Employment Project Evaluation
The process of developing an evaluation tool with the participants was successful. Having the opportunity to frame their own questions allowed the youth to ask what they thought was important, using terminology that they fully understood. The participants’ evaluation was generally well received by the facilitators of the project, although on one occasion the validity of the data was questioned. Because the participants were easily identifiable through their individual evaluations, the forms could not be shared with the facilitators in order to validate the results. This problem could be resolved by having more than one researcher analyze the results of such evaluations.
Perhaps the most lofty of the aforementioned goals, “to provide a forum …show more content…
for reflection and the development of collective action to promote positive employment strategies for persons with disabilities” has been approached through a variety of methods.
During the Employment Project, research was presented back to the participants on a variety of occasions. This provided an opportunity for the researchers to validate information previously collected, to stimulate discussion amongst the youth participants, and to collect further data for analysis. Results of the evaluation were documented in a report published by the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies, entitled “Employment for Youth with
Disabilities: Issues and Experiences” and widely distributed to disability organizations in Winnipeg and elsewhere in Canada. Reflections of the project were presented at the Western Research Network on
Education and Training Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia in March 2000. The paper presented,
“Youth with Disabilities Research Their Past and Present Experiences of Employment” is also available on the World Wide Web at the following address: www.educ.ubc.ca/wrnet/Conf2000/AbsMorris.htm. I was invited to present information based on this project at a conference in Toronto sponsored by the
Royal Bank of Canada on disability and employment. Finally, together with the participants, a symposium was developed and presented in Winnipeg, Manitoba in April 2000. This event garnered a surprising amount of media coverage, including local radio, television, and
newspaper.
Perhaps the most lofty of the aforementioned goals, “to provide a forum …show more content…
for reflection and the development of collective action to promote positive employment strategies for persons with disabilities” has been approached through a variety of methods.
During the Employment Project, research was presented back to the participants on a variety of occasions. This provided an opportunity for the researchers to validate information previously collected, to stimulate discussion amongst the youth participants, and to collect further data for analysis. Results of the evaluation were documented in a report published by the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies, entitled “Employment for Youth with
Disabilities: Issues and Experiences” and widely distributed to disability organizations in Winnipeg and elsewhere in Canada. Reflections of the project were presented at the Western Research Network on
Education and Training Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia in March 2000. The paper presented,
“Youth with Disabilities Research Their Past and Present Experiences of Employment” is also available on the World Wide Web at the following address: www.educ.ubc.ca/wrnet/Conf2000/AbsMorris.htm. I was invited to present information based on this project at a conference in Toronto sponsored by the
Royal Bank of Canada on disability and employment. Finally, together with the participants, a symposium was developed and presented in Winnipeg, Manitoba in April 2000. This event garnered a surprising amount of media coverage, including local radio, television, and
newspaper.