Resources on Personal Assistance Services

The following list of resources is provided to supplement the trainings, publications and other resources on Personal Assistance Services contained on this website.

Guidebooks and Toolkits

  • Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Guide
    http://www.independentliving.org/docs6/conceptsmanual.html#anchor46
    The first section of this guide is for Concepts of Independence consumers, this second section has information on hiring, training, supervising, evaluating and terminating personal assistants.
  • Making the Move to Managing Your Own Personal Assistance Services
    http://www.ncwd-youth.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/pas-toolkit-052610-print-final-2.pdf
    A Toolkit for Youth with Disabilities Transitioning to Adulthood, National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth. The goal of this 66 page 2010 guidebook is to help youth successfully manage their own PAS. Topics include effective communication, time-management, covering costs, recognizing abusive situations, establishing professional relationships, and hiring, managing and firing assistants.
  • Personal Assistance in the Workplace: A Customer-Directed Guide, Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports
    http://www.worksupport.com/research/viewContent.cfm/129  
    This 92 page manual covers self-assessment, using PAS as a workplace support, training a person with a disability to use PAS, employers' perspectives, keys to being an effective assistant, assistive technology, funding options, independent living and employment services.

Books

  • Avoiding Attendants from HELL: a practical guide to finding, hiring & keeping personal care attendants. June Price.
    http://www.amazon.com/AVOIDING-Attendants-HELL-Practical-Attendants/dp/1888725605/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310500815&sr=1-1 
    June Price is also an advocate with two decades of personal PAS experience. She has written a practical guide on learning how to find, hire, manage, and keep good personal care attendants.
  • Caregivers and Personal Assistants: How to Find, Hire, and Manage the People Who Help You (Or Your Loved One!). Alfred H. DeGraff.
    http://www.bookfinder.com/author/alfred-h-degraff/
    This extensive resource from an author with a disability describes how to find, hire and manage quality PAS. It includes step-by-step strategies for recruiting, interviewing, screening, hiring, training, managing, and parting ways. Advice is included on living in harmony with family caregivers.
  • The Personal Care Attendant Guide: The Art of Finding, Keeping, or Being One. Katie Rodriguez Banister.
    https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Care-Attendant-Guide-Finding/dp/193260328X
    The author is an advocate with a disability who provides information on how to successfully locate, interview, hire, train, and supervise a personal attendant, with forms and worksheets. Difficult issues such as wages, taxes, and firing an attendant are covered, with real-life examples.

Fact Sheets and Briefs

  • Finding a Workplace Personal Assistant (WPA)
    http://www.worksupport.com/documents/PASFACTSVol2.pdf
    Two page fact sheet that has information on using PAS in the workplace as a reasonable job accommodation, recruiting strategies, hiring the right WPA, work site modifications, workplace scenarios, assistive technology and web resources.
  • Personal Assistance Services in the Workplace (WPAS)
    http://askjan.org/media/PAS.html
    This publication discusses using personal assistance services as an accommodation under the ADA, with WPAS examples to accommodate job applicants and employees, and resources.
  • Workplace Personal Assistant Services: Employers Perspective
    http://www.worksupport.com/main/downloads/chapter4.pdf
    This 15 page chapter covers why employers should consider PAS as a reasonable accommodation, employer concerns, what an employer should do following a request, sample job functions, providing an assistant as a reasonable accommodation, and examples of the use of work site modifications, assistive devices, and the use of workplace personal assistants.

Reports and Surveys

  • Consumer Direction of Personal Assistance Services in Medicaid: A Review of Four State Programs, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured
    http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/7757.pdf
    Consumer direction offers Medicaid beneficiaries the flexibility and independence to individualize their services and is possible without using an individual budget. Areas that need more examination are how to build back-up support and increase understanding of PA issues

Journal and Magazine Articles

  • Are Satisfaction with and Self-management of Personal Assistance Services associated with the Life Satisfaction of Persons with Physical Disabilities?
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21091134
    A survey compared perspectives of consumer-directed and agency-directed care with consumer-directed participants reporting higher satisfaction with their PAS, greater control over services, and greater quality of life. Fleming-Castaldy, R.P. (2011). Disability and Rehabilitation.
  • Personal Assistance Services (PAS) for Workers with Disabilities: Views and Experiences of Rehabilitation Counselors
    http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/31/31
    There has been minimal use of PAS in promoting employment. Research was conducted to determine the experiences of rehabilitation service providers, who indicated that the success of PAS depended on strong relationships with employers. Barriers to work-related PAS included lack of qualified assistants, transportation, and employers' lack of understanding of PAS. Misra, S., Orslene, L.E., & Walls, R.T. (2007). Disability Studies Quarterly.

Sample Forms, Plans and Agreements

Several centers for independent living (CILs) have made available examples of forms and documents used in their centers.