Friday, July 3, 2015

Lamenting The Few Employment Opportunities For Adults With Intellectual Disabilities

By Edna Booker


If you have intellectual disabilities, you most probably face big challenges due to your conditions. These include having difficulties supporting yourself through a sufficiently paying job. Our government spends billions through programs aimed at getting adults with intellectual disabilities into the workforce. However, the United States sees over half such adults currently working or unsuccessfully searching for jobs.

The Social Security Administration benefits logically challenged people. These include those with impaired communicative or cognitive functioning, those with IQs below specific levels, or those with severe impairments in personal or social functioning. The Social Security Administration programs are a crucial lifeline. Providing employment opportunities is the better solution in the long-term for the disabled. They would support themselves given the right assistance and the right job. Again, those about to have advanced intellectual disability may be unable to qualify for Social Security Administration benefits and to secure gainful employment.

Should you be facing difficulties as you to try to access Social Security benefits as an intellectually challenged person, you may seek the services of an attorney in Portsmouth VA. Such an attorney should specialize in disability rights. They will help you make the initial application. They can also facilitate your appeal against a termination or denial of your disability assistance.

Recent studies show that forty-four percent only of people suffering intellectual infirmities appear among the labour force working or seeking employment. A smaller figure of these, thirty-four percent currently have jobs. This figure is much lower compared to seventy-three percent of the able working people in the workforce. Twenty-eight percent working age people who are disabled have never been in gainful employment.

It is natural in expectation that lower numbers of intelligence-disabled people are working than those without disabilities. It is however troubling that little progress in getting those disabled working has seen attainment despite huge sums of money spent. Studies show that the percentage of intellectually challenged people within the workforce has remained unchanged for over four decades.

The term disabled defines a wide number of people with the disabilities involved in the workforce. It often pin points those having an IQ much lower than seventy-five. It identifies those people with limitations in general life abilities such as those unable to handle money. The term also identifies individuals who have developed autism and such mind maladies as Down syndrome.

Given the opportunity, an adult with cerebral challenges could perform certain assignments very well. Studies reveal that a sixty-two percentage of those disabled but working in a competitive environment have worked well for three years. This shows that if more efforts went towards enlisting the disabled into employment, they would cater for their own self-support or reduce dependence on state. It is important that low performance expectations from intellectually challenged individuals is addressed. It denies such individuals progress opportunities and makes it difficult for them to gain new skills. These obstacles require addressing.

Up until more adults afflicted with intellectual disabilities can be able to get into gainful employment, they will continue in dependence of Social Security Disability programs for financial support. The benefits may be enough to support most of the mature individuals. However, the benefits has limitations because of state maximums and past income.




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