Feature Article Employment of Developmental!}/ Disabled Persons: Obstacles Inherent in the Service System

Many public programs provide services and support to developmen-tally disabled adults. Unfortunately, this services system often im-pedes or prevents the transition of developmentally disabled persons from school to work. It does so by fostering attitudes of dependency, creating major work disincentives, failing to provide adequate vo-cational service to many severely disabled persons, and by being poorly coordinaed. The changes that need to be made in the service system to reduce or eliminate these problems do not constitute major departures from current policies and are unlikely to be costly. OUR UNDERSTANDING OF the work capacity o f developmentally disabled persons is undergoing fun-damental change. To begin with, it is becoming increasingly clear that many developmentally disabled persons who for-merly were regarded as either unemployable or as employ-able only in sheltered workshops can be placed on jobs in integrated work settings if appropriate vocational suppor