What is Supported Employment & How to Incorporate it Within Your Organization

The PlayGarden offers employment opportunities for young adults with disabilities. Our journey in becoming a more inclusive and diverse workplace has come about in a very natural way. As the PlayGarden has grown, so have the children who attend our programs. We began offering summer camp in 2005 and the kids from our inaugural camp year are now young adults. As our camp participants grow and return to our camp program each year, we create opportunities for them to take on new roles, as junior counselors and then full camp counselors. In true PlayGarden fashion, we extend these growth and leadership opportunities to all of our former camp participants; those with disabilities and those without. Young adults with disabilities also work in our Open Play, Summer Camp, and Preschool programs.

It is a model of employment that provides people with severe disabilities the appropriate, ongoing support that is necessary for success in a competitive work environment. Most individuals in a supported employment program receive services from a community-based service provider. At the PlayGarden we partner with the Northwest Center and Provail. 

Community-based service providers offer vocational assessment, locate or develop jobs, and provide job skills training. Most providers have job coaches who work at the job site and help the client learn job tasks, identify job modifications including assistive technology, and work with the employer to solve behavioral or social problems.

Both companies support young adults with disabilities as they look for employment opportunities and apply and interview for jobs.  Once hired by an organization, the new employees are matched with a trained job coach. The job coaches help our employees organize their tasks, manage their time, and learn key job skills.

• Employment contributes to feelings of self-determination, self-worth, and community inclusion.
• Young adults have an opportunity to transition to the workplace in an inclusive, supportive environment.
• They are able to do meaningful work, for a fair wage, while they negotiate the transition from high school to adulthood.
• Equally important is the diversity these young people bring to your staff. Representation is important. The impact of seeing yourself represented, whether that’s in media or in the classroom, is powerful. Recent studies have shown just how powerful representation is in student achievement; children of color who have even one same-race teacher in elementary school are more likely to finish high school and more likely to attend a four-year college. We can infer that representation would be similarly important for children and youth with disabilities, who may struggle to see themselves reflected in the world around them. Hiring young adults with disabilities will give our preschoolers, summer camp participants, and open play visitors with disabilities the opportunity to see someone like them, doing meaningful work in a job where they are respected and valued.