9/20: Session 1: 11:15 – 11:45am
Students for APSE | Meeting Room 12
Presenters: Various [presenters coming soon]
Session Description: Join us for [sample text]
Infusing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion into our work:
Reflections on Power, Practice, and Pride | Meeting Room 11
Presenters: Wally Tablit
Session Description: The Employment First movement has made many strides and achieved many great accomplishments in recent years, and while it is important to celebrate the milestones of success, we unfortunately also have to acknowledge that we still have a long way to go. Especially when we stop to consider who we might not be inviting to the table or including in the conversation. Together we will look at our work through the lens of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to identify some of the powerful and positive things that have happened, how we can put new things into practice, and how we can get proud so we can get to where we need to be.
Employment with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):
What does that mean? | Meeting Room 5
Presenters: Jeff Flesner, Michael Rogers
Session Description: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) exists to ensure disabled people are not discriminated against in employment and other areas of life. Even though ADA and the reasonable accommodations it affords disabled people may be familiar to you, you might not know how to request reasonable accommodations at work or just how ADA can support you. Here, we’re taking a look at the Americans with Disabilities Act and delving into why knowing your employment rights and protections is a must.
In short, ADA protects the employment rights of people with disabilities. While you can choose whether or not you want to disclose your disability to your employer, notifying an employer of your disability is often the best course of action. Not only is it a matter of self-advocacy, but making sure your employer is aware of your disability can help you manage your workplace anxiety, navigate any discriminatory pressures, and ensure your safety.
Stress, Trauma, and Burnout: A guide to supporting your clients to cope, manage and flourish | Meeting Room 4
Presenters: Amy Schneider, Jennifer Trout
Session Description: The purpose of this presentation is to provide tips, tricks, and ideas on how to support your client with handling trauma and stress. We are going to provide data-driven and tangible information that you can take back to your daily work. We have created a survey to gather information from care providers on how they are currently supporting their clients with their trauma and what training they wish they had to support their clients. You will walk away from this training with information around how to support your client to make a self-care plan, how to have a conversation around trauma with your client, and ways to complete the stress cycle to avoid burnout. These conversations are necessary for the inclusion of our clients in society. This will help them have the strategies to tackle trauma in their everyday lives.
Foundational Community Supports: Helping to create and elevate all individuals to have an equal employment experience | Meeting Room 12
Presenters: Michael Koplin
Session Description: Our presentation will focus on the Foundational Community Supports, FCS program; what it is, how it works and the impact that it has on the diverse set of clients that we serve. We will focus on the strategies that our Career Consultants utilize to provide exemplary service to our clients. We hope that by highlighting the flexibility and creativity that the FCS program allows its Career Consultants/Employment Specialists to have, as well as showing the wide array of positive outcomes that are available through the FCS program, that we will help the program to grow throughout the state and even the country. The attendees of the conference will be able to see how the FCS program promotes Diversity, Inclusion and Equity by ensuring that not only are its participants able to gain employment (or enroll in higher education), but that they have the same ability to get promoted, contribute, and have the same impact as their peers in the workplace. Career Consultants in the FCS program provide long-term support to their clients, giving them more of an opportunity to ensure clients are able to advocate for themselves and maintain equality in the workplace.
Why your agency should provide group Pre-Employment Transition Services | Maple Ballroom
Presenters: Bobbie Jo Sweet Pam Stoutenburg
Session Description: Pre-Employment Transition Services are readily available and to students, yet many do not know about them nor are accessing them! Come learn about how Morningside, an employment vendor, is delivering group Pre-Employment Transition Services program. Learn how in our first year, we grew the program to actively be serving more than 150 students across 6 counties in Washington State with more students signing up each week. Learn how we provide a model of service that is unique to each student and offers weekly opportunities to explore a career in their future through workshops (both in an outside of the classroom), in person work based learning, and paid internships. Morningside supports students from urban schools as well as students in rural small communities, of various cultures including tribal schools, and students in alternative schools. Morningside is on a mission to reach students including remote and underserved areas and we want to show you how we are accomplishing this goal.
9/20: Session 2: 1:15 – 2:15pm
Students for APSE | Meeting Room 10
Presenters: Various [presenters coming soon]
Session Description: Join us for [sample text]
Financial Planning for Parents of kids with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: What is going through a parent’s mind when going into the workforce | Meeting Room 12
Presenters: Mary McDirmid
Session Description: What are the thoughts and emotions that parents go through when planning for the lifetime care of their loved one. After having conducted specialized financial planning for these families for years I have heard many worries of parents. I think as employers you should know their major concerns with being a caregiver of a loved one you hope to get into the workforce. Come learn of some fact patterns of families and the difficult decisions they are faces with through the lifespan of their child.
Supporting Positive Sexuality and Healthy Relationships for People with Developmental Disabilities | Meeting Room 4
Presenters: Lindsay Piper
Session Description: Whether you are a parent, teacher, employment specialist, or other support for people with developmental disabilities, you will most likely encounter questions about sexuality, relationships, body changes, or other related topics. This brief session will give attendees an overview of the history of perspectives on sexuality and healthy relationships for people with developmental disabilities, discuss biological realities related to development and exploration of sexuality, and encourage those who support people with disabilities to be positive, safe, and trusted people in the lives of the people they support.
