Section 188 Disability Policy Checklist: A New Tool for One-Stop Compliance. Presenter: Robert "Bobby" Silverstein, J. D. >> PETER: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Peter Blanck and I'll be your host this afternoon for what I think will be a very important topic, headed by a very distinguished member of our community in regard to issues related to the new Workforce Investment Act and aspects of it. This webcast, as you know, is sponsored by ILRU out of Houston with funds from NIDRR, supporting these initiatives. These webcasts, of course, will all be archived and the way we do it is we will have our guest speaker who I'll introduce in a moment, and I will get E-mail questions live, and will then at the appropriate time present them to our speaker for comment who will comment on them as well as proceed through his presentation. Today's webcast is an extraordinarily important topic and I'm biased, presented by an extraordinarily important person in the policy, disability, employment community. Bobby Silverstein is currently the director of the Center for Advancement of Disability Policy. I first knew Bobby and came to know him when he worked for my senator, Tom Harkin, as his chief counsel to the U.S. subcommittee on disability policy. And Bobby has been instrumental in so many areas relating to disability policy and health policy and law that I would be remiss to start even listing them, but of course he was a major force behind the drafting of the Americans with Disabilities Act, behind the IDEA and many other laws. So I'm very pleased to present Bobby to you today and we'll try to make this very interactive although as usual Bobby has about five hours or more worth of information which he's going to try to get into an hour and a half, but I'm sure that hour and a half will be extraordinarily well spent. I'd like to introduce Bobby now and perhaps Bobby if you want to share with us a little bit more about your background in general and more specifically your role in crafting the WIA Section 188 disability checklist which is a new tool for the one-stop compliance which Bobby will tell you about in a moment. Bobby, it's a pleasure to be working with you and I look forward to your presentation. >> BOBBY: Thanks so much Peter. Peter and I work together on so many topics and it's always a pleasure to work with him. Again, as Peter said, today's topic is the Section 188 disability policy checklist. A new tool for one-stop compliance. Before I get into the substance of my presentation, let me just share a little bit more about how I got involved with working on the Section 188 checklist. I have the fortune of being -- working with several universities as a partner. One of the projects I work on is called the National Center on Workforce and Disability for adults. This is funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy in the Department of Labor and it's -- this center is operated by the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston. They are actually my primary sponsor for this presentation today. In addition, I am a partner with two rehabilitation research and training centers, funded by NIDRR, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The first is the rehabilitation research and training center on workforce investment and employment policy for persons with disabilities; and that's at the Law Health Policy and Disability Center at the University of Iowa law school where Peter is. And the other one is the rehabilitation research and training center on state systems and employment, which is operated out of the Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston. I also partner with George Washington University Medical Center with Allen Jensen at the work incentives project dealing with Medicaid buy in. As part of doing some of my research for the R. R. T. C.'s, I was looking at what's called Section 188 of the Workforce Investment Act, which is a provision -- basically saying that you cannot discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national origin and disability. And part of that provision is that every state governor must develop what's called an MOA, a methods of administration, documents and describing how it will ensure nondiscrimination and equal opportunity. Part of my research for the RRTC's was to review six MOA's to see how they dealt with people with disabilities in terms have ensuring equal opportunity to one-stops. In the course of doing that, the Civil Rights Center invited me -- asked me to be a consultant with them to help them draft the Section 188 disability checklist, and that's why I'm here today to help share with you and describe this new tool. Let me just say one brief -- make one brief point in that regard. As Peter alluded to, this is a five hour presentation. I'm not going to, in anyway, try to put five hours into an hour and a half because then I'd be racing and I don't think it would be very productive. What I'm going to try to do is give you an overview, a feel and flavor for the policy context for this tool and a brief overview of the tool. In a sense, to wet your appetite to get -- to encourage you to actually look at it in more detail and then hopefully we'll have some follow ups either under the rubric of ILRU or under the National Center on Workforce and Disability/adults or a combination if folks are interested in a more detailed analysis of the specific provisions. Pair. >> PETER: Thank you, Bobby. Maybe you can give us an overview of the materials available for downloading on the ILRU website before you lead into the presentation so people can review those as well. >> BOBBY: There are basically three documents that we included on the website for this webcast. The first is a policy brief called using the merging disability policy framework to create a fully inclusive 21st century workforce investment system. The reason why we included this is to provide a policy and historical context for why we needed a checklist and how this checklist might function. The second document is another policy brief, and it's dealing with the provisions in the Workforce Investment Act relating to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability and the development by the governor of methods of administration. This is -- for those who don't like the read regulations -- this is a summary of all the major provisions in the Section 188 regulation written in plain and simple English for nonlawyers and that's what that document is. The third is the checklist itself. Now, we included a copy of that in the document, and you will notice that there are footnotes in blue or in color and there are a number of actual citations that are in color. The reason is that this document is hot linked and what I mean by that is that if you click on a footnote or if you click on a citation to the Federal Register or the Code of Federal Regulations, and those are the documents where the actual regs exist. There will be a pop up window which has the exact language from the regulation. So if those of you who are interested in following up and going to the Department of Labor for the actual checklist, rather than the one that was included on this -- on the for the webcast, go to www.dol.gov and then on the right side it will say DOL agencies, and you can click on ODEP. And then under ODEP there will be, quote, highlights, and then you can click on the WIA Section 188 disability checklist. >> PETER: Thank you, Bobby. Are there other materials that you have prepared that people should be aware of or that you'd recommend? >> BOBBY: Peter, I'd suggest going to a number of different sites. The first is a new -- a website for my center, the Center for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy. And that website is www.disabilitypolicycenter.org. One of the documents included there, for example, is something called a description of WIA from a disability perspective. What this document does is go through the statute and the regulations and all the guidelines issued by the Department of Labor and bolds all references to disability and vocational rehabilitation so that you can see from a disability perspective exactly what the legal framework looks like. In addition, there are a number of policy briefs that are in that document that deal with the relationship between vocational rehabilitation and one-stops. Additional sites are www.onestops.info, and this is the website for these National Center on Workforce and Disability. This provides a tremendous number of documents and policy and promising practices for how to ensure physical and programmatic access for people with disabilities. Another great website is www.communityinclusion.org and that's the website for the rehabilitation and research and