KU researchers partner with state to build capacity to employ Kansans with disabilities

LAWRENCE — Most people take for granted that any job they get will earn them at or above the federal minimum wage of $7.25. However, that's not the case for an estimated 120,000 disabled workers in the U.S., half of whom earn less than $3.50 an hour and some of whom are making as little as 25 cents an hour.  

Under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, employers may pay subminimum wage to workers who are impaired by physical or mental disabilities, which may include blindness, mental illness, developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy and substance abuse.  

A project that is a partnership between the state of Kansas and researchers at the Life Span Institute at the University of Kansas is exploring ways to increase the capacity in the state to employ people with disabilities in jobs that meet higher thresholds for wages and other factors, with potential to improve opportunities and quality of life. The project was launched one year ago and is being highlighted during the federally designated National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Critics of the Fair Labor law, which was originally intended as an avenue to encourage businesses to employ people with disabilities, say it hinders people’s opportunities, trapping them in poor-paying jobs with little chance of earning more or experiencing the social and learning benefits of working in a diverse workforce of people with and without disabilities.  

They argue instead for Competitive Integrated Employment, in which employees with disabilities are paid at or above minimum wage and are given the same benefits and pay as other employees who do the same job. 

In 2011, Kansas became the first state in the nation to pass an Employment First Policy, which seeks to improve Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) for disabled workers, establishing an oversight committee and setting as state policy that CIE should be considered before subminimum wage alternatives. However, there have been challenges translating this goal into reality. 

“One of the things that we found is that, even after adopting Employment First legislation here in Kansas, CIE outcomes for Kansans with disabilities actually decreased over the years,” said Craig Knutson, research project manager at the Kansas University Center on Disabilities (KUCD).  

In October 2023, the state of Kansas partnered with centers at the Life Span Institute to help improve the Kansas Employment First policy by expanding CIE to more disabled people in the state.  

“We want to support the state to build capacity so that anyone with a disability who wants to work in the community has the supports and services they need to find and keep a job that fits their strengths and interest,” Dean said. 

Co-principal investigators Evan Dean at KUCD and Jean Hall of the Institute for Health and Disability Policy Studies (IHDPS) have been working with the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services to develop policy and data system recommendations, enhance capacity by training employment support workers, and engage people with disabilities, family members, professionals, state agencies and others in the process. These efforts include training four service providers in different parts of the state to deliver high quality, person-centered and evidence-based employment services. 

Data collection and analysis will also allow for a better understanding of performance across programs to help inform better practices and recommendations. 

"Cross-agency collaboration will be critical in documenting employment outcomes for Kansans with disabilities, who encounter a fragmented system of employment services and supports,” Hall said. “We are recommending ways that different state agencies can coordinate efforts to collect and share data on competitive integrated employment so that the outcomes of the Employment First initiative can be demonstrated.” 

Another key part of the project is to engage stakeholders most affected with the establishment of an Employment First Steering Committee, made up of self-advocates, family members, providers and state agency staff. 

“‘We need to redefine what it means to be an expert. We need to be sure we are listening to people who have experienced the service system,” Knutson said. “We make sure that we always have the voice of people with lived experience represented in all the work that we do.”