Empirical evidence of systems change in supported employment

Supported employment emerged rapidly after the onset of federal incentives for state systems change in 1985. This expansion was influenced by local innovations, policy initiatives, and legislation as well as by fiscal incentives. Nonetheless, states have implemented supported employment with variable suc-cess. This article reviews state outcomes in implementing supported employment in order to identify states that have excelled in implementing supported employment and to consider the possible rela-tionship of supported-employment outcomes to economic, sociopolitical, and cultural factors. This ini-tial analysis suggests that a variety of factors influenced the federal systems-change strategies for the implementation of supported employment across states. Supported employment emerged quietly in the late 1970s and early 1980s with scattered demonstration projects showing the capabilities of people with severe disabilities to work in com-munity jobs. This, coupled with growing dissatisfaction with segregated day programs and sheltered workshops, resulted in a nationwide, indeed an international, initiative (Mank, 1994; Wehman & Kregel, 1995). In supported employment, individuals with disabilities typically receive individualized job-related supports in order to obtain or maintain integrated employment. Some of this support may be provided by co-workers, family members, or friends, and some provided by professional staff. Practitioners have demonstrated the benefits of supported employment for persons with severe disabilities for over two decades. The out-comes for people with severe disabilities include higher wages and benefits, increased opportunities to interact with individ-uals without disabilities, improvement in adaptive behavior skills, and greater employee satisfaction (Mank, 1994; Weh-man & Kregel, 1995). Although the technical knowledge to provide work-related supports for individuals with disabilities was available as early as the late 1970s and early 1980s, the nec-essary funding structures, personnel, and interagency linkages to establish local, state, and national networks of supported employment were not in place until later in the 1980s. A number of events occurred during the early 1980s that encouraged development of supported employment. Th