[Ct-nfb] Goodwill thoughts

Thu Jun 21 22:30:10 UTC 2012

If a person needs a babysitter under the presumptive title of "job coach" because they lack the maturity to carry out a job, that person might not be capable of competitive employment.  At that point, why are these people employed?   
Organized babysitting makes a mockery of the word "employment."
Volunteer work gives a lot of retired people a strong sense of purpose and self-worth.  Perhaps that's where these people need to look.
Job coaches won't be put out of work; they can switch their purpose to finding ways for their people to be competitively employed instead.  Job carving is quite useful.

We are covering all disabilities because blind people who are just blind will suddenly become multiply disabled with some new diagnosis in order to stay in subminimum wage jobs.
Did you know that some people are now considering obesity a disability?
One thing I mentioned in a previous email (which I know was quite long) was the fact that Anil Lewis, Director of Strategic Communications for the National Federation of the Blind, was diagnosed educationally mentally retarded.  If he is, our entire affiliate is, too.

It's true that people have a choice of where to work, but a lot of disabled people are disillusioned and believe that their only options are subminimum wage employment and unemployment.  If we remove subminimum wage employment, then VR professionals will be forced to do what they should be doing, anyway: holding people to higher expectations.
Most of us have heard stories of women being kidnapped and forced to live with some guy she never knew.  In those stories, the women usually come to accept and believe that that is their life and all they can do.  I think Stockholm's Syndrome is when they come to believe that they're in love with their captors.  
Disabled workers in sheltered workshops can be very similar.

I have requested the data you wanted from Anil Lewis and will post it when I receive it.

To save employment, we must take employment.... but we will be taking much, much less employment than many people realize.

Justin

Justin M. Salisbury
Class of 2012
B.A. in Mathematics
East Carolina University
president at alumni.ecu.edu

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET MEAD
________________________________________
From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Chris Kuell [ckuell at comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 5:45 PM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
Subject: [Ct-nfb] Goodwill  thoughts

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

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