Do people with intellectual disabilities understand their prescription medication? A scoping review

© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Background: People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience poor health than the general population and are frequently prescribed multiple medications. Therefore, it is important that people with intellectual disabilities understand their medication and potential adverse effects. Method: A scoping review explored people with intellectual disabilities' knowledge of prescription medications, their risks and how medication understanding can be improved. Results: Ten journal articles were included. People with intellectual disabilities often lacked understanding of their medication, including its name, purpose and when and how to take it. Participants were often confused or unaware of adverse effects associated with their medication. Information was sometimes explained to carers rather than people with intellectual disabilities. Some interventions and accessible information helped to improve knowledge in people with intellectual disabilities. Conclusion: There is a need for accessible and tailored information about medication to be discussed with people with intellectual disabilities in order to meet legal and best practice standards.Peer reviewe

Leveling the Playing Field: Attracting, Engaging, and Advancing People with Disabilities

People with disabilities experience significant challenges in finding employment. The participation of people with disabilities in the workforce and their median income are both less than half that of the civilian workforce. They work part time 68 percent more frequently than people without disabilities. These disheartening results persist despite the enactment of significant federal legislation aimed at making the workplace more supportive and accessible to people with disabilities. The Conference Board Research Working Group (RWG) on Improving Employment Outcomes for People with Disabilities was convened to address how to overcome these disparities. It was sponsored by the Employment and Disability Institute at Cornell University, under a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education. The RWG members focused on four questions: 1) The business case: Is it advantageous for organizations to employ people with disabilities? 2) Organizational readiness: What should organizations do to create a workplace that enables people with disabilities to thrive and advance? 3) Measurement: How can success for both people with disabilities and the organization itself be determined? 4) Self-disclosure: How can people with disabilities, especially those whose disabilities are not obvious, be encouraged to identify themselves so that resources can be directed toward them and outcomes can be measured

Workers with Disabilities: The Role of Workplace Flexibility

A fact sheet for Workers with Disabilities: The Role of Workplace Flexibility covering the following: 1) What are the trends in workforce participation of individuals with disabilities? 2) How does the structure of work limit the employment of people with disabilities? 3) What is the role of workplace flexibility in the employment of individuals with disabilities? 4) The need for flexibility among people with disabilities matches the growing interest in flexibility for all workers

Employment opportunities of persons with disabilities and the special subsidiary company scheme in Japan

OBJECTIVE: This paper intends to review the historical development and related issues involved in the employment of persons with disabilities under the Law on Employment Promotion of Persons with Disabilities in Japan in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). METHODS: The actual situations of the special subsidiary company system, which was established by the Law to assist large-sized enterprises in achieving their legally mandated quota, were analyzed, based on the relevant data and materials published by the government and other sources. CONCLUSIONS: The targeted enterprises could achieve the highest employment rates of persons with disabilities through the establishment of special subsidiary companies. However, various studies on these companies have revealed that more effort is needed to improve the quality of employment of their workers with disabilities in light of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

World Report on Disability, Chapter 8: Work and Employment

Across the world, people with disabilities are entrepreneurs and selfemployed workers, farmers and factory workers, doctors and teachers, shop assistants and bus drivers, artists, and computer technicians (1). Almost all jobs can be performed by someone with a disability, and given the right environment, most people with disabilities can be productive. But as documented by several studies, both in developed and developing countries, working age persons with disabilities experience significantly lower employment rates and much higher unemployment rates than persons without disabilities (2–9). Lower rates of labour market participation are one of the important pathways through which disability may lead to poverty (10–15). In Article 27 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) “recognizes the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities” (16). Furthermore, the CRPD prohibits all forms of employment discrimination, promotes access to vocational training, promotes opportunities for self-employment, and calls for reasonable accommodation in the workplace, among other provisions. A number of factors impact labour market outcomes for persons with disabilities including; productivity differentials; labour market imperfections related to discrimination and prejudice, and disincentives created by disability benefit systems (2, 17–19). To address labour market imperfections and encourage the employment of people with disabilities, many countries have laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. Enforcing antidiscrimination laws is expected to improve access to the formal economy and have wider social benefits. Many countries also have specific measures, for example quotas, aiming to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities (20). Vocational rehabilitation and employment services – job training, counselling, job search assistance, and placement – can develop or restore the capabilities of people with disabilities to compete in the labour market and facilitate their inclusion in the labour market. At the heart of all this is changing attitudes in the workplace

What are the Benefits and Challenges of Hiring Disabled Individuals?

[Excerpt] Having a diverse workforce is essential for a successful global economy. A recent survey of national and multinational companies report that executives often identify disability as an area that needs improvement in their diversity and inclusion efforts. There are currently over 18 million working-age people with disabilities in the United States (US), representing a large pool of talent. Unfortunately, the employment rate is only 33% for working-age people with disabilities compared to 76% for those without disabilities. Most people with disabilities would like to work but often remain unemployed or underemployed and they represent one of the largest sources of untapped talent in the labor force. About two-thirds of unemployed persons with a disability are willing to work but cannot find employment. Thus, efforts to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities are needed

Assistive Technology at Work

[Excerpt] Although an immediate transition into an institution of higher learning is ideal for some students who relied on assistive technology in high school, many make the decision to enter the workforce after graduation. It is estimated that about 85 percent of students with learning disabilities (LD) transition directly from school to work.1 Furthermore, statistics addressing employment among people with disabilities indicate that the workplace consists of approximately 18.6 million people with disabilities, ranging in age from 16 to 64. This represents about 56% of all people with disabilities in this age category.2 Given the vast number people with disabilities in the workplace, the potential for assistive technology (AT) to increase productivity is great

Loud, Proud and Prosperous! Report on the Mobility International USA International Symposium on Microcredit for Women with Disabilities

[Excerpt] MIUSA designed the International Symposium on Microcredit for Women with Disabilities in response to recommendations from women leaders with disabilities at WILD, at the Symposium in Beijing, and from our own experience with US-based international development programs. It seemed apparent that economic empowerment of women with disabilities was not high on any agenda – international aid agencies, development organizations, women’s programs, or even disability rights movements. Women with disabilities expressed that they – women with disabilities – would need to take leadership in this area, and that they needed particular knowledge and skills to be effective as leaders in this area

Strategic Connections: Recruiting Candidates with Disabilities

[Excerpt] Many individuals with disabilities possess precisely these attributes. Yet, as a whole, individuals with disabilities represent one of the largest untapped pools of skills and talent in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, just over 60 percent of men ages 16 to 65 who have disabilities were working in 2000, compared to 80 percent of men in that age group without disabilities. For women in the same age group, the numbers were 51.4 and 67.3 percent, respectively. Individuals with disabilities have the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities to succeed in today’s rapidly changing workplace. From company headquarters to the factory floor, technology continues to drastically alter the way individuals work, helping to level the playing field for individuals with disabilities and expand opportunities for employers to benefit from their capabilities

THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS WITH DISABILITIES

This meta-synthesis of the literature on K-8 teachers with disabilities examines the profound influence that teachers with disabilities can have in our classrooms. Teachers with disabilities act as valuable and realistic role models for all students and bring unique qualities to the classroom, including a passion for inclusive education and creative methods of instruction. However, prejudicial barriers to success often restrict these exceptional teachers from access to our classrooms, undermining the inclusion movement present in most special education programs and schools today. When these teachers are denied employment, students with disabilities suffer in and out of the classroom from a lack of identity construction, reduced self-esteem, and nonexistent advocacy skills