Employment Trends in Rhode Island From 2011 to 2017 for Adults With Intellectual Disability and Developmental Disabilities.
A real integrated job today is the strongest ticket to another integrated job tomorrow for adults with IDD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mulder et al. (2020) tracked adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities in Rhode Island. They looked at who held integrated jobs between 2011 and 2017. The state had just signed a consent decree to shrink facility-based work.
The team asked: what best predicts future integrated employment? They compared prior work history, day-program hours, and sheltered-work time.
What they found
Adults who already had an integrated job were far more likely to get another one. Time in sheltered workshops or day programs added no future advantage.
State policy plus this "prior experience effect" cut facility-based placements.
How this fits with other research
Domin et al. (2013) saw flat national numbers: only 15% of adults with IDD held individual jobs. Rhode Island shows a state can beat that baseline when policy pushes integration.
Iwanaga et al. (2025) extend the finding to youth. They show Supported Employment plus placement help lifts competitive work for 18-25-year-olds. Together the studies say: give real jobs early, then keep the momentum.
Wehman et al. (2014) already proved Supported Employment works for transition youth. Rhode Island adds the policy lever: starve facility funding and the same pattern appears across all adult ages.
Why it matters
If you write transition plans, fight for paid integrated work before graduation. Once a client has that line on a résumé, the odds of another job jump. Use the Rhode Island story to justify cutting sheltered-work hours and boosting community job trials.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
This study reports on state-level data in Rhode Island on employment and non-work activities of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving services between 2011 and 2017. The goal was to examine the complex patterns of change over time in individual-level employment outcomes and the potential short-term impacts of a consent decree entered into by the state of Rhode Island to address integrated employment outcomes. Findings suggest that policy initiatives such as the consent decree can lead to reductions in reliance on facility-based work, but also highlight the importance of planning for the transition to competitive, integrated employment and not simply a shift toward non-work activities. Further, the data support the notion that the best predictor of integrated employment over time is previous experiences in integrated employment (not facility-based or other work or non-work activities), suggesting the role of ongoing supported employment and transition services that create and support the maintenance of integrated employment.
Intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1352/1934-9556-58.6.458