training center on state systems. And the last one -- and Peter make sure that I'm correct -- this is http://disability.law.uiowa.edu and that is the website for the rehabilitation training center on employment policy for persons with disabilities, and the website for Peter's Center on Law, Health Policy and Disability. >> PETER: Thank you, Bobby. Those are all great resources and I wondered if we could turn now to begin the substantive discussion. The papers you presented were, in my view, Bobby, very important and if we can start with the first one that you included as a reference for this webcast using the emerging disability policy framework to create fully inclusive workforce investment system in the 21st century. I think a good place to start, Bobby, is telling us how and why you think this paper should be used and can be used to enhance prom mat particular and physical access for people with disabilities and its relationship to the Section 188 disability checklist which you developed. >> BOBBY: Right. Peter, I don't know about you, but sometimes when I go to presentations, particularly dealing with things like compliance documents or regs, too often people jump right in to a discussion of the actual language. And the people in the audience basically look at this as this is what I have to do. This is what is required of me. And we don't step back often enough to get a sense of what is the historical and policy context for this document. Why was this document developed? What is the overarching policy affecting people with disabilities in general and how does that relate to this specific notion of a checklist dealing with one-stops and employment services. So what I'm going to try to do here again, is I'm not going to go through this entire document because that in and of itself will take an hour and a half. What I'm going to try to do in the next five to ten minutes is to give you a sense of what's in this document. And, again, this document in my opinion can be used by many of you out there who are doing training of others. So this document can be used to provide the historical and policy context for a discussion of the checklist. This document basically will start by recognizing what we call the old paradigm of disability policy. The old approach for dealing with people with disabilities in a public policy sense. Historically, many policymakers and professionals view people with disability with, quote, defective and in need of fixing. Many professionals said that people with disabilities, particularly those with significant disabilities, were totally incapable of working and as a result were totally excluded from any kind of job training and in some cases, including vocational rehabilitation; or they were automatically referred to programs serving exclusively people with disabilities such as voc rehab or programs for folks with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. For example, a guy -- Ed Roberts, a person born with polio. I can make along story very short. He wanted to go to college. Folks said how could you possibly. You have polio. You can't work and if you can't work, why would we waste money on you to go and give you voc rehab? Well, he was an advocate. He ultimately figured out how to get support. He went to college and, again, where did he end up? He ended up to be the commissioner of vocational rehabilitation in the state of California. The point is that historically, again, there were these blanket exclusions from job training programs. There were automatic referrals. People with disabilities were treated as defective things. Congress has absolutely categorically unequivocally rejected this old approach to disability policy. Instead, they have substituted a new approach which basically says that the precept or principle is that disability is a natural and normal part of the human experience that in no way diminishes a person was right to participate in all aspects of society. And what we should be focusing on is fixing the environment, fixing the one-stops, fixing all kinds of institutions and structures and systems to ensure that people have effective and meaningful opportunity. So the first thing to understand is that many folks, not because they are bad, but because they don't have any experience, still think of people with disability as vulnerable and they are afraid that maybe they can get what that person has or that these people can't possibly function and it's these people -- language like that -- this is still reality. And the basic notion is that policy has moved away from that principle, and as a result, we have to make sure that our systems which historically have not served people with disability move as well. Now, there are four basic goals of disability policy, and these are the broad seams before we get into the specific details of the checklist. And they are equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. What we mean by equality of opportunity, there are three components: Individualization, treat people not based on stereotypes and presumption and generalizations, not based on fear or ignorance and prejudice. Based on the facts. Based on promising practices, based on science. Not based on convenience. And so the first notion is individualize, case-by-case basis, based on the facts. The second notion is that the opportunity must be effective and meaningful. Let's not just provide services for the average person if we're talking about universal access. Let's provide it for all; and if all means "all" that means that we must ensure that the opportunity is meaningful and effective. And that's why we have the concept of reasonable accommodations or the concept of modification -- reasonable modifications to policies or the notion of providing auxiliary aids and services. This not special treatment. This is not affirmative action. These are all designed to make sure that everybody has meaningful opportunity. And if you think about it for a minute, the telephone, lights, sitting at a desk chair, aren't these all accommodations for the, quote, average person? And if we do that and take it for granted and don't give it a name, shouldn't all people, including people with disabilities, have effective and meaningful opportunity? The third concept is inclusion and integration. People should not be unnecessarily isolated and segregated. The burden of proof should be on the system for explaining why it cannot meet the needs of people in the regular setting. The second goal is full participation. That means in the language of disability, nothing about us without us. People with disabilities should be in control of decisions affecting their life and they should also be involved in, at the policy level, in decisions affecting the operation of the institution, the operation of the system. So that's why we have phrases like informed choice and self-determination and empowerment. The third goal is independent living, that people should be living independent, not dependent lives, and some may need independent living skills development and a lot of independent living centers around the country help in facilitating and providing those skills, as well as long-term services and supports, and in this cases, cash assistance. The fourth goal, economic self-sufficiency. That is basically saying that it is legitimate to have disability -- to have employment as a legitimate outcome of public policy and to provide the necessary service -- employment-related services and supports to get there. So when we start looking at the checklist, we will frequently go back to these notions of equality of opportunity, which include individualization, effective and meaning opportunity and inclusion, and the notion of full participation, and the goals of independent living and productivity economic self-sufficiency. But when we get into the checklist, we'll also see some other things that are important because these goals are terrific, but that's not what the issue is. The issue ultimately is implementation. Implementation. Implementation. And what are some of the barriers to implementation? We have to look at some of the systems or what we call methods of administration that are often adopted by entities that have the effect of impeding rather than facilitating achieving the goals of the program. Again, what I mean by that, if you set up a registration or an orientation system and you require everybody to fill out the forms and there are some people with disabilities who -- may be with cognitive disabilities -- who cannot do that, but if you have an absolute rule you have to do it, you will be developing a method of administration, a registration system that has the effect of excluding. If folks can't get to you, that is a method of administration, the