of the individual and which benefits society."

The decision to take this approach was based on Alaska's socioeconomic realities, which
one counselor expressed as follows:

Because a lot of the communities that are remote in Alaska are probably not

unlike tribal places too, where it's remote and there's probably some things about
the economy that are noteworthy and how people survive, get their livelihood and

things. We might say for example, this person lives in a small remote isolated
community in northwest Alaska, about 200 residents, not too many competitive

jobs in the community, most people work seasonally, if they can get jobs. They

gather resources off the land, off the water to survive on. They barter a bit for
services; they produce some arts and crafts for supplemental income. Something
like that, see, that sort of gives you a quick picture of what the community might

look like for that person or what their employment picture, their livelihood looks
like.

This seems to mean that traditional definitions of competitive employment were modified

and made more flexible. Counselors took advantage of the fact that the "Dictionary of
Occupational Titles," which provides the codes used to identify jobs, has a number of

categories for fishing, hunting, and farming (occupational title codes 40x- to 46x-). Upon
request, documentation for some examples was forwarded to the researchers (see Table 3).

Table 3
' Sample Job Placements (Alaska)

Employment Goal

DOT Code

Reindeer Herder

410161

Self-employed & Subsistence

Bread Maker

313381

[Home-based]

Subsistence Hunter

461684

Self

Salary

Employer

N/A
[unknown]

The DOT Code 410161 refers to animal breeders and livestock ranchers (U.S.
Department of Labor, 1991) and would apply equally well to many traditional ranching

operations in the Southwest and the Dakotas. One of the counselors commented,

N/A

One of the things that have been beneficial in terms of writing a plan that

essentially identifies a service or a goal that's going to help supplement
subsistence lifestyle is that people can really go a long ways in Alaska to
providing for themselves off the land. I mean, the hunting, the fishing, the

gathering is really a large and integral part of the cultures here. I think some of
the individuals that I've worked with really don't have a huge need for income.
They need income to supplement that but I'm not sure that the same equation

exists, at least everywhere in the lower 48, in terms of the abundant resources. So

that may be something that you'll have to grapple with a little bit. Here I don't
have any problem writing a plan and saying this worker, self-employment or
whatever it is that 's identified, is going to supplement their subsistence lifestyle
because the subsistence lifestyle is probably half of what they need to survive.
Another counselor commented,
Because of the nature of the environment in Alaska, employment goals are less
likely to be for full-time or even half-time employment. And it is not uncommon

for goals for competitive employment, as well as for self-employment, to include

part-time or seasonal work

Barriers
The following counselor in Alaska discussed how additional subsistence activities
may be all that is needed for a client in a rural area there. But there are barriers, such as
what the state expects in terms of financial outcomes:

It's not just a financial end that drives everyone. But unfortunately, the people
that provide the funds oftentimes tend to get overly focused just on the dollar and
cents of the issue. And how much tax return are we going to get off the people

that are rehabilitated. But for folks out in small communities, it goes much
beyond just an economic and dollar and cents type of value.

More typical are the responses of these participants:

Participant 1: I have not ever used the unpaid family worker or homemaker
category, at least not in many, many years.
Participant 2: Yeah, I've never used unpaid family worker and I may possibly
have used homemaker at some point in the past.

Participant 3: I have never used it either.

I'm probably the newest person

here and I certainly have never used it.

Participant 4: I've haven't used unpaid family or homemaker either.
Researcher: In general, why do you think that alternative goals such as the ones
that we've been discussing are not being used as much as competitive

employment? Are there any barriers to using these alternative goals?
Participant 1: It seems like a cop-out to get a closure to do unpaid family worker.

I mean I understand the concept there. It's just not a thing I've ever gotten
involved in.

Researcher: You say you don't use unpaid family worker much. I'm thinking in
the context of cottage industry kinds of things where the family might be involved

in the production of crafts or things. I'm wondering if there are circumstances
where the lack of employment in the client's area might cause you to take a
longer look at some of these other options.

Participant 1: As far as unpaid, that's kind of a problem, I think
Researcher: In what way is it a problem?

Participant 1: In terms of our agency, I don't think they look at that as an
appropriate outcome.

