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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">
<DIV>Justin - All well said! I especially like your use of the term
“dignity of risk”. The measure of dignity in taking the risk to enter the
competitive job market, with no guarantee of acceptance as a disabled person but
the reward of a guaranteed minimum wage, is incomparable.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rich – Thank you for having the dignity of risk! And for inspiring
others to hold it as well.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best,</DIV>
<DIV>Nathanael</DIV>
<DIV
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=PRESIDENT@alumni.ecu.edu
href="mailto:PRESIDENT@alumni.ecu.edu">Justin Salisbury</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, March 16, 2014 3:46 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=ct-nfb@nfbnet.org href="mailto:ct-nfb@nfbnet.org">NFB
of Connecticut Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Ct-nfb] Good News from Rhode Island</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV
style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal>Friends and Colleagues:<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I have compiled a comprehensive response to all involved in
this discussion with further explanation of the issue at hand. If people
with disabilities are going to achieve equality, we must face the dignity of
risk in the job search process. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Rich: You said <I>“I hope they are rehired at a decent
wage.”</I><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>In order to be rehired, these people would have to be hired
in the first place. I’m not sure that I would say that they were hired in
the first place. You are obviously right that other placements will be
necessary, and we have seen their successful achievement in Vermont. Just
because the article doesn’t explain that the disabled Rhode Islanders will be
empowered to the next level doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. In fact, it
appears that this is the obvious goal.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Len: You explain that <I>someone will have to find you
another job, or you will be unemployed. They are cutting your hours and
benefits already. <o:p></o:p></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The sheltered workshops have every incentive to bluff at this
measure in hopes that it will be repealed. They want to continue to prey
on disabled people because it makes them a ton of money. It will continue
to make them a lot of money once they have to pay minimum wage, but not quite as
much.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Susan: You believe that <I>sheltered workshops provide a host
of services as well as a social atmosphere and acceptance; it is already
difficult to connect with peers. </I>You believe<I> this will be a way to
further isolate and separate those with the most need for services.
</I>You believe<I> folks will be less able to advocate for their needs and
languish in communities where there are already too few
services.</I><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>What a lot of people do not realize is that sheltered
workshops actually are the forces isolating their clients and limiting
self-advocacy. If we, the Federation, could reach into every sheltered
workshop and teach those people and their families that they deserve better, the
sheltered workshops would lose their employees. There are plenty of
successful people with disabilities who could be interacting with the sheltered
workshop employees if they were out of the sheltered workshop and in a
competitive employment setting.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Rich explained that <I>there are other social settings
available in the community, and we should not fund them if they continue to
exploit the disabled. Employment exists with a goal of earning a
living.<o:p></o:p></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I absolutely agree. Rich is one example of our
success. He wears the dignity of risk. Employment is employment, and
social opportunities are social opportunities.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Susan: You believe <I>we need a continuum of services because
everyone has different levels of ability. You have raised many children
and know all of their abilities. <o:p></o:p></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I understand that you have not a single negative intention
for your children and all Americans with disabilities. I seriously
do. There are many others out there who support sheltered employment as a
measure of what they believe to be compassion and empowerment, but the
expectations are not as high as real people prove that they can be.
Innovative job training and placement services can and do get people with any
disability competitive employment. Sheltered employment is not, has never
been, and will never be anything close to a stepping stone to competitive
employment. Research demonstrates that people who start working in
sheltered workshops actually become less productive because of their time in
sheltered employment.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">Only 5% of people who start
working in a sheltered workshop ever go on to earn a minimum wage in their
entire lives, according to a Government Accountability Office report. 95%
remain permanent wards of the government and never achieve competitive
employment.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Independent academic research indicates that supported
employment produces far better vocational outcomes than sheltered
employment. Supported employment provides all of those benefits that Susan
Harper credits sheltered workshops with providing. This research includes
people with all types of disabilities.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">The State of Vermont got smart
many years ago and decided that spending millions of taxpayer dollars each year
(matched by federal tax dollars) to fund enterprises paying less than the
federal minimum wage was an ineffective use of public funds. The State of
Vermont de-funded sheltered employment, and sheltered workshops in Vermont
converted to competitive employment models, often harnessing supported
employment mechanisms in order to maintain the continuum of services. The
employers paid at least minimum wage and kept their government funding. In
supported employment scenarios, workers with disabilities are paid at least the
minimum wage. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">In sheltered workshops, there is
negligible incentive for the workshops to increase the productivity of the
employees earning less than the minimum wage. They are paid by our
government per “client” served in the shops, as well as with grants and
donations. This is not adjusted based on the client’s earnings or changes
in productivity. The permanent funding stream is used to pay the salaried
administrators and staff, while the contracts are used to pay the workers and
further pay the salaried employees. The administrators get a
double-dip. When negotiating contracts, the sheltered workshops are able
to factor in enough expenses to cover administrative costs, too.