site location that would have the effect of denying opportunity. But there are other things as well: What kind of reimbursement schemes are set out for paying the network of providers? Do you provide -- let's say $2,000 per person? But what if that person needs a somewhat expensive accommodation? Do you say to that -- let's say -- community rehab provider, you have to provide the accommodation and that comes out of the 2,000. Well, if the effect of that is that the system is going to be bankrupt, they're not going to participate. So we have to look at the reimbursement scheme that is are used. We have to look at the outcome performance measures that are used to make sure that creaming does not occur, and what I mean by creaming is that you don't serve all that are eligible, but only those who are the most qualified when in fact the system talks about universal access. If you have certain outcome performance measures, let's say you only get credit if somebody works a full-time job. And many people with disabilities can only work part time. Well, if you only get rewarded for full time placement, you're not going to serve people with disabilities who can only work part time. You have to look at the adequacy of the network of providers. Do you have providers who have the knowledge and experience and skills to be able to work with people with disabilities? You have to look at collaboration with other agencies so that working, for example, with vocational rehabilitation who has along history of working with people with disabilities, including those with the most significant disabilities, to work with them to help so that you can develop a better orientation scheme, that your assessments are better, that your service delivery is better, that you have policies that result in inclusion of people with disabilities rather than exclusion. So the interagency collaboration becomes important, what kind of monitoring instruments do you have, what kind of data collection do you have? What kind of quality control do you have? Do you even know how well you are serving people with disabilities? If there is a report card and it gets a B. plus, that sounds great, but there may be an F. for serving people with disabilities, but if you don't disaggregate the information, you may never know this. So this policy framework that I'm talking about provides the policy context for our discussion of the checklist. >> PETER: That's very interesting, Bobby. Just again by way of background, I think it would be helpful to the listeners if you could briefly describe the second paper you referenced for this webcast, that's the provisions in the Workforce Investment Act relating to nondiscrimination and disability and the development by the governors of method of administration. I think it would be helpful to summarize the major points of this paper which I think is very important in its application to the 188 disability checklist, which you developed. >> BOBBY: Okay. Basically, this policy brief, again in plain and simple English, tries to summarize the major components of the Section 188 regulations, and interim regulation. And why this is important is that this is the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions. And it describes what constitutes discrimination and we're going to focus only on those aspects dealing with people with disabilities. But what's important is the structure. What this document does, and it's unique in the government, there is nothing else like it in any other agency other than the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor says we're going to set out what the standards of discrimination and equal opportunity are, but we are concerned with implementation. We want a narrative -- this is a quote -- a narrative and documentation of how the state, how the governor, is going to ensure that the rights and responsibilities are implemented. And this is called the governor's MOA, methods of administration. And in the regs, there are nine elements. The first is designation of equal opportunity officers. The second is notice, communication. The third is assurances. The fourth is universal access. The fifth is obligation not to discriminate on the basis of disability. The next is data and information collection. Then we have monitoring for compliance, complaint processing and finally corrective action sanctions. So this is the structure of the MOA, the methods of administration. Every governor must submit, in writing, narrative and document, to the Civil Rights Center and the Department of Labor precisely how it will ensure compliance with, among other things, nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. >> PETER: Okay, Bobby, I think that's very helpful. By the way, Bobby, I don't want to forget that you have another incredible resource which was published in the Iowa Law Review which lays out other similar sorts of approaches for your disability policy framework and I assume that's referenced on your website as well. >> BOBBY: It is referenced in that first policy brief, the first footnote. >> PETER: Now I think we should get to the heart of the 188 disability checklist, perhaps, Bobby, telling us how did you develop it. What process did you go through? Which agencies within DOL issued the checklist and use it and explain to us the purposes of WIA, Section 188, behind the checklist and how it can be used. >> BOBBY: Okay, let me try to go step by step. You dealt with a couple of things. First in terms of the process used to develop this checklist, this checklist was developed initially because one-stops around the country came to the Civil Rights Center and said I can read the phrase reasonable accommodation and reasonable modification. I see the phrase auxiliary aids and services and effective communication. I see the notion of universal access includes people with disabilities, but what does it mean? If I want to really implement this, and you're going to hold me accountable, I want to know ahead of time what you really mean. What are some of the expectations? What are some examples of what might constitute compliance? So the Civil Rights Center, working with ODEP, the Office of Disability Employment Policy, and working with ETA and the solicitor's office, the lawyers within the Department of Labor, all came together in a working group and asked me to help them as a kind of consultant to help them take the input from the various -- these various groups and see if we can come up with a checklist. And what the group did is they took an inventory of the Department of Labor regulations, Department of Labor policy guidance and existing checklists. I did a review of six states MOA materials dealing with disabilities to see what the states had done in their -- what kind of narratives and documentation, what kind of policies they had come up with respect to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, what kind of monitoring instruments had they come up with. We looked at Department of Justice settlements and we looked at policy guidance on nondiscrimination and equality opportunity for people with disabilities in other agencies, such as HHF and their TANIFF guidelines. There were a number of meetings and conferences and numerous iterations and reviews of the draft. Ultimately, three offices in the Department of Labor developed and issued the checklist: The Civil Rights Center and the office for administration and management, this is Annabelle Lockhart is the director, was the key person in the Civil Rights Center. So the CRC, the Civil Rights Center, issued this checklist in cooperation with the Office of Disability Employment Policy and the assistant secretary is (Inaudible). And the employment training administration, the assistant secretary Emily (Inaudible). So this policy check -- this disability checklist was issued by these three offices. Now, the purpose -- Peter, I'm sorry. >> PETER: No, go ahead. You took the words right out of my mouth. >> BOBBY: The purpose of this checklist is explicitly described in both the introduction to the checklist and the memorandum that is on the website, the DOL website, explaining who and how the checklist can be use. First, let's talk about the scope. The scope of this checklist is limited to equal opportunity and nondiscrimination for people with disabilities. That's what this checklist deals with. It provides the Civil Rights Center and DOL with a uniform procedure for measuring compliance with the provisions of Section 188 specifically pertaining to people with disabilities. The checklist identifies some additional uses for this checklist. The checklist may also be used by a state in conducting its own monitor in regard to compliance of people with disabilities. The state can use this as the