WorkWORLD™ Software Homepage

WorkWORLD^TM is decision support software for personal computers that is designed to be used by people with disabilities, advocates, benefit counselors, and others. The software helps people find employment-based paths to higher net income through the best use of Federal and State work incentives and benefits. WorkWORLD takes into account the complex interaction of earnings, benefit programs, and work incentives to provide individualized recommendations for safe options as well as alerts to possible problems. It calculates the effects on net income of trying different paths to independence, and provides text, numeric, and graphic results.

Get the latest version 7.40 of WorkWORLD that includes new and updated rules and rates for SSI, SSDI, Food Stamps, Section 8 Rental Assistance, and other Federal programs. Users who installed previous versions 5.01 or later can take advantage of new "one-click" smart updating that automatically transfers existing cases and eliminates the need to uninstall older versions. As always, this version includes built-in text-to-speech accessibility enhancements and context-sensitive help throughout the program. In addition to coverage of major federal benefit programs for all states, it also includes many new and updated integrated state customization features for Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Virginia.

Or, first, learn more about WorkWORLD.

Or, review the kinds of situations in which WorkWORLD can make a difference.

Or, use the WorkWORLD Help/Information System on the Web. You can find information on literally thousands of disability-related employment and benefits topics through its Table of Contents, Index, and Search features, and its user interface makes using it very intuitive. You can also get the "gist" of a topic in many common languages by using the machine translation features found in the footer of every topic page.

Initially developed by the Employment Support Institute (ESI) at Virginia Commonwealth University, the software is currently being enhanced and distributed by ESI. Enhancements, updates and maintenance to WorkWORLD software have been funded in part by the Social Security Administration (SSA), and through arrangements with state government and other agencies in Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Virginia. Each new version incorporates more federal and state disability policy information.

To learn more about the evolving national decision support system and how some States are participating read our WorkWORLD Decision Support article.

Read a provocative discussion of self-determination, new outcome measurements, individual self-support, decision support technology, and related issues in the newly revised article Self-Determination, Funding Priorities, and WorkWORLD Benefit and Work Incentive Decision Support System.

Also, read about our distance learning efforts and WorkWORLD training opportunities.

You can also register, verify, or change your email notification list status.

Information for People Affected by Hurricanes and Other Disasters has moved to the Hurricanes, Disaster Recovery, and People with Disabilities page. Also moved are the U.S. Census Bureau's Facts about Disabilities in America, produced for 2008, the 18th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Read about National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).

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Important WorkWORLD^TM News
	State agencies, community-based organizations, and individuals can help build a state funding pool to make WorkWORLD free to residents of their state by making pledges to support WorkWORLD. Pledges are promises of future funds that will be tracked by the Employment Support Institute (ESI). Achieving Free WorkWORLD in Your State Through Pledges explains how the pledges work, and provides a complete explanation of how you, in collaboration with others, can help to make WorkWORLD freely available to all in your state.
	WorkWORLD is now available only by order. Currently, residents of Virginia can order the complete WorkWORLD program on CD for free. Others, for a nominal fee, may order the complete WorkWORLD Program or the stand-alone WorkWORLD Help/Information System. Complete information about obtaining WorkWORLD through our secure online server is on the How To Get WorkWORLD page.
	Our funding structure has changed. There are new options and opportunities for accessing WorkWORLD. Changes in distribution, expanded state options, providing your opinion to state and federal leadership, and other steps we are taking to keep WorkWORLD available for all are explained on the New Funding Structure for WorkWORLD page.
	Integrated, synchronized, closed-captioned multi-media demonstrations of WorkWORLD are now available on our website. Tutorial modules explain WorkWORLD's features and show many aspects of its operation, while presentation modules discuss the software's use in the broader context of benefits planning and service delivery for individuals. See and hear all the modules on the Tutorials and Presentations page. NOTE: Residents of Virginia should also see the WorkWORLD Virginia-Specific Training Module page, which has additional multimedia explanations of WorkWORLD's Virginia-Specific features and operation.