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Employment First Missouri: The Difference Between Choice and Opportunity

Person-centered planning is built on the idea that people have the right to make choices about their own lives. But there's an important question we should ask ourselves before concluding that someone has chosen not to work: "Have they truly had the opportunity to choose?"

A meaningful choice requires meaningful options. If someone's only experiences have been facility-based services, segregated work, or a limited range of job possibilities, it's difficult to know whether they are choosing not to pursue employment, or simply choosing from the only options they've been shown.

Creating opportunity doesn't mean persuading someone to work. It means making sure they have the chance to explore their interests, meet employers, experience different workplaces, learn from peers who are successfully employed, and discover what is possible before making an informed decision.

This week, challenge yourself and your team to think about one person you support. Ask yourselves: "What new opportunity could we create that would help this person make a more informed choice about employment?"

The answer might be a workplace tour, an informational interview, a volunteer experience, a chance to shadow someone in a job they're interested in, or simply a conversation with someone who has successfully found competitive integrated employment.

Employment First is not about replacing choice with expectation. It's about expanding opportunity so that every person's choices are infomred by real experiences rather than limited by what has always been available.

If you are interested in connecting with peers who share an Employment First mission, contact our Employment First team who can help connect you. Employment First Missouri

We Want to Hear From You!

We are creating an online course about supporting older workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and we want to hear directly from self-advocates.

We are asking employment professionals, targeted case managers, DSPs, and other professionals to help us connect with adults with IDD, age 40 and older, who:

• Want to continue working as long as possible
• Are thinking about or planning for retirement
• Are in phased retirement or working fewer hours
• Have fully retired and found meaningful ways to spend their days and weeks

We want to learn what people enjoy about work, what helps them be successful, how they are thinking about their future, and what makes life meaningful during and after employment. We are also interested in what kind of support is important when it comes to both work and planning for retirement.

Professionals are welcome to support the person during the interview in whatever way is helpful. The goal is to make the conversation comfortable and ensure the person's experiences, ideas, and preferences are heard.

There are no right or wrong answers. We simply want to learn from people with lived experience! Please contact Leslie Quarles at [email protected].