[Blind-rollers] Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 54, Issue 5

Mon Aug 20 18:32:37 UTC 2012

I assume look over on the NFB web site for a petition about the sub minimum
wage. Forgive me if I am not quite understanding what you are asking. 

Becky Frankeberger
Butterfly Knitting

Custom-made knit throws, shawls, and more!

Phone: 360-426-8389
E-mail: becky at ButterflyKnitting.com
Website: www.ButterflyKnitting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of pinkhawaii at gmail.com
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 11:09 AM
To: blind-rollers at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [Blind-rollers] Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 54, Issue 5

On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 8:08 AM, <pinkhawaii at gmail.com> wrote:

> WHERE DO I SIGN ANY PETITION?? pinkhawaii at gmail.com
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 7:01 AM, <blind-rollers-request at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Letter about sub minimum wage (Becky Frankeberger)
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:24:36 -0700
>> From: "Becky Frankeberger" <b.butterfly at comcast.net>
>> To: "'Blind wheelchair users list'" <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
>> Subject: [Blind-rollers] Letter about sub minimum wage
>> Message-ID: <006801cd7ee7$e8be1950$ba3a4bf0$@butterfly at comcast.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>>
>> What do you all think about this?
>>
>> To: Blind_Democrats at yahoogroups.com
>> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2012 4:36 AM
>> Subject: [Blind_Democrats] H.R.#3086, Letter From Marc Maurer:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> February 23, 2012
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear United States Representative:
>>
>>
>>
>> I am writing to you in support of H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for 
>> Workers with Disabilities Act of 2011.  If you are already one of the 
>> cosponsors of this bill, I thank you.  If you have not signed on as a 
>> cosponsor, I urge you to do so as quickly as you can.  I am also 
>> writing to you representing disabled Americans who are affected by 
>> subminimum wage payments who want this bill to pass.  Furthermore, I 
>> am writing to you to sound the alarm against those who say that they 
>> know better what to do for the disabled than disabled Americans 
>> themselves.  They will tell you that disabled Americans cannot speak 
>> for themselves and that they have taken on "this burden."  They are 
>> trying to deny us our own voice in Congress and we ask you to listen 
>> to the people, not to the self-appointed so-called spokesmen of the 
>> people.
>>
>>
>>
>> The National Federation of the Blind and the growing list of over forty
>> other organizations of disabled Americans that support this legislation
>> are
>> well aware that those of you who are cosponsoring this legislation or
>> considering doing so are receiving considerable pressure from
>> representatives of sheltered workshops and others holding special wage
>> certificates that allow them to pay less than the federal minimum wage.
>>  You
>> are being told that the workers who receive subminimum wages in the
>> sheltered workshop system have nowhere else to go, and that their lives
>> would be destroyed by H.R. 3086.  Those of you from Missouri, in fact,
may
>> have received a piece of correspondence that asks, "Where will Sammy,
>> Patti,
>> and Becky go when you eliminate their jobs?"  This flyer also contains
>> quotes from parents, siblings, and caregivers of sheltered workshop
>> employees, wondering what H.R. 3086 will mean for their loved ones.
>>
>>
>>
>> Whatever the motives of the people behind it, the correspondence is based
>> on
>> outdated ideas about the capacity of workers with disabilities and a
>> misguided commitment to an antiquated model of service to such workers.
>> Rather than participating in a constructive dialogue about what life will
>> be
>> like for workers with disabilities, once the subminimum wage exemption is
>> phased out in three years as required by H.R. 3086, the workshops choose
>> to
>> circulate correspondence meant to pull on your heartstrings, to evoke
your
>> pity, and to promote low expectations.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> United States Representative
>>
>> February 23, 2012
>>
>> Page two
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> The argument of the sheltered workshops is that some people, particularly
>> those with severe developmental disabilities, are simply unfit for
>> competitive employment.
>>
>> This is simply wrong.  To continue this practice when proven employment
>> strategies exist is inexcusable.
>>
>>
>>
>> We are also told that these individuals must be given a choice.  We are
>> all
>> for freedom of choice, but true freedom of choice can only come with
>> unbiased and accurate information.  Do Sammy, Patti, and Becky know that
>> people like them are in fact working in competitive jobs?  Do they know
>> that
>> services like supported employment are already available to help them
>> acquire and keep such jobs?  Do their parents, guardians, and loved ones
>> know this?  My experience tells me that they do not. Rather, they have
far
>> more likely been told by sheltered workshop staff-who all too often share
>> society's low expectations for disabled people and have an obvious
>> conflict
>> of interest-that Sammy, Patti, and Becky will never achieve competitive
>> employment and that the sheltered workshop is the best they can hope for.
>> In short, what they have been told is neither accurate nor unbiased.
>>
>>
>>
>> Despite the manipulative tone of the correspondence, however, it is fair
>> enough to ask what will happen to Sammy, Patti, and Becky and others like
>> them if this bill passes.  I believe that the answer to this question is
>> limited only by the spirit, ambition, and imagination of disabled workers
>> themselves, and by our willingness as a society to work hard to help them
>> succeed in their goals.  I believe that disabled workers can do far
better
>> than receiving pennies per hour.  Under this bill, they will either earn
>> real wages in the workshops that currently employ them, or they will
>> receive
>> the training and support that they need to obtain competitive employment
>> somewhere else.  Imagine for a moment that all of the government and
>> philanthropic resources that are currently supporting the sheltered
>> workshop
>> system were redirected to finding real employment opportunities for
people
>> with disabilities.  If they were, I suspect that solutions as yet
undreamt
>> of would emerge to help such individuals succeed in competitive
employment
