Specializing in Self-employment for People with Disabilities
Policy Research
Our life-long experience with public policy in general, and more recent experience related to self-employment in particular, can be of assistance to agencies and entities who serve individuals with self-employment income and activities. We can help them ensure that policies, procedures, paperwork, etc., are user-friendly and deal appropriately and effectively with the circumstances of self-employed people and the way business works.
Through our own work on the grant-funded UWISE project, we have found that most agency's policies that relate to earned income or employment were developed first and foremost for wage employment and the result is that many do not "fit" well for self-employment. This can create confusion for clients, misunderstandings between staff and clients, and in some cases can result in inappropriate application denials and case closures, inaccurate data reporting, and other negative consequences. The two primary recommendations of the UWISE Final Report focused on the need to identify and address systemic barriers to self-employment confronted by people with disabilities through policy change and staff training.
We provided Technical Assistance from 2007-2011 to WorkAbility Utah's Self-employment Work Group under contract with Utah's Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG). As part of that effort, the group studied policies and procedures of almost all state and federal programs utilized by people with disabilities. Members proposed to agency administrators the necessary modifications to make application and eligibility forms user-friendly for beneficiaries pursuing self-employment, rather than just meeting the needs of wage workers. The Utah State Office of Rehabilitation, a member of the Work Group, took the clear lead in responding to the information surfaced by the Work Group by totally revised their self-employment policy and procedures and provided training to all staff in 2010.
Recognizing exactly where policy and procedural problems lie and what would solve them requires knowledge of business practices and experience tying what can be seen "on the ground" with policy and procedural sources. We can help on any level--from analysis of written materials reflecting policy to assessment of an agency's approach to research and reporting on best practices in other states to a complete investigation to development of recommendations for policy and procedural revisions.
Work in this area offers us the best opportunities to serve our mission of enhancing self-employment as an option for people with disabilities.