beginning, because the state -- and I've looked at many states -- have additional requirements that may not be in the federal. So this document may be a starting point for states to develop their own monitoring instruments and materials for people with disabilities to include some of what is required, some of what is suggested and some -- at the federal level -- and some additional ideas or issues or policies that are at the state level. Now, when I reviewed a lot of the state methods have administration, most of them have a provision saying that the one-stops must or the recipients, the LWIA, the local workforce investment act grant recipients must develop written materials, written policies and procedures explaining how they will implement the reasonable accommodations, reasonable modifications, auxiliary aids and services, effective communication, most integrated setting appropriate provisions. So this checklist could also be used by one-stops to help them figure out the content of their written policies and procedures, when they're required to do so by the state in its MOA. And this obviously is a tool for advocates. This checklist may be used by advocates to ensure that there is programmatic and physical access to one-stops to help work with and provide assistance to one-stops and to the states. >> PETER: Okay, Bobby. I think that's very helpful. Do you want to go through in more detail the structure of the checklist? >> BOBBY: Sure. I think this is real important in terms of understanding what's in here. >> PETER: I'm get something questions coming in and I think we can go through this, Bobby, if you don't mind and perhaps you'll be ready for some questions. >> BOBBY: Terrific. The structure of the checklist is very important. The layout is modeled after the nine elements of the methods of administration that I described before. So the nine elements of designation of equal opportunity offices, notice of communication, assurances, et cetera, this is the structure that is used in the checklist. Then this is critical: The checklist identifies basic requirements under Section 188, including specific portions of regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehab Act, the nondiscrimination civil rights provision dealing with recipients of federal aid. In other words, in the checklist itself, there will be a series of questions that are based exclusively on what is explicitly included in the regulations. And, again, there are hot links so that when there is a question, it will be followed by a reference to the code of federal regulations, and this reference is hot linked so you can click on it and up will pop a copy of the actual language from the regulations. And the regulations are in the form of the policies in the regulations are in the form of a list of questions. In addition, for some elements, there are questions followed by bullets, and these bullets describe examples of concrete actions that comply with the basic requirements. And then we go to the appendix, and the appendix includes additional examples of policies, procedures and other recommended steps that grant recipients can take to ensure equal access. Now, let me explain something very important. These examples do not create new legal requirements. They do not change current legal requirements. Instead, they simply suggest ways in which grant recipients might meet their legal obligations to persons with disabilities. So these are examples. They're recommendations. They're illustrations. There may be different ways of meeting the actual requirements. These are just suggested ways that grant recipients might adopt to meet the regulations. In addition, the checklist references a uniform federal accessibility standard and architectural checklist for dealing with architectural disability. This checklist was developed for the U.S. Access Board and could be used with respect to architectural issues and the checklist also includes checklists developed by the Department of Justice regarding web page and software accessibility and information technology accessibility. >> PETER: Thank you, Bobby. I'm multi tasking here sorting through these E-mails as they're starting to come in with a lot of interest about your presentation. One theme that cuts across them is perhaps you can walk us through the checklist beginning with element 1 and describing how it works. >> BOBBY: Okay, let's do that. Element 1, again, is designation of the equal opportunity officer. And what the checklist does here is it includes two questions, and these questions are derived directly from the regulations. And so the first question is, has the recipient designated and officer who meets eligibility criteria and assumes certain responsibilities? Then there is a specific question dealing with disability, has the recipient satisfied general obligations relating to the officer, and do they include the T. T. D, TTY number and do they assign sufficient staff and resources? Now, the examples used that are more specific to people with disabilities is, is the EO officer also the Section 504 coordinator? That's a possibility. The bullets say what about the training of the EO officers, does that include issues dealing with disability? Do the EO officers and his or her staff trained with respect to specific issues for people with disabilities? Then if you go to the appendix, the bullet there again deals specifically with training of equal opportunity officers with respect to issues particularly relevant to people with disabilities. >> PETER: Okay. Still sorting through here. What about element 2, Bobby, the notice and communication and the element 3, assurance -- I think a lot of these questions are about these specifics. If you don't mind, briefly perhaps walking us through elements 2 through 5 -- or as many elements as you think useful and then there are more subtle questions we can perhaps go to. >> BOBBY: Let's do element 2, notice and communication. Again, the way the checklist is developed, is they look at the regs and then ask a question that determines whether or not the particular policy in the regs is being addressed. So the first is provision of initial and continuing notice and then there is a specific question, is the notice provided by the recipient to persons with disabilities who are -- the various categories, like registrants and participants, and then it says including those with impaired vision and hearing, because those specific impaired vision and hearing, are actually identified specifically in the regs. Then question 2.3 deals with effective communication. 2.4 goes specifically to a specific aspect of notice and that is in recruitment brochures and other materials. And here the question and the next question deals with relationships with the news media, is to make sure there is what's called the tag line. And that is every notice must say that the one-stop or the recipient is an equal opportunity employer program and that auxiliary aids and services are available on request to individuals with disabilities. The regs require that the notice include these tag lines. And then the next question is, is the notice provided in appropriate formats? Again, another thing that is specifically policy set out in the regs. And then where marketing and recruitment and other materials indicate the recipient may be reached by telephone, the regs talk about the materials must state the telephone number of the T. T. Y. or relay service used by the recipient to ensure access for people with hearing impairments. And then we have an example following the questions, as a recommended or a suggestion dealing with other things like office stationary and business cards. Do they also include the TTY, TDD or the relay number? And then if we go to the appendix, there are additional suggestions. In your marketing and recruiting materials, do you mention people with disabilities? Do you provide positive images? Do you indicate that the recipient is committed to hiring people with disabilities? Well, why include that in a notice? Because that sends a message that you hire people and you work with people with disabilities. A couple more. >> PETER: Go ahead. >> BOBBY: There is another example that's included. Do you just have people in wheelchairs or do you have people with the full range of disabilities to show the diversity of who you serve? Is the notice made available in various forms or formats, like Braille or large print? And for people, maybe with cognitive impairments, is the policy read or explained to them as a matter of routine so that they really understand? In terms of the assurances, that's just a general restatement of the reg that there has to be an assurance that there is nondiscrimination on the basis of disability. >> PETER: Okay. Did