[Ct-nfb] Goodwill thoughts

[Chris Kuell]

Hello, Listers.

While I agree completely with those who advocate against sub-minimum wages 
for anyone, no matter how disabled or otherwise impaired they might be, I 
think Suzanne brings up a interesting point.

I know a guy, Jack, who has a severely mentally retarded son, Jonathon. He's 
22 years old, but has the mind of a 3 year old. He's loving and kind, but 
can't speak coherently, has seizures, and tends to meander and wander if not 
watched carefully. One time when we were visiting Jack and his family, 
Jonathon caught me completely off guard by sitting in my lap.

Jonathan works for Goodwill, part time, at a sub-minimum wage. He has no 
concept of money, and his parents don't care because Jonathan loves going to 
work and being around other people. They give him very mundane tasks, and he 
has a job coach with him at all times. He does very little to make Goodwill 
more profitable, but he feels good about going out and doing something. 
Somehow, he feels self-worth and importance by doing his job.

Now, like all of you, I'm appalled at supposedly not-for-profit industries 
which pay their executive directors 6 figure salaries, only able-bodied 
sighted people have jobs with any real management responsibilities, and pay 
disabled workers a sub-minimum wage. My blood boils just thinking about it. 
In an ideal world, we, and others, would boycott and bring attention to the 
injustice, and such industries would be restructured so that the executive 
director and managers get reasonable salaries, all workers receive at least 
minimum wages, and there exists opportunity for further training and career 
advancement.

Unfortunately, our world is far from ideal. The above scenario will never 
happen. What will happen is that people like Jonathon will lose his job, 
that part-time joy in his life. His job coach will lose her job as well. 
Goodwill will carry on, getting government funding and soliciting donations, 
but without severely disabled workers. If enough public shame is heaped on 
them, they'll close up shop and put even more disable workers out of work. 
Perhaps I'm being overly cynical, but in my years of observing humans on 
this planet, I've never seen people voluntarily give up power or money for 
the good of others. Yes, Bill Gates is very generous, but he's in a 
different class (wealthy beyond imagination and retired), and I mean people 
who are actively employed.

Since Justin seemed to be urging on discussion and conversation, I'll bring 
up another thought I've been having. That being--why is the NFB taking on 
this battle? For 70 years, we have fought exclusively for blind people. Yes, 
it could be argued that we are still fighting for blind people, but while I 
don't have the statistics (Justin?), I'll go out on a limb and venture that 
80% or more of the population receiving sub-minimum wages are not blind, but 
live, like Jonathan, with other disabilities.
About 7 years ago there was a big discussion in the NFB of CT about whether 
or not to join the Connecticut Disabilities Coalition. Since we are well 
known and were fairly active legislatively at that time, we were urged to 
join. Yet, some of our long time members, in consulting with national, 
warned against this. The feeling was that we don't want to dilute our 
message, or expend our money and resources fighting for other disabilities 
when our focus is on blindness and our issues. We, as an organization, voted 
not to join the coalition officially, but to attend meetings occasionally so 
we'd know what was going on.

So why the change? Is it because an army  seems obsolete if there's not a 
war? Because soldiers become complacent if not engaged in a battle? After 
all, if there's no war, people tend to cut spending on defense. Cynical, I 
know, but I wonder...

My final thought has to do with the blind division of BRS, a.k.a. BESB. The 
9 VR counselors there have about 800 active clients. They try to help, but 
they have pressure to close cases, and don't always have the high 
expectations held by many on this list. As free citizens, we always have a 
choice about whether or not to take a job. It's been my observation over 
many years that blind people rely far too heavily on BESB to 'get them a 
job'. My recommendation to every blind person is to get what you can from 
BESB, get your philosophy and additional information/training from other 
capable, competent blind people, and find your own job. Call BESB when you 
need assurances that they will help with technology, or to get some O and M 
instruction if you are in a new area and aren't comfortable, but never 
forget who is behind the wheel. If you aren't driving, you probably won't 
like where the vehicle ends up.

Okay, enough with the metaphors and analogies. Let the cursing begin!

chris