Productivity and Meaningful Day Activities Productivity can be reflected by earnings, by the amount of time engaged in daytime activities that were designed to be productive (adult day activities, vocational training, workshops, supported and competitive employment). The scale captures hours in each kind of activity, and also how much money was earned, if any. In recent years, we have added the column at the right, which indicates whether the person was completely segregated from the general public, as in a sheltered workshop, or had some level of contact, no matter how small. This simple form captures the core of the information needed to monitor, track, and evaluate changes in work and daily engagement in activities. As sheltered workshops and other segregated settings are considered for downsizing and conversion, we must find out ‘Whether the people are better off.’ That is the fundamental question of all health and social program evaluations. In the realm of day activities and employment, the primary quality of daily life questions can be answered with ‘What are you doing every day, for how long, at what pay if any, and with what degree of contact with non-handicapped citizens?’
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