Jean Winsor, PhD
Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston

As we celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month 2025, I have been reflecting on why work matters. People work to make money. They need money for food, for rent, and to have fun with their friends and family. But money isn’t the only reason to work. In their publication, “The Truth Comes From Us, Supporting Workers with Developmental Disabilities,” our colleagues at the organization Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE) remind us that having a job builds confidence; it allows each of us to see what the other has to offer. When people with disabilities make their own money, they are in charge, and no one can tell them how to spend it.

That is true for nearly all of us in the United States. Work gives us independence and control over our own lives. It presents us with the opportunity to learn new things, gain skills, and make friends with people we meet through our jobs. When I think about my colleagues and what work has brought each of us, this is certainly true. My job has allowed me to make money, but also make friends, build connections, gain new perspectives, become a part of others’ lives, and challenge others. In turn, work has also presented me with opportunities to be challenged to grow and experience new things. This is why work matters and why we should celebrate each of the efforts across our organizations to prioritize employment for people with disabilities!

My colleagues at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston), in conjunction with our Developmental Disabilities Act partners, are working to make sure that everyone with a disability can work and contribute to their community. This year, here are a few of ICI’s activities that I’m celebrating:

  • Research-to-Practice: The ICI conducts research on the most effective methods to support people to get employed and keep their jobs in their communities. Every day, staff are focused on making sure this research is adopted in the field. The Progressive Employment Model Demonstration and Apprenticeship projects are looking at ways to help employment professionals who are working with job seekers to help get them employed and with businesses to find them quality candidates. These projects seek to identify new ways for employment professionals—such as job coaches, vocational rehabilitation counselors, or employment consultants—to support job seekers who might have barriers to employment, including people with the most significant disabilities. The ES-Coach project uses a smartphone-based application to ensure that people are using the best practices available when they are providing employment services.
  • Training and Technical Assistance for Community Rehabilitation Providers and Professionals: Employment First has been an important guiding principle of services for people with disabilities for more than 20 years. ICI conducts training for community rehabilitation provider (CRP) leaders and their staff to support the implementation of Employment First at the local level in multiple states, including in Massachusetts and Missouri. Our work on Community Life Engagement helps to ensure that CRPs have the skills needed to support people with disabilities, especially those with IDD, to be active members of their workplace and their communities.
  • Storytelling: ICI has been supporting people with disabilities to tell their employment stories for more than 15 years. Whether it is Think Work Stories focused on the employment experiences of people with IDD, Think College’s Think Higher, Think College informational campaign that demonstrates the role of college on the journey to a career for people with intellectual disability, or ExploreVR’s Substantial Gainful Activity Model Demonstration project, we work to keep the experiences of people with disabilities at the center of our work to strengthen employment services and outcomes. 

Lastly, I want to celebrate the work across the entire Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Network to support people with disabilities to obtain their career goals! If you want to celebrate and learn about this work—not just during October—but throughout the year, please consider joining AUCD’s Employment Special Interest Group.

Jean Winsor, PhD, is a senior associate and the employment policy and systems team lead at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Jean is a long-time member of the AUCD Employment Special Interest Group.