Administrators of sheltered workshops call themselves human service providers,
but they are paid far more than other human service professionals because of how
the workshops parasitically manipulate a lucrative system. As demonstrated
in Vermont, these enterprises all have enough money to pay their workers with
disabilities the minimum wage, but they do not do it because the government
allows them to get away with paying less. <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">The underlying problem with
sheltered employment is the misperception of the lack of capacity of people with
disabilities. There once was a day when it was normal for blind people to
spend their days rocking back and forth in a corner and drooling. Then,
the National Federation of the Blind was formed, and we began to correct these
misperceptions about the blind. If not for our efforts, many of us would
still be drooling and rocking in a corner. When we see people who are in
such terrible situations, it is because the right intervention has not yet
occurred. It is not because the disability prevents them from reaching
productivity. With the right expectations and support, we do
achieve. To demonstrate that people with all types of disabilities would
benefit from the eradication of subminimum wage employment, I have attached the
list of organizations which support HR 831, the Fair Wages for Workers with
Disabilities Act of 2013.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in">Only in the case of sheltered
employment does anyone consider the employer to be providing the employee a
service. This is accepted in society because of the misperception of the
lack of capacity of the disabled. With this misperception in mind, the
high unemployment rate for the disabled is easily but incorrectly explained by
the notion that the disability itself prevents the workers from being
productive. Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans have long
had higher unemployment rates than Caucasians and Asians. Should we take
away the minimum wage protection that Hispanics, African Americans, and Native
Americans experience today in order to create more employment
opportunities? How would we respond to that as a nation if that
happened? We would resist the drop in expectations because we would know
that we were dooming the people we sent into sheltered workshops. It is
the same for the disabled. We, the disabled, have capacity, and we intend
to use it. Those who do not believe in us should not try to trip us while
we compete in the workforce and help others escape the bondage of sheltered
employment. We must inoculate each other against the misperceptions that
may hinder us all.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Love,<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Justin<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; COLOR: #1f497d'><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; COLOR: #1f497d'><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"'>From:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"'> Ct-nfb
[mailto:ct-nfb-bounces@nfbnet.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Susan
Harper<BR><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, March 16, 2014 7:13 AM<BR><B>To:</B> Richard
McGaffin; NFB of Connecticut Mailing List<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Ct-nfb] Good
News from Rhode Island<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>I'm not upset. Thanks for your concern. There is
good and bad in everything. What I'm saying is that there is a need for a
continuum of services. Sorry your friend had such a difficult
experience. Yes many good people deserve a lot more. That is why
folks advocate for change. <o:p></o:p></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blessings,<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Sue H.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 6:51 AM, Richard McGaffin <<A
href="mailto:rmcgaffin@snet.net" target=_blank>rmcgaffin@snet.net</A>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Good morning
all;<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt">Look Sue I'm not trying to
upset you, I understand your situation and I have a certain compassion for
those who aren't able to compete with the rest of the world. Itoo worked in a
sheltered workshop for about 6 months in 1996, that's how I met my friend
Leonard. However when they wanted to remove me from being a staff worker for
$6.00 an hour and have me work on a bench for half day because they needed
another client to fill their list of clients, so they could put another man on
as a staff member. I decided it was time for me to quit. That dishonest
practice is basically the way B.E.S.B. industries in West Haven was run.
