Guest author of the recently published TASH Connections, Erik Carter, describes the importance of efforts being taken to transform the employment landscape. Connections Volume 40 Issue 1 (viewable by TASH members only) addresses the importance of these efforts as well as ways to create change.
Now is the time to dramatically transform the employment landscape for youth and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the United States. For far too long, the talents, strengths, and contributions of people with IDD have been overlooked in workplaces across the country. Tennessee—along with seven other states receiving Projects of National Significance employment systems change grants from the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities—is working hard to ensure the career-related aspirations of every young person with IDD are met with the support and opportunities needed to find fulfillment. The current issue of TASH Connections offers a glimpse into just a few of the efforts we are making to spur this change. It isn’t easy work. It isn’t quick work. But it is the work that matters most. Visit www.tennesseeworks.org to learn more about our efforts.
Erik W. Carter, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Special Education
Vanderbilt University