Derrick Wesley is a lifelong educator who cares deeply about the advancement of individuals with intellectual disabilities.  His ingenious solutions to employing individuals with autism have resulted in visionary programs that benefit entire communities.  Derrick is the former and founding Director of the Program for Successful Employment (PSE), a Comprehensive Transition Program for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated that, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” With all of my being, I attempt to embody those principles in thought, deed, and action each day. Striving to always keep honesty and integrity first, keeping an open mind as well as seeking out honest discourse are my top priorities in my endeavors, whether in my studies or life in general.

Over the past 20 years, America has had an alarming increase in income inequality, according to a Reuter’s analysis of U.S. Census data. As the gap between rich and poor widens in the world’s richest nation, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities have unique challenges. While education can be the great equalizer, individuals with intellectual disabilities tend to fare worse. Disability increases risk for poverty through high costs of care and reduced access to earning opportunities. Poverty increases the risk for disability, poor health, and co-occurring conditions by reducing access to health care and community services that can prevent conditions from becoming worse. While many K-12 school districts have excellent special education departments and provide effective transition planning for their special education students, it has been reported that less than 10% of students with intellectual disabilities ever achieve competitive integrated employment, which essentially is what we all work towards, especially regularly abled or neuro-typical people. In 2008, President Obama reauthorized the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which laid out provisions to create Comprehensive Transition Programs, which allow students with intellectual disabilities to receive Title IV funding and financial aid to attend college. Typically, many of these students were not seeking degrees and unable to receive federal aid and therefore excluded from obtaining higher education. In addition to the lack of funding, no programs existed to provide the type of training and opportunities necessary for this population to be successful.

Since then, research has shown that participation in Comprehensive Transition Programs can help transition-age students with intellectual and developmental disabilities reach their educational and employment goals. Attending a postsecondary education program is associated with positive employment outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities. Reported employment rates for graduates from these programs range from 73% to 91% according to Dr. Paul Wehman, author of The Essentials of Transition Planning. My belief is that programs of this type should be widely available to students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

By creating more of these programs, the annual increases in individuals with developmental disabilities who obtain competitive integrated employment will in turn facilitate a substantial increase in annual income. This will result in a substantial decrease in poverty rates and a substantial improvement in health outcomes within this population. It is impossible to effectively address the poverty disparity without including competitive integrated employment as part of the discussion. Many students with significant disabilities identify work as a desired post school outcome, and, therefore, the opportunity to develop the necessary employment and work-related skills.