Sydney’s Employment Journey Past & Present | Meeting Room 5
Presenters: Sydney Krebsbach
Session Description: Sydney has lived in Spokane for a year and moved from Alaska where she was a well-established self-advocate leader. Within a few months of moving, Sydney was appointed to the WA DD council, found work at SNAP, and recently was hired by the CHDD at the UW to work on their Autism Echo Project. This workshop addresses inclusion as I’ve held several jobs in several different places including the Alaska Statehouse
Language and Employment Success | Maple Ballroom
Presenters: C.J. Webb
Session Description: This training will provide a foundation to think about the language we use, not just daily, but in our work. Language influences how we think and within our work, words can move people in many directions. With employment success, we want to use language that is collaborative and allows for people to be seen as people, not something special.
This is for anyone. It will include cultural considerations and also encourages discussions to really dive into words, jargon, and alternatives that could be more inclusive. Different cultures may use words that other cultures do not understand; this is a key component to assure equity within our services. South American and deaf culture will be outlined specifically for the diversity element.
Arc of Spokane: Business Opportunity School for Success | Meeting Room 11
Presenters: Kyla Parkings
Session Description: The Business Opportunity School for Success (BOSS) Program is an introduction to entrepreneurship for high school and transition age students with disabilities. Throughout the summer, participants learn the basics of running a small business and put that knowledge into practice creating, marketing, and selling products of their choice at local farmer’s markets. This program is put on through contract between The Arc and DVR Pre-Employment Transition Services.
Session 3: 2:30 – 3:30pm
CBRE Supported Employment Program | Meeting Room 12
Presenters: Ryan Farrow
Session Description: CBRE runs two different Supported Employment Programs: one on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA, and the other in Beaverton, OR. Ryan manages the Beaverton, OR program, which prioritizes job seekers with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have access to long-term coaching support. Historically, the business community has overlooked a large section of the workforce–who is ready, skilled, and qualified to work in a wide variety of jobs.
From his start in the Supported Employment field as an employment consultant in 2011, Ryan leverages his experience of witnessing the barriers businesses often present to candidates with disabilities. Using this knowledge, feedback from candidates and employees, and the guidance of an advisory board, he helps many corporations restructure their interview and hiring processes to create equitable opportunities for candidates to show up as their best. This session will outline how the program is structured and share learnings that may help anyone looking to break into the corporate environment to create more employment opportunities.
Supporting LGBTQIA+ Clients and Coworkers | Meeting Room 5
Presenters: Hannah Voss
Session Description: This presentation will provide fundamental language and concepts related to supporting LGBTQIA+ people with disabilities in their employment. This will include basic concepts such as sexual orientation, gender identity, intersectionality, and the application of those concepts to working with people with disabilities in supported employment. Additionally, this presentation provides opportunities to brainstorm and strategize support for LGBTQIA+ clients and coworkers in the supported employment field. The Movement Advancement Project completed a study that showed people with disabilities identifying as LGBTQIA+ more than the general population. Cultural competency in this area is vital to understand and dismantle discriminatory practices in professionalism as they pertain to both people with disabilities and LGBTQIA+ people.
Talented Alexandria & Her Website Portfolio | Maple Ballroom
Presenters: Alexandria Rae Cordova, Ali DeYoung
Session Description: My name is Alexandria and I just graduated from high school. I have autism. In the fall, I will start transition services. My dream job is to either be an art teacher, voice actress, or a singer. During this breakout session, I would like the opportunity to tell my story visually through my website portfolio. This will give me a chance to share about how I developed my website and the information I included.
As a field, we have a shared responsibility to create innovative solutions for students to communicate their accomplishments in a professional and contemporary approach. In this breakout session, we will explore how to create a website portfolio allowing students to document their journey through transition and beyond. We will discuss the components and process of building a website portfolio to include: gathering content, online resumes, blog posts, videos, photos, etc. The intended audience for this session is for people with disabilities, parents, educators, employment support professionals and really anyone interested in learning about this tool. Join us for this energizing session to learn more about Alexandria, her story and how to develop this creative tool!
Remote Supports with SafeinHome | Meeting Room 11
Presenters: Erin Holthaus, Peggy DiSalle
Session Description: With a wide array of integrated devices, Person-Centered Solutions are developed to support the desired outcomes and unique lifestyle of the person supported. SafeinHome’s intelligent system integrates multiple technologies and sensors for superior accuracy and real-time 24-hour response. Together, SafeinHome and the people we serve choose a support plan based on their desire and goals. The best thing about Remote Supports is that our staff are always there, and we’re not in the way when we aren’t needed. When you want to live independently, it is good to know you can reach out to others. For people with disabilities, Remote Supports can assist them in living the way they want to and provide support for their unique needs.
Pacific Northwest Employment Forum 