Participant 2: In fact, I think we're seeing a little bit of pressure which I think is
coming from national sources about looking, rather askance at any sub-minimum
wage settings.

Other Issues: Considerations Applying to All Alternative Placements
The focus group protocol included questions about a number of topics that might
affect the use of particular placement outcomes (see Appendix D). Responses that were
applicable to a wide range of placement outcomes are summarized below.

Cultural Relevance
Participants were asked, "Which alternative employment goals (if any) are better
suited for any of your Native American clients based on their cultural heritage?" One
counselor in New Mexico responded that he occasionally has clients who are very
religious and when they have religious ceremonies they will not go to work for up to

several days, without notifying their employers or calling in sick. He said that he is

reluctant to place such clients in competitive employment positions. So, in some cases,
some alternative employment may suit the client's needs better than competitive

placements, because of the higher level of flexibility and independence entailed in
alternative employment.

Other New Mexico counselors commented that the suitability of alternative
employment might be connected to the market as much as the influence of culture:

Participant 1: Here in Taos, I don't think it is cultural as much as this is an area
where there is a really heavy tourist population and the market is there. So like I
say, we have several .

people selling at the pueblo; they are able to target a

larger population that is already there in the pueblo. .

. .

People from Germany,

Japan, and other countries are buying some of this equipment and materials our
clients are making.

Participant 2: I guess they are artistically inclined, but to their culture, you know,
they have the Indian dancers, the beading, the leather work, making the shawls, it

just depends. It is artistic, they can draw, they can sculpture, they can do just
about anything.

For the clients in New Mexico, artistic endeavors were available that were suited to their

specific cultural expressions. The tourists were visiting the pueblos for the single

purpose of absorbing and understanding that culture. This created an ideal situation for
alternative employment that grew out of and was suited to cultural needs.

Socioeconomic Circumstances
A related question asked, "What are the socioeconomic conditions that affect the

practicality of competitive employment versus alternatives?" This led to the following
brief discussion:

Researcher: I gather from some of what you said that you feel that these
alternative goals are useful not only for American Indians, but for other people,

especially in rural areas, and that there is nothing particular about American
Indian culture that makes any of these alternative goals especially appropriate.
Participant 1: Yes.

Participant 2: It fits them a little better, because they are short on transportation,
short on money, and a long ways from town. And living in areas where the job
market is very limited.

DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS
The family is of fundamental importance to American Indian and Alaska Native

cultures. It is the basic unit in which cultural knowledge, attitudes, values, and beliefs are

transmitted from one generation to the next, often in a Native language. Recognition of
the role of the family is all the more important in such a minority culture in which
language as well as knowledge, attitudes, values, and beliefs may differ from those of the

majority culture. Historically, the assimilation policies of the federal government
deliberately attempted to undermine American Indian families by such tactics as

removing children from their homes and placing them in boarding schools where they
were forbidden to speak the Native language and were harshly penalized for any

expression of culture that differed from that of the majority (Hirschfelder & Kreipe de

Montano, 1993, pp. 92-102).
Competitive employment may disrupt and weaken American Indian and Alaska

Native families if placement requires moving to a distant city where there are more jobs,
64

1?3

or if the process of rehabilitation in preparation for competitive employment disrupts the

family without some later compensating reinforcement of family ties. However, some of
the alternatives to competitive employment legally available to VR clients may offer a
type of placement that is more culturally appropriate in that the family might be

supported and strengthened, rather than weakened and fragmented. In this study,
AIRRTC researchers have conducted a preliminary examination of how these alternatives

are being used by and for American Indians. In particular, these alternatives include the
homemaker and unpaid family worker placements, which are discussed at greater length

below. However, self-employment and other alternatives were also examined for their
potential benefits.

Researchers had hypothesized that the alternatives to competitive employment
would be found to be underutilized when compared to non-Indians and in respect to need.
The data show that about 80% of American Indian cases were closed in competitive

employment, compared with 85% of non-Indian casesor, equivalently, that 20% of
American Indian cases were closed in various alternatives to competitive employment,

compared with 15% of non-Indian cases. Thus, while the utilization rates between
Indians and non-Indians are not substantially different, AIRRTC researchers did find that
certain alternative placements were being discouraged, when it may serve the best
interests of American Indian clients to use them more optimally and more widely.

