Closing the Gap – Disability Numbers Obsession

When I found that my home state, California, is 41st in the US for employment for adults with cognitive disabilities (38%) … I was disappointed, but not surprised.

But KNOWING that there are other multiple other states with employment rates of more than 50% is empowering.

I have options.

I can act to close the gap.

1. I can move and go where the numbers are better and (ideally) benefit from better systems.
2. I can know that better is possible and work to change things for myself and (even better) for others as well where I am.

Knowing better is possible changes everything.

Why the Disability Performance Gap?

Short answer – I have no idea.

When I look into any disability related metric, I immediately see if I can find state-by-state data… I bet that the numbers will vary widely.

Special Education Inclusion – CHECK
IDEA Compliance – CHECK
Community-based Services Waiting Lists – CHECK
Employment – CHECK

Some states seem to care more about their people in general and their disabled people in particular. Sometimes, the effects seem to be related to size. Sometimes, the “good” numbers may not be good (school inclusion in some states with what seem to be bad education systems may just be a side-effect of terrible funding and support across the board). Sometimes, I think it is because some states took action on disability rights early and in other cases on disability rights late.

Bureaucratic Inertia Hypothesis?

An apparent puzzle is that states that you’d expect to have a “good reputation” for being progressive aren’t doing well. California, New York, Massachusetts … all are pretty unimpressive.

I suspect they are a victim of taking early action on disability rights – BUT freezing bureaucratically with where things were at that time.

Systems, standards, culture, and organizations get stuck where they are (or rather were) at and “declare victory”.

Inertia kicks in without something (or someone) to challenge them.

The Continuous Advocacy Corollary

When I found out that California had the most special education students in the most segregated educational settings in the US and, even more surprisingly, my school district was 50% more segregated than the US… it opened my eyes and radically changed the way I saw my son’s education program.

What I haven’t seen is ongoing public advocacy focused on the differences in how disability operates in different states.

Recent coverage of Home And Community Based Services waiting lists calls it a national problem, yet it is substantially a Texas and Florida problem.

I wonder if after the battles were fought (and won) to get basic disability supports in place, did activists take a well-earned break or move on?

Who is organized to continue pushing for change against bureaucratic inertia?

Why does it look like disability rights have moved away from the ballot box and into the court room?

Three Gaps to Close

Stories are going to tug at heartstrings, but numbers give us the tools to see systemic failures.

• Below Average – The easiest gap to target is for states (or school districts) that are performing at below national average.
• Disability Competition – The next gap is the gap between a target state and the best state for that metric. Report cards and awareness can add to traditional story-driven activism to make this case for change. There is power in competition.
• Disability / Non-Disability Gap – Why is a gap acceptable between disabled people and other groups? Why shouldn’t our goal be to lift up all communities so that there is equity across the board? And that the failures to achieve such equality and equity be on all of us?

This may able be an opportunity to look at different types of solutions that challenge our “business as usual” assumptions – Universal Basic Income (UBI), rethinking our education system to be inclusive from the ground up, …

It isn’t just that we can do better, perhaps we should start asking how much better can we imagine doing?