Rehab Rounds: Use of the Americans With Disabilities Act by Young Adults With Schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction by the column editors: People with mental illness have consistently identified employment as a strong unmet need, yet only one in five people with schizophrenia has been able to work in full-time competitive employment and less than 50 percent work at all, despite the advent of evidence-based services, such as supported employment (1,2). However, there are compelling developmental, clinical, and economic reasons for people with mental illnesses to pursue competitive employment as they attempt to normalize and reconstruct their lives (3). Even with a mainstreaming ideology that encourages everyone who wants work to seek it, the real challenges are to organize supportive employment services, match people to jobs, and sustain clients in a continuum of work rehabilitation (4). Several Rehab Rounds columns have focused on programs aimed at enhancing the work functioning of people with serious mental disorders by using supported employment (5), increasing work readiness (6), and teaching fundamental workplace skills (7). In this month's column, Deborah Gioia and John S. Brekke describe the impact of the Americans With Disabilities Act on the work experience of young adults with schizophrenia.