[Blindtlk] Disability Rights Network Report: Beyond Segregated and Exploited

[Michelle Medina]

Why am I NOT surprised???? ARGH!!

On 4/4/12, Steven Johnson <blinddog3 at charter.net> wrote:
> Press Release:
>
> Report Finds Federal Dollars Used to Segregate and Exploit Workers with
> Disabilities
>
> For Immediate Release
> 04/03/2012
>
> Contact: David Card
> 202.408.9514 x122
> press at ndrn.org
>
> WASHINGTON - In a report released today, the National Disability Rights
> Network (NDRN) outlined how federal funding is being used to shuttle people
> with disabilities into sheltered workshops and deprive them of meaningful
> employment opportunities.
>
> "There is a total disconnect between what governments say they want to
> accomplish in terms of employment for people with disabilities and how they
> are actually spending taxpayer dollars," said Curt Decker, NDRN executive
> director.
>
> The report, Beyond Segregated and Exploited is a follow up to a report
> released last year that examined the issue of segregating working people
> with disabilities in sheltered workshops and the use of the subminimum wage
> to exploit their disability for the financial gain of employers.  The new
> report is an update on progress to end those practices and move toward a
> system that encourages integrated employment options that pay competitive
> wages.
>
> This report also provides additional insight into the complex and confusing
> system that pumps millions of dollars into sheltered work despite good
> national public policy meant to encourage integration and competitive
> employment.  The report follows money designated to be spent on integrated
> employment as it winds its way from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
> Services (CMS) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to the
> states, state agencies, and finally into sheltered workshops.
>
> "Admirably the message we hear from federal agencies is about the importance
> of integrated employment," continued Decker. "Yet the majority of the money
> allocated for this purpose actually ends up being spent in facilities that
> segregate people with disabilities and isolates them from their communities.
>
> "Worse, our investigations over the past year concluded most of these
> facilities do not teach marketable skills or prepare workers for any type of
> meaningful work outside of the sheltered workshop.  Instead, they trap
> workers in endless 'training' programs that pay little if anything, leaving
> the 'trainee' impoverished."
>
> The report calls for:
>
> *	Ending segregated employment and the subminimum wage by restricting
> all federal and state money that is spent on employers who segregate
> employees with disabilities from the general workforce.
> *	Strengthening current and create new tax incentives for employers to
> hire people with disabilities in integrated workplaces at comparable wages.
> *	Increasing labor protections and enforcement of existing law.
>
> The report, found at www.ndrn.org, is called Beyond Segregated and
> Exploited: Update on the Employment of People with Disabilities and can be
> found on-line at:
> http://www.napas.org/images/Documents/Resources/Publications/Reports/Beyond_
> Segregated_and_Exploited.pdf
>
> # # #
>
> The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) is the nonprofit membership
> organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A)
> Systems and the Client Assistance Programs (CAP) for individuals with
> disabilities. Collectively, the Network is the largest provider of legally
> based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States.
>
> Source:
> http://www.napas.org/en/component/content/article/24-hompagestories/261-repo
> rt-finds-government-dollars-used-to-segregate-and-exploit-workers-with-disab
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>
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-- 
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.
~ David Whyte ~ (House of Belonging)

Sadie Marie Medina!
Original birthdate unnone.
First birthday with us: 2/15/2009
Welcome home baby!