The
genesis of the idea for the UCPA project came from a blending of several
influences that were coming together in the early 1990's:
a)
UCPA
had responded to the traditional poor representation of persons with significant
physical disabilities in employment services with the development and
implementation of powerful, individualized employment strategies resulting in
significant gains in employment in a series of federal employment demonstrations
-- the 1987 - 1990 Demonstration Project; the 1992 - 1997 UCPA/PWI Project and
the 1992 - 1995 Research and Demonstration Project.
b)
Persons with disabilities, including persons with significant physical
disabilities were demanding more control and “say-so” both in the manner
that employment services were offered and in the controlling of public funds set
aside for the purchase of those services.
c)
A clear set of organizational values had been articulated by UCPA that
included a mandate to pursue strategies and programs that assured the maximum
ownership by persons with disabilities and their families.
But
perhaps the most clarifying influence for this project involved a young man with
significant, multiple disabilities and his family in New York. During a long term support relationship with this man that
spanned his school transition into adult employment, UCPA staff members,
including the project director for the UCPA Choice Access initiative, were able
to see firsthand the fit between powerful, individualized employment strategies
and personal control of financial resources.
Andrew’s family fought to direct and control the funds that would have
traditionally gone to a service agency. This
man’s experiences provided the blueprint for the processes that were adopted
in the Choice Access Project.
Since
persons with physical disabilities have traditionally been the primary focus of
UCP service affiliates, this project elected to target these individuals for
service. But we also wanted to
assure that the benefits of choice and control were available to all
persons with physical disabilities, not just those felt to be the most likely to
benefit from scarce resources. For
that reason, the Choice Access project targeted individuals with disabilities
who experienced a life impact in the areas of mobility, communication and
manipulation. Typically, persons
might be felt to have a significant disability with the presence of any one of
these indicators. However, we felt
that in order to assure eventual access to all persons, regardless of the
significance of their disability, that it was necessary to target people who
experienced all of the factors that indicate physical disability. This decision was to be a defining factor of our
demonstration and will be discussed at greater length in following sections.
In
order to demonstrate that choice in employment and control of resources were
feasible concepts, the following objectives were submitted in the original
proposal were outcome based and referenced actual project activities.
Objective
1
To
facilitate individualized Choice Plans for a minimum of 45 individuals with the
most significant physical disabilities each year who choose to develop such
plans. This effort resulted in a
customer driven strategy for realizing goals in areas of significant importance
to these individuals (totaling up to 225 persons over the five year project).
Objective
2
To
identify desired employment outcomes and employment-related services and
supports through customer-driven, individualized employment-focused planning,
guided by the project-validated Vocational Profile Process for all participants
choosing to use this process.
Objective
3
To
ensure customer selection, purchase of and access to desired employment-related
services and supports, resulting in meaningful, integrated employment for
all participants.
Objective
4
To
evaluate the outcomes, cost-effectiveness, feasibility and replicability of the
customer choice process for achieving desired employment goals.
Objective
5
To
produce the project’s findings and practices in user friendly products and
otherwise disseminate and provide technical assistance to potential adopters of
project practices.