Workforce Innovations

NOVA Service

Disability Program Navigator – Plotting a Course Toward Employment

The dictionary defines a navigator as one who "directs [a ship] carefully and safely." Individuals with disabilities can benefit from just such a person to work with them in plotting a course toward employment. Today, thanks to a federally funded initiative, more than 200 Disability Program Navigators serve this largely untapped workforce.

Recognizing that persons with disabilities may require special assistance in seeking employment, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) joined together in 2002 to jointly fund the Disability Program Navigator Initiative. This initiative was designed to better inform beneficiaries and other individuals with disabilities about the work support programs now available at one-stop career centers such as the CONNECT! Job Seeker Center, with which NOVA is involved.

Though initially funded by the federal government for only two years, the program's success led the State of California to extend funding for a third year. Currently, there are 251 individual navigators participating in the Disability Program Navigator Initiative in 17 states across the country.

Within the next couple of months, however, DOL will enter into cooperative agreements with 16 additional states, which is anticipated to bring the total number of navigators to 450-500 nationwide.

Pauline Aughe, NOVA's disability program navigator (DPN), works full-time in the CONNECT! Job Seeker Center on NOVA's campus in Sunnyvale. In this role, she helps individuals with disabilities "navigate" through the enormous challenges of job search. Complex rules surrounding entitlement programs, along with fear of losing cash assistance and health benefits, can often discourage people with disabilities from working. Disclosure and the need for workplace accommodations can also contribute to their difficulties.

For businesses, Aughe provides information and resources on tax incentives, workplace accommodations, disability etiquette, legal requirements pertaining to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and appropriate interview questions to ask a person with a disability.

As the regional DPN, Aughe is an integral component of the program's success and as a person with a disability, she is acutely aware of the challenges faced by those with disabilities and the great successes achievable when successfully employed. Despite her own challenges, Aughe continues to impress NOVA staff, partners, clients, and outside organizations with her zeal and energy. She has proven herself to be extremely effective in this important role.

Aughe has a wide range of responsibilities, including:

assisting people with disabilities to access and navigate the complex provisions of programs that affect their ability to gain, return to, or retain employment;
developing linkages and collaborating on an ongoing basis with employers to facilitate job placements for persons with disabilities;
facilitating the transition of in- or out-of-school youth with disabilities to secure jobs and economic self-sufficiency;
conducting outreach to agencies and organizations that serve people with disabilities;
serving as a resource on the SSA's work incentive and employment support programs and the provision of services through benefits planning, assistance, and outreach organizations; protection and advocacy systems; and the SSA's employment-related demonstration projects; and
serving as a resource to the workforce investment community to ensure the availability of comprehensive knowledge of federal, state, local, and private programs that impact the ability of persons with disabilities to enter and remain in the workforce.

In her efforts, Aughe has shown herself to be a strong advocate promoting the hiring of clients with disabilities and providing resources to support a diverse workforce. Through implementation of the Disability Program Navigator Initiative, NOVA is able to clearly demonstrate its drive and commitment to develop resources, partnerships, and services to assist customers with disabilities and to provide assistance as necessary to those who hire these individuals.