[nabs-l] social media Savvy Members - Today is our second #FixWIA Wednesday.

[Lewis, Anil]

>From Rose Sloan to our social media savvy members:

Federation Family,

Today is our second #FixWIA Wednesday. We had a very good campaign a few weeks ago, but unfortunately our Senators do not understand our concerns with WIA yet.

During our last campaign, we had just over 150 tweets with the hash tag #FixWIA. When we set our minds to something, there is nothing the Federation cannot accomplish. I am setting the goal of 250 tweets with the hash tag #FixWIA. When tweeting, do not forget to use your Senators' handles. You can find them, along with their Facebook pages here: http://govsm.com/w/Senate.

For those of you who prefer to e-mail your Senators, I have attached the letter I plan to send to my Senators. Please consider using this as a template. For those of you who prefer to call your Senators, feel free to use this email as a guide for your call.

If you would like even more information about our concerns with WIA, please see our blog post at: https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with our first #FixWIA campaign. We have invited other disability organizations to help with this effort.  Together I know we can come up with 250 tweets that embed the hash tag #FixWIA.  Let your concerns about WIA be heard! Through our efforts, we can ensure that fewer people with disabilities are subjected to detrimental subminimum wage sheltered employment.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at rsloan at nfb.org<mailto:rsloan at nfb.org> or by calling 410-659-9314 extension 2441.

Thanks everyone,

Rose


February 5, 2014

Dear Senator,

I am writing to express my strong opposition to Section 511 of Title 5 of the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (S. 1356).  My main concern is that Section 511 introduces subminimum wage employment into the Rehabilitation Act for the first time ever.  Even more importantly, the title of Section 511 is not reflected in the text of Section 511.  While the title claims to put limitations on employment of individuals with disabilities at subminimum wage, Subsection a (4) of the bill text allows anyone to enter subminimum wage sheltered employment.

Senator, I have done my homework with respect to the impact of subminimum-wage sheltered employment on people with disabilities.  Studies show that people with disabilities who enter sheltered workshops rarely transition into competitive, community-integrated employment.  Even though the stated goal of WIA is to ensure community-integrated employment, subminimum wage employment is not a viable path to that goal.  Less than five percent of people with disabilities in subminimum wage sheltered employment receive a job in community-integrated employment.  Please strike Section 511 from WIA.

Additionally, I am concerned about the proposed move of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor.  Just as sheltered workshops focus on what people with disabilities cannot do, the Department of Labor looks at what a person can currently do without taking into consideration their potential to build further skills.  The role of the Department of Education is to educate, or teach people new skills.  I fear that if RSA is moved to Labor, people with disabilities will not be able to reach their full potential.  Furthermore, there is no research that shows that moving RSA to the Department of Labor will be more efficient for people with disabilities.  Why not save the money that would be spent to make the move, and put it towards improving the services that RSA provides?

I hope that I can count on your support.  I sincerely feel that if you took the time to review Section 511 for yourself that you will realize that people with disabilities will be hindered by the current language in WIA.  Please offer an amendment that will strike Section 511 and will remove the language that moves RSA from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor.

I look forward to hearing back from you.  I fear that WIA may be coming to the floor soon.  Please contact me at Rsloan at nfb.org<mailto:Rsloan at nfb.org>.

Thank you,

Rose Sloan


Rose Sloan
Government Affairs Specialist

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages

National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
rsloan at nfb.org<mailto:rsloan at nfb.org>
(410)-659-9314 ext 2441

The National Federation of the Blind needs your support to ensure blind children get an equal education; to connect blind veterans with the training and services they need; and to help seniors who are losing vision continue to live independent and fulfilling lives. To make a donation, please go to www.nfb.org<http://www.nfb.org>.