Sheltered Employment

In the context of regional center services, the term is typically descriptive of a “workshop,” which is managed by a non-profit agency serving persons with disabilities, utilizing an assembly-line approach to making items such as accordion files, packing or bagging small products such as plastic utensils, bolts, and other similar work. In California, funding for sheltered workshops is almost exclusively provided through the Department of Rehabilitation’s Habilitation division. Sheltered employment, in terms of restrictiveness, is a step down the vocational continuum from supported employment