Employment rates for those with disabilities remain too low in N.J., advocates say

Patrice Jetter absolutely loves her job. As a school crossing guard in Hamilton Township, she looks forward to greeting the kids each day, making sure they get to their destination safely and building a rapport with the elementary school children she helps.

Jetter is both incredibly typical a hardworking New Jersey resident who wants to make their community better and an outlier. As an adult with cerebral palsy that has effects on her cognitively and physically, she among a small number of residents with a disability who is employed in the Garden State, something advocates are working to see changed.

Employment rates and median wages are lower for adults with disabilities nationwide, data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows. But advocates say residents with disabilities are just as employable as non-disabled adults.

Its about raising awareness and helping employers focus on a workforce that they may not consider it as viable and encouraging people with disabilities to seek employment, Mercedes Witowsky, the executive director for the New Jersey Council on Developmental Disabilities, said.

With a tight labor market, employers should reevaluate whether their recruiting reaches all segments of the workforce.

We believe that folks with disabilities make good employees and provide great opportunities for employers to fill out the ranks of their workforce, Tom Baffuto, the executive director of The Arc of New Jersey, a statewide organization for those with developmental disabilities, said.

Intellectual or developmental disabilities are not specifically broken out in Census Bureau estimates of disability in New Jersey, making it difficult to estimate how many working-age residents fall into that category. About 6.7% of the states residents between 18 and 64 have a disability that includes cognitive difficulty, according to Census data.

Its also typical for someone with a disability to be impacted in more than one way, complicating the data further. In Jetters case, her cerebral palsy has both cognitive and mobility impacts.

She uses a specialty van that accommodates her mobility limitations, and when that van broke down, it meant she was unable to stay at her crossing guard job.

Taking the bus took too long, and even if she could take the bus, it would mean she had nowhere to sit down out of the cold in between groups of children who needed help crossing. (The township is holding her job for her while she works out a new transportation situation, Jetter said.)

The number of full-time employees with a cognitive difficulty is incredibly low: less than 1% of full-time working New Jersey residents have a cognitive difficulty, Census Bureau data shows. That number is a little bit higher when you look at part-time employment. About 3% of part-time employees have a cognitive difficulty, Census Bureau data shows.

The picture is even better when you only factor in people with disabilities who do not live in institutional settings, like nursing homes or other group care centers. About a quarter of adults with any type of disability living in the community are employed, when compared to 66% of adults without disabilities.

Jetter is currently working two days a week at a local ice rink at the front desk, where she checks in athletes, books birthday parties, and collects payment. Its the same rink where she trains in figure skating for the Special Olympics, so having the built-in community was a nice bonus, she said.

Patrice Jetter receives the bronze medal during the 2020 Special Olympics Winter Games Figure Skating competition at Cody Arena.George McNish | For NJ Advance Media

Employment is about more than just a paycheck, Witowsky said. Its also a way to create a more balanced life, meet new people, and become part of the fabric of society, she said.

But not all employers understand the benefit of hiring people with disabilities, a combination of years of stigma against the disabled community, and the misconception that its too difficult to employ them because of legal obligations.

Employees with disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations under the ADA, which could include things like giving a cashier with a painful knee a stool to sit on, or letting an employee leave early once a week for a doctors appointment. Most accommodations are minimal, Witowsky said.

We need the employers to understand that hiring people with disabilities is not necessarily as challenging as they might think, Witowsky said.

Jetter believes her disability is part of why it took so long for her to initially be hired as a crossing guard more than two decades ago.

She applied 12 times to become a school crossing guard in the Essex County town where she lived at the time, each year being rejected with a note that said she didnt have enough experience.

The newspaper article that they posted every summer, always said no experience necessary, well train, she said.

But the 13th year, Jetter took a different approach. Following the advice of her brother, a police officer in town, Jetter wrote a letter to the newly-elected mayor.

I cant prove that Im being discriminated against, Jetter recalled writing. But I can prove that Im being treated unfairly.

She got the job that year.

Jetter knew to advocate for herself, and was relentless in pursuit of what she knew was the right job for her. But for others, there are services to help them through the entire hiring process, step-by-step.

Job coaches are assigned by groups like The Arc to job seekers and new employees to help provide more hands-on direction and coaching as the employee looks for and starts a new job, Baffuto said.

The job coach will help the job-seeker fill out applications and coach them through interviews. Once the employee starts the job, the job coach will help onboard the employee and train them to perform the job in a way that makes it easy for the employee to learn, Baffuto said.

That coach then stays with the employee as long as necessary, and will check in from time to time, including if the employee has gotten a promotion or role change and needs additional on-the-job guidance.

All of this is done at no cost to the employer, Bufatto said.

All types of industries employ people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Baffuto said, but many of the people who receive services from The Arc work in food services or retail jobs. There has also recently been an increase in job placements in customer services jobs or in businesses officers after The Arc began a partnership with the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, Baffuto said.

The relationship is mutually beneficial for employer and employee: businesses receive tax benefits for employing adults with disabilities, and employees receive all the traditional benefits of employment, Baffuto said.

Employers that commit to inclusive hiring also see a 90% increase in employee retention, an Arc study in partnership with the New Jersey Department found, Baffuto said, something he has seen firsthand.

I literally just ran into an individual that I helped get a job 35 years ago, whos still working (in the same job), he still remembers me helping him get the job, Baffuto said. So we have people that really have longevity out there that have been doing jobs for a long time.

On her first day of work as a crossing guard over a decade ago, Jetter said she walked into the police department, big smile on her face, as a skeptical sergeant handed her a whistle and a stop sign and said she was lucky the department even had a spot for her.

I wound up being one of the best guards they had, Jetter said.

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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.