Admittedly, there is room for abuse of these alternatives. No one is arguing for
indiscriminate use of alternative employment. But to discourage alternative placements
out of hand is certainly not culturally competent and risks being culturally insensitive.
When competitive employment is rare or absent in an American Indian community, to

insist on competitive employment and to discourage the legal alternatives described
earlier violates the spirit of the policy of self-determination, established by President
Nixon in 1970, and made law by Congress in the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act of 1975 (Hirschfelder & Kreipe de Montano, 1993, pp. 30-31).
Sometimes, the barrier to implementation of these kinds of placements is simply
due to a lack of information about successful examples, although most staff participants
claimed familiarity with all of the six employment categories. But even among those
who claimed familiarity, their understanding often seemed narrow. Bad experiences with

some such placements were a discouraging factor, along with fear of the unknown,

rumors about abuses, and a lack of technical support. It would appear that basic positive
information is needed about all of the alternatives to competitive employment.

Sheltered Workshops
Although sheltered workshops have fallen out of favor nationally, and more

integrated settings are often more desirable, one participant indicated that she would
prefer this placement in some cases if it were available, but no such facility existed in her
area. For consumers with certain severe disabilities, a sheltered employment setting may
sometimes be an appropriate short-term goal, depending on what alternatives are

available. The viability and success of sheltered workshops for some American Indian
clients has been demonstrated at sites such as Toyei Industries and Coyote Canyon on the

Navajo Reservation. Such reservation-based sheltered workshops can be run using
American Indian concepts of wellness and wholeness, and can promote transition to
supported and other kinds of employment when appropriate.
Some focus group participants mentioned that sheltered employment was termed

"extended employment" in their region. This might be due to differences among state
policies. In certain instances, a sheltered workshop may be the best option, especially if
it is the placement preferred by the client.

Possibilities for overcoming barriers to placing clients desiring to work in
sheltered workshops include developing an interagency team approach by

communicating with the tribal, state, and local agencies, developmental disability
agencies, and independent living centers. The goal is to come to an agreement on how to
best serve clients who are severely disabled.

Supported Employment
When a supported placement is a temporary goal, it allows for an extended period
of assessment. This may be necessary when counselors are uncertain if the client should
attempt competitive employment or if his or her goals are realistic. As in all cases, client

input and vocational evaluation are vitally important. There may be cases in which a

client is placed in a supported setting before a definite goal is set. This allows
intermediate goals to be addressed after the placement.
Goal setting and complying with Social Security regulations are areas in which

job coaches have been able to help clients. Coaches are often aware of the exact income
limits and the need to communicate with the Social Security office regarding income

changes. They can help clients understand how their new work situation will affect their
SSI benefits. Coaches can also help complete an impairment-related work expense form
to help clients secure their SSI benefits until they have had time to make sure that

employment is going to work for them. Understanding SSI benefit changes and thirdparty agreements can go a long way toward successful supported employment.

Self-Employment
Self-employment placements also may strengthen and support the family, while

providing an adequate source of income, if appropriately planned and implemented. This
type of placement requires creativity and resourcefulness on the part of both the
counselor and client, as they consider local business needs and perhaps even subsistence
needs when establishing a variety of alternative employment goals and new occupations.

The VR system in New Mexico seemed to provide the best examples of self-employment
placements for American Indians. Some counselors considered self-employment to be

competitive if it resulted in sufficient earnings. Some counselors applied a similar
standard to supported and sheltered employment, considering them equivalent to
competitive employment if the client made more than the minimum wage.
Success in self-employment often requires patience and tenacity on the part of the
consumers, and this may be a tall order for people who may already be struggling to

overcome a list of limitations. Counselors and clients need to understand that the
outcomes are variable at times.
Barriers to self-employment can include developing an appropriate business plan,

start-up costs, and HUD housing regulations (i.e., clients cannot do business at home if

they live in HUD-supported housing). Additionally, there has been a general lack of
knowledge about self-employment on the part of both counselors and their clients. Not
only do consumers need to have the knowledge about how self-employment works, but

counselors may need training in this area as well. Counselor skills in understanding selfemployment will be passed on to consumers, resulting in a greater success rate with
consumers for whom more traditional employment venues are not possible.

