Course

Introduction to Employment Supports

Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Department
Disability & Community Studies
Course code
DACS 5131
Credits
3.00
Semester length
Flexible delivery ranging over 2 to 15 weeks
Max class size
30
Method(s) of instruction
Online
Typically offered
Winter

Overview

Course description
This upper level undergraduate course examines historical and contemporary constructions of employment services and supports for people with disabilities, youth at risk, mental illness and others who have significant barriers. It will highlight various theoretical frameworks for interpreting the nature and meaning of employment supports. It will also provide an overview of evidence-based practice.
Course content
  • Review historical approaches to disability/employment models from a variety of contexts.
  • Analyze the strengths and weakness of the models and frameworks.
  • Examine the points of transition through the lifespan and how they relate to employment.
  • Develop a conceptual understanding of the challenges of access to employment for individuals that experience significant barriers.
  • Outline the principles of disability management.
  • Explore the concept of rehabilitation and disability management. 
  • Consider the roles of cultural and corporate competence when working with the client, employer and co-worker.
  • Overview of the roles and responsibilities of individuals providing supports services and employment support.
  • Consider principles of change and leadership and how they affect employment supports.
  • Examine social and international policy as it relates to employment and disability.
  • Examine the vocational profile process.
Learning activities
  • Lecture
  • Case study
  • Presentations
  • Guest speakers
  • Video/DVD
Means of assessment

This course will conform to Douglas College policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations. Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of:

  • Research paper
  • Presentation
  • Literature reviews
  • Case Study/critiques
Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of historical and contemporary constructs of employment supports services and supports.
  2. Evaluate employment and career development models in various contexts.
  3. Analyze the trends and developments in evidence-based employment supports.
  4. Assess the vocational and employment process, including disability management framework.
  5. Describe the values, ethics and philosophy that underpin employment support services.
Textbook materials

TBA

Requisites

Prerequisites

With Permission of Instructor

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for DACS 5131
Athabasca University (AU) AU HSRV 2XX (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU ARTS 3XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) No credit
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) No credit
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) No credit
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV EPSE_V 4th (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) No credit
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV ADED 3XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC HLTH 3XX (1.5)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025