you want to go through other elements, Bobby, or did you want to take a question that's a little bit different? >> BOBBY: Either way, Peter. I would like to go to element 4, but if you've got some other questions, I'll take it either way. >> PETER: Let's take a question here then, a different one, because it relates to what you've talked about. The question is should every state by now have prepared an MOU and how do advocates go about to get access to a state's MOA? >> BOBBY: The answer is yes. The MOA's were submitted and approved several years ago, and every state now that I'm aware of has a website for workforce investment. And on that website will be a list of the state equal opportunity officer. And that's one way. The other is, again, under the notice requirement, every one-stop must explicitly say who is the EO officer, and you can contact that person and through that person you can find out more about the state's MOA as well as the one-stop, the recipients policies that they have implemented to address the requirements at the state level. So, again, the state may have a state policy on reasonable accommodations and most integrated setting. The local should have in its policy manual for its employees, copies of that. And in some states, like Texas, they say that there must be a written policy on how you're going to implement the reasonable accommodations, most integrated setting provisions. So one would think that those written policies would be available for advocates to review, and if they found none, then there would be a question in terms of technical assistance or working with them to implement the MOA, the methods of administration, the nondiscrimination provisions in that one-stop. >> PETER: Okay, the questions are starting to pile up here, and some of them I think will be answered, Bobby, if you proceed through a few more morph these elements. Would you like to do that? I think it might be useful to finish those and that will answer a lot of these questions and then there are a couple of questions I want to come back to. >> BOBBY: Let's do element 4, and the regs are generic. They say is the recipient taking appropriate steps to ensure that it's providing universal access to Title I, WIA Title I assisted programs? And do these steps involve, quote, reasonable efforts, including outreach, to include -- and this is part of the guidance -- to include participation of persons with disabilities? So the basic requirement is appropriate steps and reasonable efforts to include participation of persons with disabilities. Now, if you jump -- when you have the time, not now obviously, but when you have the time, if you jump to the appendix, you will see a series of ten or so bullets of examples or suggested approaches to bring alive the requirement in terms of reasonable and appropriate steps. So the first bullet talks about consider the needs of the local population, a systems assessment to see how many people with disabilities, what are their needs in terms of design and delivery of services so that you can figure out what is an appropriate intake procedure, screening devices, assessments, the mix of services, outcome measures and appropriate training programs. So in order to design and deliver services, start with an assessment of the needs of the population of people with disabilities. Another bullet talks about contracting or consulting with community and advocacy organizations. Remember going back to my disability framework, nothing about us without us, full participation includes involvement at the policy level. That's why this provision for -- of consulting with and working with community and advocacy organizations. Look at your outreach efforts. See what other processes have been used to elicit input. Does the recipient look at the state plan and the local plan? The WIA regulations explicitly -- explicitly -- this is not the Section 188 regs, these are the regs implementing WIA, says that the state Board is responsible for determining how best to organize the service system to most effectively serve customers with disabilities. The state plan must describe how it will meet the needs of individuals with disabilities. Local Boards are responsible for describing how best to organize their system to most effectively serve people with disabilities. These are all things that are in the WIA regs and supposed to be in state plans and in the local plans. So one of the questions is, is the recipient using these plans and are they adopting approaches -- specific approaches for meeting the needs of people with disabilities. The notion, again, of operational collaboration, vocational rehabilitation programs, MRDD, that's mental retardation, developmental disability. Mental health agencies, have long histories in some states of working with people with disabilities. Let's stay a one-stop historically has always made automatic referrals. They're not going to necessarily know how to do registration, orientation, assessments, service delivery, making sure that eligibility criteria do not have the unintended effect of excluding people with disabilities. Work with others who have a history of doing this in a collaborative way to help get others to help develop these policies, practices and procedures. So that the registration and intake and data sharing and outreach and service delivery all address the needs of people with disabilities and result in effective and meaningful opportunity for participation in the program. Let knee now go, Peter, if I can, to the main gut of the checklist, which is element 5, obligation not to discriminate to the basis of disability. >> PETER: That would be great, thank you. >> BOBBY: After, again, the checklist repeats the six or seven or eight specific notions of nondiscrimination on the basis of disability from the regs, there is a whole lot of stuff in the appendix dealing -- and examples after the description of the regulatory requirements. And these are real important: Things like job orders. If an employer says don't send me any people with disabilities, that's a problem. So many states have policies that say recipient must reject job orders from any employer that specifies it will not accept applications from qualified person with disabilities. Issues of site selection -- when you are moving or locating for the first time a new one-stop, is access taken into consideration? Not only access to the building, but broader community access including issues like transportation? Are the line and supervisory staff trained specifically in not only legal issues but implementation, promising practices for how to serve people with disabilities. Tests -- do we look at tests or criteria to see if you're measuring -- truly measuring the ability to qualify for a certain training program, or is the effect really to deny opportunity for people with disabilities? Then we go to some of the specific notions of reasonable accommodations. Question: Does the recipient have a written policy for accommodations, for dealing with what is an undue hardship? A process for determining when there is an undue hardship? A process for handling requests? A circumstances under which accommodations must be provided? Maintenance of records in the confidential way -- examples of accommodations. These are some of the bullet that is are in the checklist to help as suggestions to what should constitute a reasonable accommodation policy. The checklist then has the same thing for reasonable modifications. Then the checklist really gets into the nuts and bolts, registration and orientation, and looks at the system. What do we mean by accommodations and modifications in the context of registration and orientation? And, again, a lot of these examples come either out of state policy or were requested by the states when they say, okay, we understand we have to do accommodations. We're going to set up a policy or a procedure, but what does it really mean in the context of the Workforce Investment Act in terms of one-stops and what they do? So what we did is to say, well, what do one-stops do? They do registration and orientation. There is screening and assessments. There is service delivery, and then there is this continuous improvement to see how well things are doing. These are the primary services or functions performed by one-stops. Registration and orientation -- so there are a number of bullets. The does the recipient staff ask all registrants -- all, not just those with disabilities -- do they need assistance? Why just treat people with disabilities -- again, everybody should have meaningful and effective opportunity to benefit. So why not ask if everybody might need some assistance in filling out forms and applications? But specifically for people with disabilities, intake