[Ct-nfb] Goodwill Boycott

[Suzanne Westhaver]

My feelings on sheltered workshops is mixed. If you asked me about sheltered workshops twenty years ago, I would tell you I was absolutely opposed to them.
 
My uncle was blind and worked in a sheltered workshop in the 1960’s.  He was an educated man and was grossly underemployed in sheltered work after he became blind.

He died before I was born, but when I lost my sight, I was told I could be trained to go back to work at Stop&Shop.  I thought of my uncle and even though S&S wasn’t a workshop, I was working to pay for college.  

I informed the voc counselor I was working for health benefits and money to pay for college and I intended to continue with higher education.

I went back to college and found competetive employment because I did not want to be underemployed as my uncle was. I did not want to work in a sheltered workshop because I believed I was capable of more than what that had to offer. I did not want to work behind a cash register, on my feet all day, at S&S for the rest of my life.

I agree many disabled individuals are steered to sheltered work as an easy closure, but I believe these people had the same choice I had- if they settled for less, why is the workshop to blame?  Why aren’t they seeking other employment?

Rich- I respectfully disagree with you regarding money being wasted on disabled individuals incapable of competetive employment.  Many of them look forward to the workday because it is an opportunity to interact with others and it makes them feel good to contribute.  It gives them self-esteem and self-worth. They are human beings and deserve to have respect and dignity.  

Justin, I completely disagree with your assessment that the individuals I refer to are capable of competetive employment.  Come ride the van with me one morning and you will see what I mean.

What is wrong with sheltered work is when disabled people do not meet their full potential by taking a placement in such a job, by not demanding better services through voc rehab programs and by failing to self motivate to a higher level.
There- I said what I wanted to say and now I’m going back to my quiet corner.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120621/282472c7/attachment.html>