>> situations.
>>
>>
>>
>> The sheltered workshop industry has existed for over seventy years.  Many
>> argue that it is an acceptable status quo, which must not be changed.  We
>> reject this formulation.  Even if you believe that those of us advocating
>> against subminimum wages do not have all the answers, this is no excuse
>> for
>> allowing the system to continue.  The current practice of paying
>> subminimum
>> wages is unfair, discriminatory, and immoral, and no amount of
>> hand-wringing
>> about what may follow it can change that.  Please do not simply let
>> inertia
>> direct our course.  We are urging you and other willing partners,
>> including
>> any from the sheltered workshop industry, to work with us to find real
>> solutions for people like Sammy, Patti, and Becky, rather than shrugging
>> your
>>
>>
>>
>> United States Representative
>>
>> February 23, 2012
>>
>> Page three
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> shoulders and saying that the exploitation must continue because we as a
>> society will not expend the effort to come up with anything better.
>>
>>
>>
>> There was a time in our nation's history when African-Americans were
>> believed to have limited capacity and were fit only for slave labor on
>> plantations.  There was a time when women were thought capable only of
>> maintaining the family home, and thus were not even permitted to vote.
>> Fortunately we realized as a nation that it was bigotry and low
>> expectations
>> that were defining the roles of African-Americans and women rather than
>> their true capabilities.  We realized, albeit belatedly, that America
>> would
>> be a better nation if the true capacities of these citizens were
>> unleashed.
>> Americans with disabilities are now calling upon our fellow citizens to
>> realize that the soft bigotry of low expectations is condemning workers
>> with
>> disabilities to near-slave labor, and that the system that arises from
>> these
>> low expectations must be abolished.
>>
>>
>>
>> H.R. 3086 allows for a grace period of three years before sheltered
>> workshops and other nonprofit employers currently holding special wage
>> certificates must begin to pay their workers at least the federal minimum
>> wage.  This is plenty of time for sheltered workshops to study the
>> business
>> models of similar entities that are already paying their employees
>> competitive wages and make adjustments to their own policies and
>> practices.
>> Meanwhile, policy makers can redirect resources to enhance programs like
>> supported employment, and create new solutions, to help workers with
>> disabilities transition to real work for real wages.
>>
>>
>>
>> As for freedom of choice: I am a person with a disability.  I have been
>> blind all of my life.  I know the pain and despair that comes with low
>> expectations and prejudice.  Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to
>> make real choices about my life and career, and to experience the joy of
>> the
>> accomplishments that can only come through full and equal participation
in
>> society.  I want Sammy, Patti, and Becky to have the choices that I had.
>>  If
>> workers with disabilities truly want to stay in the sheltered workshop
>> that
>> currently employs them, or a facility like it, then no one will prohibit
>> them from doing so.  However, if H.R. 3086 is enacted, wherever they
>> choose
>> to work, they will receive real wages that allow them to live fuller
>> lives.
>> They will know the satisfaction of receiving the equal pay for equal work
>> that they deserve, in addition to any satisfaction that they may receive
>> from getting out of the house and being among their friends.  They will
no
>> longer be dependent upon the resources of their loved ones or on public
>> assistance in order to buy the things they need.  They will have
>> disposable
>> income to spend in the community, thereby contributing to our society and
>> its economy.  They will go from a subsistent existence to one in which
>> they
>> can enjoy taking in a movie with their friends, an occasional restaurant
>> meal, and all of the other small pleasures of life that other American
>> workers take for granted.  They will become free people with real
choices,
>> not virtual slaves with false ones.
>>
>>
>>
>> United States Representative
>>
>> February 23, 2012
>>
>> Page four
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, the over forty other
>> organizations that support this bill, and the millions of disabled people
>> we
>> represent, we urge you to join us in our effort to change the paradigm of
>> low expectations and kindly meant but devastating exploitation that has
>> too
>> long dominated the lives of over three hundred thousand Americans with
>> disabilities.  We ask you to express the courage to support H.R. 3086 and
>> the creativity to seek solutions that allow Americans with disabilities
to
>> become productive citizens.  I thank you for your attention to this
urgent
>> matter.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Marc Maurer, President
>>
>> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Becky Frankeberger
>> Butterfly Knitting
>>
>> Custom-made knit throws, shawls, and more!
>>
>> Phone: 360-426-8389
>> E-mail: becky at ButterflyKnitting.com
>> Website: www.ButterflyKnitting.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Blind-rollers at nfbnet.org
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>>
>>
>> End of Blind-rollers Digest, Vol 54, Issue 5
>> ********************************************
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Dr. Heinz-Guenther Pink
> Advocate and program evaluator for the blind, deaf, elders and
> handicapped. Member: NFB Communication Council and ATRC Advisory Council
of
> the State, former Member of Senator Chun Oakland's Deaf-Blind Task Force.
> Co-founder: College of Commerce 1962, Founder: Computer College of Hawaii
> since 1963,    pinkhawaii at gmail.com or pink at hawaii.edu,
> in skype and google video talk also just: pinkhawaii
> 410 Magellan Ave. STE.1002, Honolulu, HI. 96813,
> Tel 808: 537-1875 or PURPLE only for deaf communication:808  791-3464,
> best just use e-mail
>
>

-- 
Dr. Heinz-Guenther Pink
Advocate and program evaluator for the blind, deaf, elders and handicapped.
Member: NFB Communication Council and ATRC Advisory Council of the State,
former Member of Senator Chun Oakland's Deaf-Blind Task Force.
Co-founder: College of Commerce 1962, Founder: Computer College of Hawaii
since 1963,    pinkhawaii at gmail.com or pink at hawaii.edu,
in skype and google video talk also just: pinkhawaii
410 Magellan Ave. STE.1002, Honolulu, HI. 96813,
Tel 808: 537-1875 or PURPLE only for deaf communication:808  791-3464, best
just use e-mail
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