workers, is it important? A suggestion here is that they inform individuals if they have a disability, they can disclose their disability, but at the same time keep it confidential, that the disclosure is voluntary, but if they do, they can get some accommodations and modifications and auxiliary aids and services. But the key is permission, voluntary confidentiality. Those are the things that are emphasized in these examples and suggestions that are listed in the appendix. In terms of initial screening and assessment, some people may need a comprehensive assessment to see what kind of specific program will best meet their needs. Well, a suggestion is that there be an intake procedure used by recipients to the notify the registrant, the person with a disability, if there is an initial notification of disability that maybe they might need a more comprehensive assessment. Maybe a procedure should describe that, those circumstances when a more comprehensive procedure might be appropriate. In terms of service delivery, most one-stops have self-service. That is the key strategy and approach used, but what does that mean for a person with a disability? It may mean -- and again another example of a suggestion -- is they may need appropriate assistance to effectively and meaningfully benefit from the computers and the technology that are available. Core services talk about counseling, how about benefit counseling for somebody on SSI or SSDI? Well, maybe the one-stop can't provide it itself, but if they don't, they should know who is doing benefit counseling in the state and help that individual and possibly make arrangements. If we're talking about universal access, no wrong door, a seamless system, the ability to say, hey, I don't -- you are you familiar with the work incentives? There is somebody here, if you want, that we can make reference to. And then in terms of the provision of intensive and training services, does the recipient collaborate with other agencies that have knowledge again of promising practices? One-stops, if they have not historically worked with people with disabilities, they can't expect to know everything, but there are other agencies who have that experience and expertise and knowledge, who understand promising practices, who can share that with one-stop employees. And that collaboration is important, an adequate supply of qualified providers. If one provides literacy training, but there is nobody who knows how to work with folks with significant learning disabilities or mild mental retardation, well, then there are a whole bunch of folks who could benefit from literacy training, who may not provide -- be provided effective meaningful opportunity. So it may be important to outreach qualified providers so there is an adequate supply of entities providing services. And then, again, the reimbursement of providers to make sure that the procedure for reimbursement does not have the effect of excluding people with disabilities because the system for reimbursement will result in bankruptcy for providers. They say that if I provide services, I can't afford it. Well, arrangements in terms of the cost of who pays for the accommodations or possibly adjustments in other costs might be a strategy for ensuring that more people with disabilities participate. Looking at the eligibility criteria -- most states and locals have manuals and guidelines and other materials. Are there examples of reasonable accommodations, lists of auxiliary aids and services, for example. These are the kinds of things with respect to delivery of services. And then we come to the important notion of how we do it. The concept of continuous improvement, are we disaggregating data so we know how we're doing specifically with respect to the provision of services to people with disabilities. To the extent there is customer satisfaction surveys, do we know how we're doing for people with disabilities? To the extent that recipients collect data on the number of persons using each tier of service, and what I mean by that is the various tiers from core to intensive to training. Do we know, for example, are people with disabilities only given core services and they're not receiving intensive and training services? If we don't have data that disaggregates, we may never know. This might be another thing to consider to see if in fact there is equality of opportunity and nondiscrimination. Now, the next aspect of nondiscrimination, and again you can see this is the guts as I said of this checklist, is the issue of most integrated setting appropriate. Again, the checklist itself will include the provisions right from the regulations, and then if you go to the appendix, you'll see some suggestions or examples. And some of the suggestions or examples look at things like does the recipient offer the individual the same opportunities to participate through the same channels? Does the recipient automatically refer all people to voc rehab or other disability agencies? Or does this system allow the individual to choose to receive services from the one-stop? There are a number of people with disabilities who just want access to those computers that list the jobs that are available. And so the question is, they don't want to be referred to -- and they don't need comprehensive vocational rehabilitation. They should not be automatically referred because they have a disability. Is there a procedure to show that the one-stop or the recipient should demonstrate why it can't provide appropriate services to the person with a disability? Another possibility for a policy is -- or a procedure is to make every effort to provide assistance so that people with disabilities can be placed in competitive, integrated work environments, and if a particular person is not placed in an integrated, competitive environment, that the recipient can explain why such a placement is not appropriate or possible. The issue here, again, is it shouldn't be a person with a disability, person with a significant disability automatically goes to a sheltered workshop. All persons with significant disabilities do not and should not go automatically to sheltered workshops. Many people with significant disabilities, with the appropriate accommodations and auxiliary aids and services can work in competitive, integrated settings. Then the checklist looks at the next issue of discrimination -- nondiscrimination on the basis of disability, focusing on community indication, effective communication. And then, again, the set of examples and suggestions -- for example, a recipient might include a list of currently available assistive technology devices, and then the checklist looks for different approaches for communicating to people who are deaf and hard of hearing or communicating with people who are blind and visually impaired and communicating to people with cognitive disabilities, people with mobility impairments, people with speech impairments. And then the checklist incorporates the United States Access Board checklist and a number of checklists that are on the web developed by the Department of Justice. Peter, I'm just going to quickly go through elements 6, 7, 8 and 9 and then we'll see if there are any more general questions. >> PETER: Please, I'm sorting questions but you're answering a lot of them as you go. >> BOBBY: Element 6 is data collection. These issues here are generic. There really are not any specific questions for people with disabilities, so they are very limited specific bullets and issues under element 6. Similarly with element 7, Monday monitoring for compliance. The real question here and the bullet that is included in the appendix is, does the monitoring instrument cover all of the elements included in the checklist? Does the monitoring instrument ask specific questions about compliance and nondiscrimination for people with disabilities ranging from the training of the EO officer to the notices that are provided, to the universal access and what kind of outreach is -- policies and procedures are used to accommodations, modifications, effective communication, most integrated setting appropriate. On are the monitoring instruments addressing the various aspects of the MOA? Element 8 is complaint processing, and again, there is nothing unique about this for people with disabilities. And then element 9, corrective action sanctions, the appendix includes two bullets, and these are important to notice in terms of what they're saying and why. Many places around this country, the predecessor program to WIA and one-stops was JTPA and before that SETA and in many of those programs around the country, the policy was automatic referral to voc rehab. So as a result, there is no policy, there is no practice, there is no procedures