1. Segregated & exploited the failure of the disability service system to provide quality work
A Call to Action!
2011

2. Why the Report?
First open and public discussion of employment services and sub-minimum wage
No consensus
Began an important dialog nationally
Still unresolved

3. History of Segregated Work and Sub-minimum Wage
Perkins Institute for the Blind created in 1840s
Jobs were protected from competition –cutting edge 175 years ago
National Industrial Recovery Act (1934)
Executive Order during New Deal
Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)
Standards for basic minimum wage rates and overtime

4. National Community Integration Policy
Rehab Act (1973)
DD Act (1984)
ADA (1990) ADAA (2009)
Olmstead (1999)
TWWIIA (1999)
Rehab - extend and revise the authorization of grants to States for vocational rehabilitation services, with special emphasis on services to those with the most severe disabilities,
expand special Federal responsibilities
research and training programs with respect to individuals with disabilities,
DD – first passed in 1963 as the Mental Retardation Facilities Construction Act of 1963
reauthorized in 2000 as the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act
ADA - to enjoy employment opportunities, to purchase goods and services, and to participate in State and local government programs and services. Modeled after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
Olmstead - June 22, 1999, the United States Supreme Court held in Olmstead v. L.C. that unjustified segregation of persons with disabilities constitutes discrimination in violation of title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

5. Contradicting National Policy
Laws Conflicting with National Community Integration Policy
Javitz-Wagner-O’Day Act (1971) now called Ability One
FLSA Section 14(c)
State “use” laws

6. Lack of Enforcement
VR Agencies Bungle Compliance and Quality Reviews
DOL Did Not Properly Oversee 14(c) program
No Implementation of IDEA Transition
VR Agencies Fail to Meet Their Transition Obligations

7. What Is the Vision For People with IDD?
People with disabilities live their lives like people without disabilities (with supports as needed)
Provide opportunities for true integration, independence, choice, and self-determination in all aspects of life – where people live, spend their days, and community membership
Ensure quality services and supports that meet people’s needs and help them achieve goals they have identified through real person-centered planning

8. Employment is Critical To Meeting This Vision
Supporting people with IDD to work in integrated employment in the community is critical to:
Helping people with disabilities access the greater community;
Facilitating relationships with people without disabilities;
Building new skills and self-esteem;
Helping bring people with disabilities out of poverty;
Reducing utilization of other Medicaid services; and
Providing meaningful ways for people to spend their days.

9. Work Segregation is Damaging
Isolation hinders proper development of socialization skills, self-esteem, and work skills
It denies ability to Choose the type of work
Lack of skills misinterpreted as a non-compliant response to a particular work assignment
A study of workers in a sheltered workshop, found individuals with mental illness were more likely to exhibit problem behaviors and demonstrate a poorer attendance record

10. Sub-minimum Wage Reinforces a Life of Poverty
Multiple studies confirm that most employees in sheltered workshop earn less than $2 per hour or $175/month less fees associated with housing, food, transportation and services.
People with disabilities in supported employment earn $5.75/hour or $456/month
Workshops that do pay the minimum wage often do not have enough work to employ workers full time

11. Sub-minimum Wage Reinforces a Life of Poverty

12. Sheltered Workshops Lead Nowhere
While sheltered workshops purport to offer pre-employment and pre-vocational skills, these programs most often only prepare people with disabilities for long term sheltered employment.
$1 was spent on supported employment compared to the $4 utilized for segregated day programs
Part time work with no opportunity for advancement with permanent reliance on public benefits and subsidies
Bigotry of low expectation

13. Sheltered Workshops Profit Greatly from the Status Quo
According to a study by the GAO, sheltered workshops are largely funded as follows:
46% from State and County Agencies
35% from Production Contracts
9% from Retail Sales
2% from Donations
1% from Investment Income
7% from Other Sources

14. Vocational Rehabilitation Social Services Block Grants Local Taxes
Funding
Medicaid
Home and Community-Based Services Waivers (HCBS)
Medicaid Rehabilitation Option
Targeted Case Management
Vocational Rehabilitation
Social Services Block Grants
Local Taxes

15. Solutions
Listen to the Self Advocates
Change the business model and think diversity
Raise expectations, tell the story and share successes
Develop policies and practices that require employment outcomes
Educate, educate, and educate some more

16. Policy Recommendations
End Segregated Employment and Sub-minimum Wage
Restrict all federal and state money that is spent on employers who segregate employees.
End the ability of employers to pay sub-minimum wage.
End all programs that emphasize moving young adults from the classroom to a segregated or sub-minimum wage employment environment.

17. Policy Recommendations
Promote Integrated and Comparable Wage Employment Alternatives
Strengthen existing and create new federal and state tax incentives for employers to place employees with disabilities in integrated environments at comparable wages.
Assist employees with disabilities to find employment in the general workforce in jobs that they choose.

18. Policy Recommendations
Increase Labor Protections and Enforcement
Fully investigate violations and abuses perpetrated by employers that pay less than the minimum wage or segregate workers with disabilities.
Increase penalties for violators.
Formalize standards for employee evaluations and productivity measurements.

19. Where we are Now
Lane Case in Oregon – settlement agreement
Rhode Island settlement
WIOA / WIOA and the Committee Report (2014 and 2016)
Employment First
Employment is the only route our of POVERTY

20. Employment First
Making employment the first and preferred outcome for people with disabilities.
“We need everyone in the workforce for business to thrive and communities to prosper.”
Working is fundamental to adulthood, quality of life issues, and earning the means to exercise our freedoms and choices as citizens.

21. Where we Were
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Rehabilitation services Administration /Office of Special Education Programs
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services

22. Contact Information
Segregated and Exploited - A Call to Action
Real Jobs for Real Pay – The Riot: issue 29 July
SABE position statement on ending subminimum wage employment

23. Contact Information
Questions, Comments, Suggestions
Cheryl Bates-Harris
National Disability Rights Network
900 2nd Street NE, suite 211
Washington, DC 20002
x 117