Fortunately the manager welcomed me back to the Orange S&S which is now
closed. Since my leaving Stop & Shop in 1999 I have discovered the
computer, and have developed quite a nack for it. I worked in several
telemarketing, and customer service place since them. Yes it's true I'm
currently unemployed as I stated before, but I'd rather be unemployed than
work for less than minimum Wage. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt">As far as my friend Leonard
is concerned I think it's terrible that he was even placed in one of these
places to begin with. Here a veteran of our own military how dare the
Connecticut state services place him in such a situation. Again I say shut
these sweat shops and stop funding them with Federal & State
funds.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt">Rich
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>From:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'> Susan Harper <<A
href="mailto:sueharpernp@gmail.com"
target=_blank>sueharpernp@gmail.com</A>><BR><B>To:</B> Richard McGaffin
<<A href="mailto:rmcgaffin@snet.net"
target=_blank>rmcgaffin@snet.net</A>>; NFB of Connecticut Mailing List
<<A href="mailto:ct-nfb@nfbnet.org" target=_blank>ct-nfb@nfbnet.org</A>>
<BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, March 15, 2014 4:09 PM<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'><BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Ct-nfb]
Good News from Rhode Island<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Richard, I love your thoughtful reply. <o:p></o:p></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>I just know that for a lot of folks, those things just
aren't options for a lot of reasons. Not all sheltered workshops are
equal. I agree there are many other ways to do the social piece.
But not everyone can access those options. We need a continuum of
services so that no one gets left out. I've always advocated
Independence for all my children of varying degrees of abilities. I'm
not disabled, at least I don't think I am. Don't tell me if I am.
I like laboring under the illusion of who I am. I am the legal parent to
14 children and fostered many more. I believe in the worth of all
my children and have worked diligently to get them into the adult world with
as many skills as they can muster. I love these kinds of conversations,
that may be hard. However, they are necessary to get the many points of
view and educate each other as to our collective needs.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blessings,<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Sue H.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 3:47 PM, Richard McGaffin <<A
href="mailto:rmcgaffin@snet.net" target=_blank>rmcgaffin@snet.net</A>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Good afternoon
all;<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt">Sue you bring up some
interesting views on this subject, however those individuals whe are or were
employed at sheltered workshops are there for one reason and that is to earn
a living. If indeed they're earning a competitive wage, and manage to make
some social contacts this is a good thing. I have met a number of
individuals the several different work places. In fact I met my wife at Stop
& Shop while I was employed there. However a place of business is just
that, and there are a lot of other places such as church, and other so
called social settings. I don't believe that either the state of federal
government should fund a place just for people to go and hang around and be
soically excepted. If indeed they're looking for social hangouts than let's
call them social hangouts and forget exploiting the disabled by paying them
less than minamum wage. I am afraid I will have to side with Justin (which
by the way is a rarity for both us) on this one. Let me also add that I am
currently unemployed and have been for over 2 years, this is partially due
to the fact that I was hospitalized for 2 months of last year, and it has
taken me pretty much a whole year to recover. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14.5pt">Rich
McGaffin<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>From:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'> Susan Harper <<A
href="mailto:sueharpernp@gmail.com"
target=_blank>sueharpernp@gmail.com</A>><BR><B>To:</B> NFB of Connecticut
Mailing List <<A href="mailto:ct-nfb@nfbnet.org"
target=_blank>ct-nfb@nfbnet.org</A>> <BR><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, March 15,
2014 9:05 AM<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Ct-nfb] Good News from Rhode
Island</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>I disagree that this is a good idea. Sheltered
workshops do a lot more than provide employment. Generally they
provide a host of services as well as a social atmosphere of acceptance and
a peer group. It is already difficult to connect with others and find
support and important information regarding many issues and rights. I
think this will be a way to further isolate and separate those with the most
need for services. Folks will be less able to advocate for their needs
and languish in communities where there are already to few services.
Be careful what you wish for! There are pros and cons to
everything. I strongly agree that there should be real pay for real
work. There still needs to be a stepping stone and a continuum of
services, a bridge if you will to get there. <o:p></o:p></P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blessings,<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Sue H.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt"><o:p></o:p> </P>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 8:10 AM, Len Schlenk <<A
href="mailto:lfs40@optonline.net" target=_blank>lfs40@optonline.net</A>>
wrote:<o:p></o:p></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>The
closing of all workshops in Ct will take its effect on me the end of June.