or if there is not -- and no may be exaggeration, but very few, if any policies or procedures with respect to serving people with disabilities. Very little experience and knowledge of promising practices for meeting the needs of people with disabilities. So it may well be that if historically there is no experience, there is no policy, there was automatic exclusion, it may be appropriate to take additional steps, and it's more specific policies because historically there were none. So it may be appropriate to say we will have outreach for all groups. That would be the policy. That's fine, but it may be appropriate to say, including people with disabilities. We will use -- we will consult with various community organizations. That's appropriate, but it might be appropriate if you never consulted with disability groups, including advocacy groups, independent living centers, local organization, Easter seals, whatever, different groups working with people with disabilities. It might be appropriate to actually include that. It might be appropriate to include a picture because that sends a message that the old policy of automatic referral is not the new policy. And these things may be important as corrective actions because to make up for the history of exclusion or segregation or automatic referral. >> PETER: Okay, Bobby, would you like to take some more questions? >> BOBBY: Sure, Peter. >> PETER: Here is one question, very interesting one. As a planner for an urban one-stop system, I see the need for employer buy in and more effective marketing of job seekers with disabilities to reach the goals of 188 which you've been talking about, and here is the question: Can you, Bobby, recommend any materials regarding -- there are three areas -- effective assessments for job seekers with disabilities, that's the first one. The second one is job descriptions that focus on essential job functions, and the third is functional and other resumes that may be effective for job seekers? >> BOBBY: I'll make a number recommendations, and Peter I'm sure you'll chime if you have some additional. First is www.onestops dot info , which is funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy. The second is the www.dol.gov, and then click on ODEP. And both of those will have references to what's called the job accommodations network, Jan, and I don't have their website off the top of my head, but if you go to Google, the search engine, and you put in job accommodations network, their website will come up. They have hundreds of specific examples dealing with the specific issues you brought up. Peter, any other ideas? >> PETER: No, I think that is very helpful, Bobby. What about the other areas? Would you want to comment on them or do you want to take another question? >> BOBBY: Take another question. >> PETER: Here is another one which is very good. In terms of -- and you've talked about this -- in terms of assessing the physical and programmatic accessibility of a one-stop -- this is an interesting question actually -- does your checklist go beyond or supplement the ADAAG? And you may want to explain what that is -- or the DOL's existing facilities checklist. That's the first part of the question. And then what type of assessment approach do you recommend for evaluating the accessibility of a one-stop center, i. e, in light of what was just mentioned above. >> BOBBY: The answer is with respect to architectural accessibility, the only reference in the checklist is to UFAS. >> PETER: Explain what those terms are. >> BOBBY: UFAS stands for Uniform Accessibility Standards. These make reference to UFAS and these are a set of standards for ensuring architectural accessibility. ADAAG is developed by the Access Board are equivalent to UFAS for our purposes. So that one could comply either with UFAS or with ADAAG. And there are checklist it's developed by ADAAG. Now, a number of states have their own accessibility standards in state law and, in fact, in many of these states the requirements are more stringent than the federal standards. So many states have actually developed their own accessibility standards, sometimes in consort with the SILC, the state interest living council, sometimes in concert with the developmental disabilities council or in some states they don't call it the developmental disability council, they call it the disability council. In some states, in coordination with the governor's committee on employment of people with disabilities. So the answer to the question is, no, we do not go beyond UFAS or ADAAG, but many states do. >> PETER: Okay. Thank you, Bobby. Let me get another one here, trying to sort through these. This is related to that -- another interesting one -- in paying for accommodation, if the Department of Labor uses the services of a community agency and the agency says that such an accommodation would be an undue hardship to provide, and you probably should explain what all that means, Bobby, what should D. O. L.'s role be in regard to these following issues? And I'll lay them out and then I can say it again if it's confusing. Discontinue using the agency, pay for the accommodation, or investigate the claim or encourage the consumer to file a complaint? >> BOBBY: That's a very interesting and a very important question. And let's break this down first in terms of what the legal requirement is. The legal requirement under ADA or if an entity receives federal assistance is that they can't discriminate and discrimination, nondiscrimination includes the failure to provide accommodations and modifications. So that agency may be responsible legally for providing the accommodation; but if they have a policy that says we will reimburse you a thousand dollars for everybody that we send you, and the accommodation costs a reasonable amount of money, those agencies -- those providers are going to be very reluctant to accept people with disabilities. Now, that refusal may theoretically be a, quote, violation of law, but we're not talking about technical violations here in this discussion. The real question goes back to what I talked about in terms of methods of administration. Should -- and I'm not saying you must -- this is a possible approach. A possible approach is for the state DOL to provide assistance for paying for accommodations so that the provider will jump at the possibility of serving that person with a disability. Let me give you an example. The Department of Defense in terms of -- U.S. Department of Defense, they found, historically, that if they required the departments, you know, all the way down in the bureaucracy, the department that might have five or six people in it, if they required them to pay for the accommodation, they wouldn't hire people with disabilities. So that they had instead said we will pay for the accommodations at the highest level. We will have a separate office for technology and accommodations, and therefore, the department head will hire the best person who might be a person with a disability so this method of administration, by paying for the accommodations at the top level, the agency level, rather than at the lower level of a particular office, has the effect of increasing employment of people with disabilities. So a department -- an LWIA, a local workforce investment Board may want to think about having a policy saying they will pay for accommodations, or they may work with the state to provide certain accommodations. So there are two issues, one is technical compliance, and one is an issue of which procedure, which method of administration has the greatest chance of ensuring effective and meaningful opportunity for people with disabilities to benefit from services? Peter, do you have any comment or reaction? You work in this area as well. >> PETER: I do, but I'm multi -- >> BOBBY: You're trying to get the questions. Go ahead. >> PETER: I'm sorting out questions. >> BOBBY: Why don't you stay with that. >> PETER: Here is another one. What are the roles of the CILs in this process and in particular increasing numbers of persons with mental disabilities who they serve, how are they to advise people with mental disabilities? They're referring here to both mental health and mental retardation issues, who have no experience with the one-stop system? >> BOBBY: Well, part of it again to me is that the disability community has to, and this is why to me this call is so important, take a more active role. It's not that one stops don't want to serve people with disabilities, it's often that they don't know how. They don't have the experience and expertise, and once they get it, they're full steam ahead. And so to me, SILCs have an absolute key responsibility to have one-stops, to help the state EO officer, to make sure that the policies