Business Enterprise Programs
A number of counselors in the focus groups were not familiar with business
enterprise programs (BEPs). There seemed to be some uncertainty regarding the nature
and scope of a BEP, which indicates that education and training regarding BEPs would
be useful for staff of VR programs to allow them to more fully understand and appreciate

this option in planning for some of their clients. Training is needed on what a state or
tribal BEP can be, how they can be set up, who can set them up, and how they are

different from a self-employment small business enterprise. One participant mentioned
items that would be appropriate for training for future BEP participants whether
counselor or client, including (a) acquisition of equipment and stocks, (b) financing, and
(c) basic business management.

Knowledgeable VR staff people mentioned three barriers to the successful use of

BEPs: finances, information, and severe disability. Clients that are successful with BEPs
were likely to have more similarities with self-employment placements than with
sheltered workshop placements, and the same kind of creativity is needed to generate

both kinds of new employment ventures. One participant speculated that the general
tendency of tribal BEPs would be collaborative rather than individualistic in nature.
Although few clear examples of tribally managed BEPs could be identified in the

VR staff focus groups, apart from a few examples such as the Tuba City Laundromat, this
is an area of great potential that is as yet untapped. It seemed that in one or two cases, a
tribe wanted to run the BEP but was not interested in helping to finance it. In other cases,
the problem of taxes proved to be an additional burden where two or more tribes plus the

state were each demanding their share of the client's earnings. Two tribes shared the land
where one BEP was located. Each of them wanted their share of taxes, and then the state

wanted taxes as well. Even if the initial financial hurdles were finally surmounted, and
financing for the BEP became available, the clients' profits disappeared. In such cases, a
client's take-home pay may not be worth the effort. If the financial issues can be worked
68

out for BEPs, such as who pays how much for what and where taxes go, the other barriers
may not seem so insurmountable.

The development of tribal BEPs is worth future exploration. The Tuba City
Laundromat might serve as a model for such programs because it was established and
funded by the Navajo Nation specifically for the employment of people with disabilities.
It is important that a greater understanding of the business enterprise programs be

disseminated, so that both counselors and clients will be able to make a more informed
choice to achieve their personal goals for employment.

Homemaker
In several states it was observed that, on the one hand, VR counselors found a
need to use homemaker status as a rehabilitation goal, and on the other hand, VR

administration sought to minimize the use of, or even to phase out, this option. The
attitude of state VR administration can be a very strong barrier, creating confusion about

rehabilitation options, and narrowing the potential for successful placements and case
closures. The VR system in Oklahoma seems to provide the best examples of culturally
appropriate homemaker placements, and yet it is the very place where administration is
seeking to minimize placements of this kind.

An important objective when implementing placements for American Indians
may be the cultural need for collaborative rather than individual decision making on
behalf of the consumer. In this case, the whole family should become involved when
setting goals for placement, particularly when homemaker status is a possible goal. The
homemaker placement may be needed when, for example, three or more generations live

together in one house. A person with a disability who can take charge of the household
and thus be the homemaker who qualifies for this work status may make it possible for
other family members to engage in productive tasks elsewhere. This helps to keep the
multigenerational family together, instead of fragmenting it. However, this needs to be a

collaborative decision. The example provided earlier of the woman with carpal tunnel
syndrome, whose daughter had a new baby perhaps provided a case that illustrated this

point. In that case, by making some modifications to the kitchen and other home

alterations, she could provide homemaking services to her multigenerational.family that
enabled the whole family to function well.
For homemaker placements, there seemed to be a number of barriers to

utilization: (a) pressure from administration to minimize use of non-competitive
placements, (b) counselors' fear of repetitive requests for on-going services, and (c) lack
of funding. Perhaps the solution to some of these matters of closure is for the family to
be brought into the picture from the beginning, with clear outcome objectives and closure
criteria. If goals are clear to all parties at the start, and then reiterated for the whole group
at closure of the case, use of the homemaker placement can become more
straightforward, alleviating the misunderstandings that are occurring for some people.