They will either find me another job or I will be
unemployed.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>Len
Schlenk</SPAN> ---- Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4"><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>From:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'> <A
title=PRESIDENT@alumni.ecu.edu href="mailto:PRESIDENT@alumni.ecu.edu"
target=_blank>Justin Salisbury</A> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>To:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'> <A
title=nfbwnews@nfbwis.org href="mailto:nfbwnews@nfbwis.org"
target=_blank>nfbwnews@nfbwis.org</A> ; <A title=ct-nfb@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:ct-nfb@nfbnet.org" target=_blank>ct-nfb@nfbnet.org</A>
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>Sent:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'> Saturday,
March 15, 2014 12:43 AM<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'>Subject:</SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial","sans-serif"'> [Ct-nfb]
Good News from Rhode Island<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P></DIV></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal>Stenning’s goal: Close all ‘sheltered workshops’ for
adults with disabilities within three years<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5pt; MARGIN-TOP: 5pt">
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<P class=MsoNormal>January 16, 2014 11:20 PM<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal>CRANSTON — The head of the state agency that serves
adults with disabilities has set a goal of closing all “sheltered”
workshops in Rhode Island within the next three
years.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Craig S. Stenning, director of the state Department
of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals
(BHDDH), on Thursday outlined an aggressive effort under way to move
disabled adults out of what federal civil-rights officials say are
segregated work settings and day programs and into jobs and activities
in the community.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The effort, he said, represents a “major
transformation of the system” akin to the movement to
deinstitutionalize the disabled in residential settings with the
closing of The Ladd School in the mid- 1980s.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The U.S. Department of Justice earlier this month
released the findings of an investigation launched a year ago by its
civil-rights division that charges the state with operating segregated
employment, vocational and day programs for about 3,600 adults with
intellectual and developmental disabilities.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The report describes the problem of segregation as
beginning when disabled students leave school and continuing
throughout their lives. (The state Department of Education and the
state Office of Rehabilitative Services also were named in the
report.)<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>In an interview Thursday at his Cranston office,
joined by five other staff members, Stenning spoke about some of the
challenges his department has had in integrating disabled adults into
the wider community, including a lackluster job market and the fear of
change among some of the programs’ clients and their
families.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The department’s (BHDDH’s) budget for “services to
the developmentally disabled” has declined by about $29 million, or 11
percent, since 2009, when Stenning took over as director, state budget
figures show.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>But budget cuts, he said, have not been a major
impediment to change. “At one time the budget for the State of Rhode
Island for developmental disability services came to $109,000 per
person per year — that was the highest in the country,” Stenning said.
“So I don’t think the argument that budget cuts are the reason why it
[integrated employment] didn’t happen is a valid
argument.”<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Stenning said that he and other department staff
have begun reaching out to mayors in Cranston, Pawtucket and Warwick
as part of the department’s new “Employment First” program aimed at
ensuring equal employment opportunities for adults with
disabilities.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The BHDDH also has sought bids for proposals to
create a “center for excellence and advocacy” that would include
providing job assistance and outreach to disabled adults and their
families.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The department also is reaching out to private
businesses, he said. Some companies, such as CVS and Automated
Business Solutions, recently hired several adults with disabilities
who were formerly in sheltered workshops.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>The department has so far placed 40 adults with
disabilities who formerly worked at a sheltered workshop run by
Training Thru Placement in jobs in the community since the state
signed an “interim settlement agreement” with the Justice Department
last June. The agreement was to settle violations Justice Department
officials found at the sheltered workshop and a vocational program at
The Birch School in Providence.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>To meet the goals of that interim settlement
agreement — which covers about 200 adults at TTP and The Birch School
— will take eight years, Stenning said Justice officials told
him.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Now, the task has expanded to include thousands of
adults with disabilities in 24 day programs, including six sheltered
workshops. “My goal is much shorter … closing [sheltered] workshops in
three years,” Stenning said, adding, “I’d love if we could fulfill our
goal in five.” Even as he stressed his commitment to the goal of
moving more adults with disabilities into jobs in the community, he
defended the agencies that operate the sheltered workshops, saying
they were “state of the art” at the time they were
created.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Except for Training Thru Placement, which federal
labor officials cited for wage hour violations, he said, the six other
sheltered workshops have been operating in accordance with the state
labor rules. Justice officials said in their report that many of the
adults with disabilities participating in these sheltered workshops
have the ability and desire to work in the community for jobs that pay
at least minimum wage.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>“The Department of Justice’s definition [of
segregation],” Stenning said, “is different from the Department of
Labor’s definition.”<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>He said that many of the recommendations made by
Justice officials are “totally complementary” with efforts the
department has had in the works for the last five years, such as
improving how the department assess the needs and abilities of
disabled adults and improving communication with their
families.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal>Stenning, who joined the BHDDH in 2000, was
appointed director in 2008 by former Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and
reappointed by Governor Chafee in 2011.<o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d">Mr.
Anil Lewis, M.P.A.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d">Deputy Executive Director
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d">(410)
659-9314 ext. 2374 </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; COLOR: #1f497d">Twitter: @AnilLife
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
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