State: Illinois

Illinois SB 1383: An Act concerning State government (ABLE)

“The “Achieving a Better Life Experience” or “ABLE” account program is hereby created and shall be administered by the State Treasurer. The purpose of the ABLE plan is to encourage and assist individuals and families in saving private funds for the purpose of supporting individuals with disabilities to maintain health, independence, and quality of life, and to provide secure funding for disability-related expensed on behalf of designated beneficiaries with disabilities that will supplement, but not supplant, benefits provided through private insurance, federal and State medical and disability insurance, the beneficiary’s employment, and other sources.”

Links:

Illinois SB 1383: Bill text

Illinois Advancing Customized Employment (Project ACE)

Advancing Customized Employment, Project ACE, was designed to, “enrich the capacity of local One-Stops to provide customized employment (CE) services to people with psychiatric disabilities who are not regularly targeted for services by the One-Stop Center system.”

Links:

Illinois Advancing Customized Employment (Project ACE)

Illinois: Williams Consent Decree (2011)

“On September 29, 2010, the State of Illinois entered into a Consent Decree, settling the Williams v Quinn class action lawsuit, first filed in 2005…Though the State denied liability and any violation of [ADA] related federal laws, the Parties to the suit were always fundamentally in agreement that, when clinically appropriate, consistent with the parameters now set forth in the Williams Consent Decree, all persons with Serious Mental Illness currently residing in Institutes of Mental Disease (IMD) in Illinois have the right to choose to live in community-based settings, and that the State has an obligation to expand the current community-based service system to support the needs of those individuals…In the Implementation Plan… the State proposes not only to expand the current system of care, but to create a number of recovery-oriented system enhancements in both services and housing, designed to assure that each person choosing to move from an IMD has the best opportunity for a successful transition to community living.”

Links:

Illinois: Williams Consent Decree

Illinois HB 2591: Employment First Act

“The bill, which became effective on July 16, 2013, declares Illinois an Employment First State and establishes competitive employment in integrated settings as the first option for working-age persons with disabilities in Illinois.

The bill also requires states to coordinate across agencies share data and information across systems, and requires the Economics Opportunity for Persons with Disabilities (EEOPWD) Task for responsible for establishing measures and monitoring procedures for Employment First.”

Links:

Illinois HB 2591: Bill text

Illinois Executive Order 14-08: Employment First

“WHEREAS, the Illinois Employment First Act (20 ILCS 40 et. seq) requires that State agencies follow and implement the State’s policy of competitive and integrated employment as the first option when serving persons with disabilities of working age, regardless of level of disability, (the ‘Employment First Policy’)…An Employment First Liaison (the “Liaison”) shall be appointed within the Office of the Governor to implement Illinois’ Employment First Policy, in conjunction with the Task Force and State Agencies, as defined below…The Liaison’s goal and purpose shall be the implementation of the Employment First Policy, which seeks to facilitate the full inclusion and integration of individuals with disabilities in the workplace. The Liaison shall work with the following entities (together the ‘Parties’) to develop a preliminary five-year plan (the ‘Preliminary Plan’) and a final plan (the ‘Final Plan’) to improve community integrated private employment outcomes for people with disabilities.”

Links:

Illinois EO 14-08: Text

Illinois Persons with Brain Injury Waiver (BI)

This waiver “provides adult day care, day hab, home health aide, homemaker, personal assistant, prevocational, respite, supported employment, cognitive behavioral therapies, environmental accessibility adaptations, home delivered meals, intermittent nursing, nursing, OT, PERS, PT, specialized medical equipment, speech therapist for individuals w/brain injury ages 0 – no max age.”

Links:

Illinois Persons with Brain Injury Waiver (BI)

Illinois Waiver for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

This waiver “provides adult day care, developmental training, residential hab, supported employment-individual/group, OT-extended, PT-extended, speech therapy-extended, service facilitation, adaptive equipment, behavior intervention/treatment, behavioral-psychotherapy/counseling, emergency home response services, home accessibility mods, non-medical transportation, personal support, skilled nursing, temporary assistance (formerly crisis), training/counseling services for unpaid caregivers, vehicle mods for individuals w/autism, DD, IID ages 18 – no max age.”

Links:

Illinois Waiver for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

Illinois DHS Rehabilitative Services: Real Work for Real Pay

“The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) requires state vocational rehabilitation agencies to reach out to individuals working under subminimum wage certificates and offer them the opportunity to pursue competitive integrated employment. The Division of Rehabilitation Services has begun an effort to engage approximately 14,000 individuals in Illinois currently working for subminimum wages. The U.S. Department of Labor has provided a list of over 150 employers with 14(c) subminimum wage certificates. DRS has surveyed those employers and received an estimate of the number of workers at each location.

Since DRS does not have a list of individual workers, we will be sending information packets to the employers and requesting that they provide a packet to each individual working for a subminimum wage. This packet of information includes a letter from DRS, as well as an informational flyer and a postage-paid post card. There are links to a web site and an e-mail address which offer these workers several options for responding to DRS.”

Links:

Illinois DHS Rehabilitative Services: Real Work for Real Pay

Illinois Compiled Statutes 20 ILCS 4095: Employment and Economic Opportunity for Persons with Disabilities Task Force Act

“Task Force Responsibilities. The Task Force shall analyze programs and policies of the State to determine what changes, modifications, and innovations may be necessary to remove barriers to competitive employment and economic opportunity for persons with disabilities, including barriers such as transportation, housing, program accessibility, and benefit structure. The Task Force shall also analyze State disability systems, including the mental health, developmental disabilities, veterans’ assistance, workforce investment, and rehabilitation services systems, and their effect on employment of persons with disabilities. The Task Force shall review and analyze applicable research and policy studies, innovations used in other states, and any federal policy initiatives such as customized employment, and federal funding opportunities that would increase competitive employment and economic opportunity for persons with disabilities in Illinois”

Links:

Illinois Compiled Statutes 20 ILCS 4095

Illinois Dept of Human Rights, Dept of Human Services “Interagency Committee on Employees with Disabilities Annual Report 2016”

“MONITORING EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
The Committee continues to track the composition of the State’s workforce to monitor its affirmative action efforts in regards to people with disabilities. A chart in Appendix A shows employment figures in State government over the last 18 years for employees who identified themselves as having a disability through the State’s survey process .

The data shows that the number of State employees as a whole decreased over the years in question by 41%, and the number of employees with disabilities decreased by almost the same percentage, or 40%. The percentage of State employees with disabilities has grown during the years studied, from a low point of about 5% in FY04 to a high in FY13, of 7.5%. The percentage of State employees with disabilities slipped to 7% in 2015, and a little lower to 6.8%, in 2016. It should be noted that the State began a more reliable system of identifying employees with disabilities in 2011 (through an online survey) which might explain some of the increase in the percentage of employees with disabilities in recent years.”

Links:

Illinois DHR DHS Interagency Committee on Employees with Disabilities Annual Report 2016 (PDF)
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