Think Work

11/17/2025

Over the past 3 decades, employment rates have shifted in response to major economic cycles. These times of growth and recession have impacted the workforce, especially for people with disabilities.

Read the latest Institute for Community Inclusion DataNote 103 about how these patterns highlight opportunities for us to strengthen policies and supports that promote workforce participation for people with disabilities: https://tinyurl.com/mw7skwvy

08/19/2024

Think Work's latest Data Note 89 describes the characteristics, services received, and employment outcomes of adults with an intellectual disability who exited from the vocational rehabilitation program during fiscal years 2014 through 2023. Read Data Note 89 to compare the findings of adults with intellectual disability to the findings of people with other disabilities!

08/18/2024

Don’t miss your last chance to sign up for ES-Coach!

On Thursday, August 29 at 1pm ET, Think Work is hosting an ES-Coach open house for your team of employment support professionals! ES-Coach can help your team fully leverage supported and customized employment best practices so that more job seekers achieve their career goals. Register today: https://buff.ly/3WMPOgU

08/16/2024

This summer, the Progressive Employment Learning Collaborative convened at ICI in Boston to discuss lessons learned about Progressive Employment’s impact on job seekers with disabilities and businesses in our communities.

Learn about Progressive Employment model and Learning Collaborative on buff.ly/3YJBl7V.

04/04/2024

Work incentive programs for people with disabilities are historically underused. From 2000–2021, the Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) program has seen a 77% decrease in participation. How can employment services professionals encourage incentive programs like PASS?

Read the Administration for Community Living, Think Work Blue Book for employment & economic self-sufficiency trends for people with IDD: https://buff.ly/49QfXk4

03/31/2024

Most people with intellectual disability who left with a job in 2021 were young white men. We must continue to examine and address race, gender, and age disparities in VR services across the US. Read the Administration for Community Living, Think Work Blue Book for more: https://buff.ly/49QfXk4

03/27/2024

State intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) agencies continue to emphasize the importance of integrated employment, though participation in integrated employment services varies widely from 3% to 83%.

Read the Administration for Community Living, Think Work Blue Book for employment & economic self-sufficiency trends for people with IDD: https://buff.ly/49QfXk4

03/21/2024

Calling all employment services providers! Have you experienced difficulty hiring workers to provide employment services? Think Work would like to hear your story! What strategies did your organization use to recruit and retain employment services staff?
Learn more about how to share your story:

03/19/2024

People with disabilities have poorer economic outcomes than people without disabilities. In 2021, only 40% of people with disabilities had paid jobs, compared to 74% of people without disabilities. Nearly 25% of working-age people with disabilities lived in poverty, compared to just over 10% of people without disabilities.

Read the full Administration for Community Living, Think Work Blue Book for the latest trends on employment and economic self-sufficiency for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities: https://buff.ly/49QfXk4

02/29/2024

As a job developer, job coach, or a manager of an employment program, you already do a fantastic job helping job seekers reach their career goals. ES-Coach can boost your confidence and improve job seekers’ employment outcomes even more.
Join over 35 employment programs across 15 states to start benefiting from ES-Coach! Learn more and sign up today—it’s free! buff.ly/3D0uoDS

12/20/2023

Institute for Community Inclusion staffers Ryan Wedeking and Daria Domin recently authored Data Note 86, which compares different definitions of intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) from five national data sources on employment outcomes. The goals of the Data Note are to provide clarity about how each data source defines the IDD population and improve readers’ understanding of the results from each source. Check it out!

By Ryan Wedeking and Daria Domin Data Sources: National Survey of State IDD Agency Employment and Day Services, Rehabilitation Services Administration, American Community Survey, National Core Indicators, Social Security Administration Download an accessible PDF here. Data Sets: State IDD Agency Su...

11/28/2023

Vermont was one of the first states to close sheltered workshops and to stop paying people with disabilities less than minimum wage. Data from Think Work show us the positive impact of eliminating sheltered work and subminimum wage in Vermont.

Read the UVM Center on Disability & Community Inclusion data brief to learn more about how supported employment in Vermont is competitive and integrated:

Purpose of this briefThe purpose of this data brief is to share the history and trends of employment for Vermonters with intellectual and developmental disabilities.Vermont has received national and international attention because disability-based subminimum wages and sheltered workshops were elimin...