Additionally, although homemakers with disabilities like diabetes and blindness
may not be able to earn money from the services rendered by VR and other specialists,

they will have heightened independent living skills and make their contributions to the
well-being of others. These are benefits that can be just as beneficial as the financial
rewards of competitive employment.

Unpaid Family Worker
Unpaid family workers who engage in traditional subsistence activities such as
hunting or herding, or noncommercial farming and gardening, can be productive while

supporting the family and decreasing its need for outside assistance. Four participants in
the focus groups discussed examples of these kinds of placements, and two participants
asked for a definition of unpaid family worker.

The VR system in Alaska seems to provide the best examples of unpaid family
worker placements of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The bread maker example
(see Table 3) fits the traditional self-employment model, because the objective was to sell
the bread for profit at a local store. However, the reindeer herder and subsistence hunter
fit the unpaid family worker model more than the self-employment model, because the

intent seemed to be primarily to make it possible for the consumer to provide for his
family by herding or hunting.

One counselor observed that with the category "unpaid family worker," where the

goal is subsistence without pay, the barrier to closure is still monetary; i.e., the unpaid
70

status of the worker. In the very case where financial outcome should not be the issue, it
may be the primary factor regarding underutilization with this employment option.

Clients may not even know that VR services are available with "unpaid family worker"

as an outcome. Thus while it is useful for a client to request services with some idea of
possible rehabilitation goals, the client will not be able to identify the full range of
possible goals without input from the counselor regarding the full range of alternative
employment options.

Recommendations
Alternative employment options may often fit the needs of American Indians

strictly because of location in rural locales with a limited job market, aside from cultural
factors. However, refusing to admit the very real cultural factors that pertain to each
situation is to exclude part of the understanding it takes to make a successful placement.
The need for alternative employment placements may be heightened within the American

Indian population because of the dual factors of geographic isolation and culture. Focus
on one factor should not minimize the importance of the other.
Although this survey of alternatives to competitive employment was by no means
conclusive, the results of this study support the following recommendations:
1.

National and regional RSA offices should be informed about the cultural

importance of alternatives to competitive employment, and should be trained by
Regional Rehabilitation Continuing Education Programs (RRCEPs) to deal with this
issue in a culturally competent way. Insensitive attempts to discourage these
alternatives should be countered with appropriate information about their importance
to the vitality of Native cultures.
2. All state and tribal VR program staff should be trained in the advantages and

appropriate use of the legal alternatives to competitive employment. Toward this end,
the annual meeting of CANAR (Consortia of Administrators for Native American

Rehabilitation) should include workshops highlighting effective and appropriate
uses of the alternatives to competitive employment, along with information about
how to deal with the common abuses, if any, associated with these types of
placements.

3. All American Indian and Alaska Native clients should be fully informed about all

legal alternatives to competitive employment so that they can make an informed

choice of goals in their plan for employment. None of the legal alternatives should be
described negatively.

4. To facilitate effective self-employment solutions, a tribe or urban Indian center
might establish a cooperative facility (if none currently exists) where the clients can
set up their offices or work areas, receive technical assistance, and have access to

computers, telephones, and marketing assistance for a nominal rental fee. At this
facility, on-site classes from a community college could be held on such topics as

bookkeeping, record management, marketing techniques, entrepreneurship, and

computer use. A mentors program, such as a business association for individuals
with disabilities, might also be effective.
5. Consultation involving the whole family unit should be included in the individual's

plan for employment (Marshall & Johnson, 1996). What impact will various
alternative plans have on the family? What plans will strengthen the family? What
plans would weaken the family? What will determine the ultimate closure of the
case? Family and home are often closely linked. Consequently, visitation and
evaluation of the client's needs in the home (such as a lower working table, ramps, or
accessibility of materials) should become routine (if not already routine) in order to
make home-based placements more effective.
6. Case studies should be made of successful examples of sheltered workshops (such

as Coyote Canyon Rehabilitation Center and Toyei Industries, Inc.), tribally managed
business enterprises (such as the Navajo Nation Industrial Laundromat in Tuba City),

self-employment, unpaid family worker, and homemaker. Relevant information for
sheltered workshops, BEPs, and self-employment should include how they were
originally financed and established, what training or technical assistance was

provided and by whom, how the business was organized and run, and whether any
marketing analysis was done.