reflect this checklist, that the monitoring instrument is comprehensive to reflect this checklist, so that we have examples and illustrations to bring policies alive. Oh, yes, I don't -- I certainly provide accommodations and modifications, but if you ask somebody, what do you mean by that? Well, I don't know. Well, that to me is again where SILCs can come and using this checklist there is a series of 75 bullets in the appendix to help bring alive the provisions of equality and nondiscrimination set out in Section 188 statute and regulations. >> PETER: That's very helpful. I'm going to keep rattling through, Bobby. I live in a rural community and all this stuff about checklist is fine and good, bud I have to travel 60 miles maybe to get a job. I'm paraphrasing here a little bit. What should I be doing in regard -- the question is kind of along -- basically what should I be doing in regard to these one-stops and how do I deal with that, you know, when my job may be hundreds of miles away from where this one-stop is? >> BOBBY: Well, again, if a one-stop is in a rural area, there are a lot of people who will have not just people with disability who will have the same issues and it may well be that the strategies adopted in the rural areas is more morph technology related and then it's important to make sure that the technology works for all people including people with disabilities, including those with visual impairments. And if there is any interactive technology, that it works with those with communication disorders, communication impairments. So to me, the question is -- I would think that that rural one-stop is going to be thinking differently than the urban one-stop, but the key is that when they think differently, that they don't just think in terms of the needs of the average person, but they think in terms of the needs of all, including people with disabilities. >> PETER: All right, here is another one. A theme which you've heard many times before from a consumer actually. Again, paraphrasing, it's essentially saying please explain to me this Medicaid buy in and Ticket to Work stuff as it relates to if one-stops and there is really little incentive for me to go to work because I'm still unclear about how the buy in is going to affect me. >> BOBBY: Okay. On my website, www.disabilitypolicycenter.org, on the home page is a table of contents, and on that table of contents under WIA is a policy brief dealing with the Ticket to Work program and one-stops. In that table of contents is another item. I think it's called work incentives, and under that -- or actually under another one is Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act. We have specific policy briefs on how the ticket works. And then there is another heading dealing with Medicaid buy in programs. So I cannot possibly try to answer that question substantively in 30 seconds, but there are a number of additional references. But the key point that the person is making is that there are existing work disincentives like the cash cliff for people on SSDI which means that if you reach a certain earnings level, you go from being eligible to totally ineligible, and a lot of people are afraid to go over that cliff, and as a result, they are earning less than they're capable of, and that's going to require statutory changes. There is efforts to try to have demonstrations to see what happens if you do it differently, and have gradual rather than precipitous loss of eligibility. And that has not happened yet by the Social Security Administration, but it is authorized by law. So in a nutshell, there are additional work disincentives that are still out there and we need to continue to work to try to eliminate or reduce their effect. There is new regulations that are expected to come out pretty soon on what's called easy back on, which means that if you fall off the cliff, under certain circumstances, you can get back on in an easier way rather than simply reapplying. >> PETER: That's helpful. Here is another one -- I'm putting together a compilation of a series of ideas here and they all relate to use basically, Bobby. Transition from kids with disabilities who have experienced IDEA in high school and now looking for jobs. There are a couple of issues -- role of parents, role of the schools in helping kids, you know, learn about this one-stop system and the relevance of your checklist to that transition process. >> BOBBY: Well, again, that's very critical that part of this whole notion of a seamless system include transition and working with youth, and that's where, again, the collaboration becomes important collaborating with groups as well as special educators so that we are addressing the needs of this population as well, but that's -- again, going from the theory of a seamless system to the reality where people are truly working together and really, truly understand if they don't know how to deal with youth with disability, they just simply don't throw up their hands and say go someplace else, but they have a procedure for addressing collaboration and referral. >> PETER: Now, there are several parents that wanted to know maybe a little more specifically about what they should be doing in this regard or how they can use the checklist themselves. >> BOBBY: Again, the checklist is primarily for policy purposes, to make sure that the system works, the system at the local level, the system at the state level. And so that's the most -- it's not going to be useful for an individual child in terms of getting help. So as much as it will be used to work to help the system work for all youth, not just an individual child. >> PETER: Okay. And here is the last one, comment, which encompasses a number of issues as well, a number of queries, and that is, what's the current status of -- in Washington -- of WIA? Aren't there various amendments going on and you obviously are aware of that and people are interested in knowing what's happening from the inside out. >> BOBBY: The House has passed its reauthorization and the Senate is still considering it. It has not occurred yet at the committee level and the negotiations at the staff level are ongoing. >> PETER: And I think that -- that's all the questions I have right now that I've received. Are there -- we're running up on our time, Bobby. Are there closing comments or summary remarks you'd like to make? >> BOBBY: Well, in a nutshell, to me this checklist is an illustration of leadership by the Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the three groups, the Civil Rights Center, ODEP and ETA, to try to implement President Bush's New Freedom Initiative, Secretary Chao's notion that we should be providing universal access for people looking for jobs and this includes people with disabilities. And this is a tool that can be used at the state, local and advocacy level to maximize the likelihood that people with disabilities will, in fact, have effective and meaningful opportunity. It's a tool. And that means it has to be used, and people need to explore this thing, take the time, take four or five hours to look at this thing. Look at the pop up's in the regulations. See how this all works together. Work together and, to me, the other anything that I've always found when I worked on capitol hill, we worked by party son consensus, work together. Work SILCs -- working with state groups, or local independent living centers working with one-stops to disability groups working together because I have found that -- and I really mean this -- that people in one-stops who I've worked with almost universally want to provide appropriate services. They need help, assistance, experience, expertise. And that's what advocates and voc rehab and others can do so that this is a joint effort to enhance employment and reduce the unemployment to people with disabilities. >> PETER: Thank you, Bobby. I know I speak for our listeners and myself that your commitment and forward idea on these issues and so many others have enriched the policy and disability community and I thank you for your remarks today. I also want to take a moment to thank ILRU and NIDRR which sponsored this through grants to ILRU and the terrific and. >> BOBBY: And the Department of Labor and ODEP for allowing me to do this. >> PETER: Yes, thank you, Bobby, and hopefully I haven't omitted anybody else that has been involved and I want to thank the terrific technology team of Rob and Marie at ILRU and others who make these webcasts possible. So thank you all very much. I'm sure Bobby will be available for additional questions if you have them. You can get his E-mail address I take it, Bobby, from your website. And he's always available and willing to address such important questions. Thank you all and we'll sign off here.