D. Importance of Supports for Work
Table 9 displays a rank-order of the types of support most important to respondents (both employed and unemployed). The ranking is based upon those support types most often deemed “very important.” A rough approximation of a bi-modal distribution appears in the table with support types most often being chosen as ‘very important’ or ‘does not apply.’ Very few respondents selected ‘somewhat important,’ ‘somewhat unimportant,’ and ‘not important at all’ for any of the support types, indicating that if a particular type of support applied to their circumstance, it was viewed as necessary and non-negotiable.
- Reliable, affordable, and accessible transportation appeared as three of the top four most important types of support for work.
- The ability to take time off from work for health-related reasons, supportive attitudes from co-workers and employers, and work accommodations based on the respondents disability can be grouped together under the general category of work environment, and were relatively very important as support types.
- Support types related to the larger context of the individual’s life consisted of personal care assistance services at home, support from family and friends, affordable housing, and health and life insurance.
- Surprisingly, support types that deal more directly with work ranked much lower in importance. Job coaches, benefits counseling, assistive technologies, vocational rehabilitation services, and personal care assistance services at work were not highly valued support types.
- The relatively low number of respondents with children explains the lowest ranked support type of affordable child care.
Table 9: Types of support and their importance for work
Support Types: |
Very Important |
Somewhat Important |
Somewhat Unimportant |
Not Important At All |
Does Not Apply |
|
Reliable Transportation |
141 (74.6%) |
11 (5.8%) |
0 (0.0%) |
3 (1.6%) |
34 (18.0%) |
|
Affordable Transportation |
136 (70.1%) |
14 (7.2%) |
1 (0.5%) |
6 (3.1%) |
37 (19.1%) |
|
Ability to take time off for health-related reasons |
133 (70.4%) |
16 (8.5%) |
3 (1.6%) |
4 (2.1%) |
33 (17.5%) |
|
Accessible Transportation |
125 (66.8%) |
17 (9.1%) |
3 (1.6%) |
7 (3.7%) |
35 (18.5%) |
|
Paid or unpaid personal assistant services at home. |
124 (63.3%) |
25 (12.8%) |
10 (5.1%) |
7 (3.6%) |
30 (15.3%) |
|
Support from family and friends |
124 (71.7%) |
9 (5.2%) |
5 (2.9%) |
3 (1.7%) |
32 (18.5%) |
|
Affordable housing |
123 (65.1%) |
23 (12.2%) |
4 (2.1%) |
4 (2.1%) |
35 (18.5%) |
|
Work accommodations based on your disability. |
123 (65.1%) |
17 (9.0%) |
2 (1.1%) |
4 (2.1%) |
43 (22.8%) |
|
Affordable Health Insurance |
122 (64.6%) |
21 (11.1%) |
3 (1.6%) |
5 (2.6%) |
38 (20.1%) |
|
Supportive employer attitudes |
122 (64.8%) |
17 (9.0%) |
4 (2.1%) |
2 (1.1%) |
43 (22.9%) |
|
Supportive co-worker attitudes |
109 (57.7%) |
27 (14.3%) |
4 (2.1%) |
5 (2.6%) |
44 (23.3%) |
|
Life insurance benefits or retirement plan |
104 (54.7%) |
28 (14.7%) |
9 (4.7%) |
5 (2.6%) |
44 (23.2%) |
|
Vocational Rehabilitation Services |
85 (46.4%) |
31 (16.9%) |
11 (6.0%) |
8 (4.4%) |
48 (26.2%) |
|
Assistive technology services |
76 (40.9%) |
38 (20.4%) |
9 (4.8%) |
2 (1.1%) |
61 (32.8%) |
|
Control scheduling of work activities |
73 (40.6%) |
37 (20.6%) |
17 (9.4%) |
8 (4.4%) |
45 (25.0%) |
|
Paid or unpaid personal assistant services at work. |
71 (39.7%) |
33 (18.4%) |
7 (3.9%) |
18 (10.1%) |
50 (27.9%) |
|
Job coach |
65 (35.3%) |
32 (17.4%) |
15 (8.2%) |
14 (7.6%) |
58 (31.5%) |
|
Benefits analysis and counseling by a trained benefits counselor |
60 (32.6%) |
44 (23.9%) |
19 (10.3%) |
6 (3.3%) |
55 (29.9%) |
|
Affordable child care |
37 (20.3%) |
15 (8.2%) |
4 (2.2%) |
9 (4.9%) |
117 (64.3%) |