7. Helpful information for unpaid family worker and homemaker placements would

include family and home assessment information as well as an outcome analysis. The

outcome assessment of such placements should include the probable effect on the
incomes of other family members.

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Appendix A:

Small Business Enterprises

Small Business Enterprises
34 CFR 361.49(a)(5) Scope of vocational rehabilitation services for groups of individuals
with disabilities.

(a) The State plan may also provide for the following vocational rehabilitation services
for the benefit of groups of individuals with disabilities:

(1) The establishment, development, or improvement of a public or other
nonprofit community rehabilitation program that is used to provide services that
promote integration and competitive employment, including under special
circumstances, the construction of a facility for a public or nonprofit community

rehabilitation program. Examples of special circumstances include the destruction
by natural disaster of the only available center serving an area or a State

determination that construction is necessary in a rural area because no other
public agencies or private nonprofit organizations are currently able to provide
services to individuals.

. . .

(5) In the case of small business enterprises operated by individuals with the most

severe disabilities under the supervision of the State unit, including enterprises
established under the Randolph-Sheppard program, management services and
supervision, acquisition of equipment, initial stocks and supplies, and initial
operating expenses, in accordance with the following requirements:
(i) "Management services and supervision" includes inspection, quality

control, consultation, accounting, regulating, in-service training, and
related services provided on a systematic basis to support and improve
small business enterprises operated by individuals with the most severe
disabilities. "Management services and supervision" may be provided
throughout the operation of the small business enterprise.
(ii) "Initial stocks and supplies" includes those items necessary to the

establishment of a new business enterprise during the initial establishment
period, which may not exceed six months.
79

(iii) Costs of establishing a small business enterprise may include

operational costs during the initial establishment period, which may not
exceed six months.

(iv) If the State plan provides for these services, it must contain an
assurance that only individuals with the most severe disabilities will be
selected to participate in this supervised program.

(v) If the State plan provides for these services and the State unit chooses
to set aside funds from the proceeds of the operation of the small business
enterprises, the State plan also must assure that the State unit maintains a
description of the methods used in setting aside funds and the purposes for
which funds are set aside. Funds may be used only for small business
enterprise purposes, and benefits that are provided to operators from set-

aside funds must be provided on an equitable basis

Appendix B:

Focus Group Participants

Focus Group Participants
R-39 Focus Group Participants (in addition to Dr. Robert Schacht, Karla Wagner, and
Julie Clay):

Topic: Unpaid Family Workers (March 4, 1998, Alaska state VR)
Larry Hintz, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor II, Fairbanks
Pat Kuchenberg, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor II, Juneau
Rick Hoover, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor II, Anchorage
Russ Music, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Sitka

Topic: Sheltered Employment (March 5, 1998, Minnesota state VR)
Alan Gordon, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Minneapolis
Anni Magoris, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Duluth
John Fairbanks, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Duluth
Sharon Johnson, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Duluth

Topic: Homemaker Placements (June 17, 1998, Tribal VR programs)
Jackie Bisbee, Coordinator, Vocational Education, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Alaska
Linda Goodwin, Assistant Director, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Gay la Callaway, Project Director, Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma

Robert Washington, Director, Iowa Tribes, Oklahoma

Topic: Business Enterprise Program Placements (June 22, 1998, Tribal VR programs)
Laura Maudsley, Intertribal Stillaguamish Project Director, Washington
Ken Callahan, Project Director, Fort Hail, Idaho

John Domitrovich, Assistant, Salish Kootenai College, Montana
Delorna Strong, Project Director, Apache Tribe of Oklahoma

Topic: Sheltered Employment Placements (June 21, 1998, Tribal VR programs)
John Domitrovich, Assistant, Salish Kootenai College, Montana
Debbie Bell, Counselor, Salish Kootenai College, Montana
Denise Cur lee, Program Service Manager, Vocational Opportunities of Cherokee,

