Disability Employment

Sara is the Director of WorkLink, TransCen’s San Francisco-based employment program for job seekers with disabilities. Sara is also a key contributor to the training and technical team where she works with employers, school districts, parent groups, and service providers. She also provides field support for many of TransCen’s federal and state initiatives. Currently, she is a subject matter expert for ODEP’s Employment First State Leadership Mentoring Program, where she provides technical assistance and consultation to state agencies and providers in capacity building in effective practice, system/provider transformation, school-to-work transition and employer engagement. For the past 30 years, Sara’s focus has been on school-to-work transition and employment for individuals with disabilities. She has extensive experience in direct service, policy and program development, and system transformation.

When asked what her passion is and what she can’t stop talking about, Sara will respond: “My work. My work. My work.” She also loves music, traveling to exotic locales, cooking/baking, taking her dog to the beach, and reading the New York Times on Sunday mornings.

Professor Keith McVilly talks about the application of Positive Behaviour Support principles to Customised Employment and how by bringing behaviour support principles to the employment process and post placement support we can enhance employment and career longevity. This is about adopting clinical principles to the job development process and adding a new skill set to the employment consultant armoury of skills.  

David Petherick is the highly regarded Deputy CEO of Valid, the Victorian based advocacy group with a long history of championing the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disability. David talks about Valid's work and provides valuable insights into advocacy, employment, the NDIS and all things empowerment.

In this podcast we are joined by Mike Callahan, President of Marc Gold & Associates to talk about Systematic Instruction, Natural Supports and the legacy of Marc Gold. An inspiring conversation that gives us something to pause and think about. June Alexander will join us to discuss her thoughts and practices in SI, Families and mentoring.

Jeannie Hodges - Director Economic Outcomes discusses employment supports within the context of the 20/21 NDIS Supports funding and the future of disability employment. Time to innovate and think differently. The discussion is general in nature and not specific to any one person and participants should consider their own circumstances and seek advice. 

Evan Dean, Investigator - Beach Center and Assistant Professor University of Kansas talks about self-determination and employment. Career Design and transition, along with how we work to promote choice and control.

Professor Emeritus Trevor Parmenter offers his thoughts on transitions, some history on the process and reflections on where we need to go. Valuable insights from a career passionately pursuing transitions for people with intellectual and developmental disability.

David Michael Mank, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. He is formerly the Director of the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University, Indiana’s University Center for Excellence on Disabilities.
As a writer and researcher, Dr. Mank has an extensive background in the education and employment for persons with disabilities. He has authored or coauthored dozens of articles and book chapters. His interests also include transition from school to work and community living.
Mank has worked on issues related to Competitive Integrated Employment for people with significant disabilities for many years. His work has included developing the first free standing supported employment program in Oregon, McKenzie Personnel Systems. McKenzie was originally incorporated as a non-profit organization by Mank and two women who had daughters with developmental disabilities. He has worked on provider transformation (from sheltered work to competitive integrated employment) in a number of states across the USA and a number of other countries. He has emphasized “capacity building” to deliver integrated employment outcomes at the local level. He has also assisted in developing employment related data systems in a number of states. He is frequently requested to present at Leadership Institutes. In addition, he has been a frequent participant in Policy Development and Analysis at the state and national levels. He has assisted states and local communities develop, implement model programs for transition from school to work for youth with disabilities.
Mank is a member of the editorial boards of the Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities (TASH), the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Journal of Disability Policy Studies. He is Associate Editor for the journal, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
In January 2015, Mank was appointed by the U. S. Secretary of Labor to the Advisory Committee on Increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities, which was created in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. He was subsequently elected Chair of the Committee, which delivered its Final Report and Recommendations to the Secretary of Labor and Congress in September 2016. This Committee delivered its Final Report to the Secretary of Labor and Congress in September 2016.

In this podcast, Tristan Claridge, the founder of Social Capital Research and Training, Dunedin New Zealand shares insights gained from over two decades of research into social capital and its application to employment and business. 

Michelle is the National Manager for Ticket To Work. The program supports transition to work through school based work experiences that lead to post school employment for people with disabilities. Michelle discusses the program, enablers, outcomes and the path forward.