“Good Work” for People with Disabilities: A Strategy to Get There

“What do you do for work?”

This is often one of the first questions we ask someone when we meet them. A person’s job says a lot about their personality, interests, and how they view the world. Many people define themselves by their occupation, and we are often judged by others based on what we “do.”

Like people without disabilities, people with disabilities want a job they feel good about, fulfills their basic human needs, and improves their overall well-being. They want “good work.”

What is Good Work?

Each person is unique. What may be good work to one may be bad work to another. Even so, good work generally provides:

• a fair and livable wage
• safety and security in the workplace
• job security
• empowerment, self-determination, and independence
• freedom of self-expression
• benefits that offer a higher quality of life
• respect – both from others and for oneself

The Illinois Work and Well-Being Model: A Strategy to Achieve Good Work as a Quality Employment Outcome

The evidence-based Illinois Work and Well-Being Model (IW2M) provides vocational rehabilitation professionals with a structure and process to develop a rehabilitation plan and provide services that lead to good work.  The model’s goal is to facilitate career development and increase job-seekers’ participation in home, society, work, and the community, resulting in an increased sense of well-being.

IW2M focuses on the interaction between three areas that impact the career development process and quality employment outcomes for people with disabilities – individual context, career/employment development, and participation.

Individual Context

Individual context includes unique personal, environmental, and functional factors of a job-seeker with a disability:

• Personal - personality, interests, values, gender, age, ethnicity, aptitude, educational attainment, identity, past person experiences, and temperament
• Environmental - culture, society, economic status, physical environment, quality of education, services available, political, and social attitudes
  • Individual Level - systems of support
  • Service Level - services and resources available
  • Cultural/legal Level – attitude, political, and legal factors
• Functional - capacity and performance (physical, communication, emotional, and cognitive)

Career/Employment Development

This area includes the job-seeker’s employment awareness, acquisition, and maintenance:

• Awareness - Vocational Identity, career awareness, vocational maturity, and work personality
• Acquisition - Job seeking skills, impression management, and job seeking self-efficacy
• Maintenance - carry out required job task, meet production demands, conform to the social demands of work, and engage coworkers

Participation

Participation is the goal of the IW2M. It envisions job-seekers with disabilities participating in all areas of life, including:

• Home - independent living, self-care, and activities of daily living
• Social/Society - appropriate social and intimate relationships
• Community - concerned about the welfare of others and engages in appropriate community activities
• Work - maintains steady employment, meet the demands of work, and earn appropriate wages

Vocational Rehabilitation Services as Interventions

Using IW2M, vocational rehabilitation professionals can provide individualized services that address the complex interaction between job-seekers’ unique circumstances and the career/employment development process and participation domains. Figure 1.1. below illustrates this dynamic.

Alt Text for web image:

The image is a diagram titled "The Work and Well-Being Model." It depicts a flow of factors and domains that contribute to work and well-being. The model is divided into three main domains:

Contextual Domain:

Personal Factors: These include individual characteristics and limitations.

Environmental Factors: These encompass the external conditions influencing an individual.

Career-Employment Development Domain:

Individual Awareness: This involves an individual's self-awareness and understanding of their career path.

Education/Employment Acquisition: This focuses on obtaining the necessary education and employment.

Education-Employment Maintenance: This includes maintaining the acquired education and employment status.

Participation Domain:

Home: Participation in family and domestic life.

Society: Engagement in societal activities.

Community: Involvement in community activities.

Work: Participation in work-related activities.

The model indicates that interventions can influence these domains to enhance work and well-being. Arrows illustrate the flow and interaction between these domains.

Vocational rehabilitation professionals are in a unique position to support people with disabilities as they develop and maintain their career goals and improve their quality of life. We encourage you to use the resources below to explore IW2M and how you can use it to better support people with disabilities achieve quality employment.

Sources: Information in this article was taken from TACQE’s Work Centrality 101 – TACQE U and Applying the Illinois Work and Well-Being Model to Maximize Quality Employment Outcomes webinars.