North Carolina
Topic: Supported Employment Placements (June 18, 1998, Tribal VR programs)
Lloyd Pinkham, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Yakima Indian Nation,
Washington

Arlene Savage, Project Director, Salish Kootenai College, Montana
Linda Goodwin, Assistant Director, Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma
Denise Curlee, Program Service Manager, Vocational Opportunities of Cherokee,

North Carolina
Mystical Parker, Job Coach (with Denise), Vocational Opportunities of Cherokee,

North Carolina
Topic: Supported Employment Placements (July 2, 1998, Tribal VR program)
Mary Meruvia, Director, Choctaw Vocational Rehabilitation, Mississippi

Topic: Self-Employment Placements (May 27, 1998, New Mexico state VR)
John Valesquez, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Taos
Brenda Berredas, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Alamagordo
Steven Norduse, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Farmington

William Rodriguez, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Albuquerque

Topic: Self-Employment Placements (June 15, 1998, Tribal VR programs)
Bob Starbard, Project Director, Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska
Marie Covington, Project Director, Colville Confederated Tribes, Washington
Victor "Skip" DeSautel, VR Counselor III, Colville Confederated Tribes,
Washington

Jackie Bisbee, Coordinator of Vocational Education, Tanana Chiefs Conference,
Fairbanks, Alaska
Ken Callahan, Project Director, Ft. Hall, Idaho

Appendix C:

Tribal VR Data Collection Instrument

Tribal VR Data Collection Instrument
Please fill in the following table with the information from your agency for last year:

Number of female

Number of male

cases

Work Status at Closure
Competitive Employment
Supported Employment only
Sheltered Workshops
Self-employment

State or Tribally managed Business
Enterprises
Homemaker
Unpaid Family Worker

How is "last year" defined?
a. Calendar year 1997

b. Fiscal year (ending

199

)

c. Other (Please define:

)

If the closure categories used by your agency are not the same as the ones listed above, or

you have unique interpretations of the categories, please explain:

Appendix D:

Focus Group Questions for VR Counselors

Focus Group Questions for VR Counselors
1.

Do you have a working knowledge of all six of the employment options (i.e.,
competitive employment, sheltered employment, unpaid family workers, selfemployment, homemaker, State/Tribally sponsored Business Enterprise Program)?

What are the definitions for all the employment categories?
What are the criteria for deciding which category to place an activity in?
Where are you getting the criteria? Is there a written policy?

Are there options you feel more or less comfortable using due to your level of
knowledge about them? Which ones?

4. In general, why do you think that alternative goals are not being used as much as

competitive employment?

5. Are there barriers to the utilization of alternative goals? If so, what are they? (policy,

economic, cultural?)

Do you feel that your clients can be more successful in alternative employment

placements than in competitive placements? Why?

(After reviewing placement statistics) Why is your state using this particular goal
more than other states?

Is there a special funding allocation for this goal? Funding limits? Please describe:

Are there key people in the organization advocating for the use of this goal? Who are
they?

10. Which alternative employment goals (if any) are better suited for any of your Native
American clients based on their cultural heritage?

Based on their socio-economic situation?

11. Are there policy guidelines in your office concerning the use of alternative or
competitive IWRP goals? If so, will you please send us documents pertaining to this
policy?

12. What is the philosophy behind placing people in alternative employment?

13. What are the characteristics that make people better suited for competitive
employment?

Alternative employment?

14. What are the socio-economic conditions that affect the practicality of competitive
employment vs. alternatives?

15. Should alternative goals be used more for American Indians? For anyone?

Are they better for a particular economic situation? How?

For a particular tribe? How?

For a particular living arrangement? How?

16. Is the placement process different for American Indians? How?

Does the VR counselor use different evaluation techniques? Please describe them:

Please describe any specific cultural characteristics that help shape the IWRP:

17. Is unemployment (reduced opportunity for competitive employment) in the client's
home area a consideration when writing an IWRP? How?

18. Describe the process of writing an IWRP.

Does the client contribute to the development of the IWRP goal? How?

Are your clients fully aware of the alternatives to competitive employment?

How were they made aware?

What are the limits or barriers to their knowledge about alternative employment?

99
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