[nfb-talk] Fw: Contacting the ABC

Tue Mar 6 01:56:38 UTC 2012

Besides, the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act doesn't
effect them; it's a US bill.

On 3/5/12, Cindy Handel <cindy425 at verizon.net> wrote:
> Ray, he either doesn't get that Australia isn't in the United States, or he
> actually thinks that anything Marc Maurer says will make a difference to
> someone there.  I'm sure that they have no idea who Marc Maurer is, and they
> probably don't care...why should they.
>
> Cindy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ray Foret Jr
> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 7:41 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: Contacting the ABC
>
> Oh come on; The Australian Broadcasting company?
>
>
> Sincerely,
> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
>
> Now a very proud and happy Mac user!!!
>
> Skype name:
> barefootedray
>
> Facebook:
> facebook.com/ray.foretjr.1
>
>
>
> On Mar 5, 2012, at 5:31 PM, Kenneth Chrane wrote:
>
>> Hi Ray, may be some body will broadcast the information on the air.
>>
>> May be I will receive an answer from them.
>>
>> Ken Chrane
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Foret Jr" <rforetjr at att.net>
>> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 10:11 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: Contacting the ABC
>>
>>
>>> The Australian Broadcasting company?  Did you not realize that this is
>>> whom you were contacting?  I know this because in the box which
>>> designates "Last name" they say, "sir name".  What carelessness.
>>>
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
>>>
>>> Now a very proud and happy Mac user!!!
>>>
>>> Skype name:
>>> barefootedray
>>>
>>> Facebook:
>>> facebook.com/ray.foretjr.1
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mar 5, 2012, at 2:18 AM, Kenneth Chrane wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Australian Broadcasting Corporation"
>>>>
>>>> <anonymous at your.abc.net.au>
>>>> To: <kenneth.chrane at verizon.net>
>>>> Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2012 10:00 PM
>>>> Subject: Contacting the ABC
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Dear Kenneth Chrane
>>>>>
>>>>> This email provides a copy of your comments recently submitted to the
>>>>> ABC via the online email form located on this webpage :
>>>>> http://abc.net.au/contact.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yours sincerely,
>>>>>
>>>>> ABC Audience & Consumer Affairs
>>>>>
>>>>> **IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do not reply to this message.  You are welcome
>>>>>
>>>>> to submit any further comments you may have using the form available
>>>>> here - http://abc.net.au/contact **
>>>>>
>>>>> __________________________________
>>>>>
>>>>> First name: Kenneth
>>>>> Surname: Chrane
>>>>> Email: kenneth.chrane at verizon.net
>>>>>
>>>>> Location: O/S
>>>>> Response Required: true
>>>>> Program: News On The Hour
>>>>> Program Date: March 5, 2012
>>>>> ABC Service\Network: ABC News 24
>>>>> ABC Recipient: ABC News & Current Affairs
>>>>> Subject: Letter From President Marc Maurer:
>>>>> Your Comments:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> February 23, 2012
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear United States Representative:
>>>>>
>>>>> I am writing to you in support of H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for Workers
>>>>>
>>>>> with Disabilities Act of 2011.  If you are already one of the
>>>>> cosponsors of this bill, I thank you.  If you have not signed on as a
>>>>> cosponsor, I urge you to do so as quickly as you can.  I am also
>>>>> writing to you representing disabled Americans who are affected by
>>>>> subminimum wage payments who want this bill to pass.  Furthermore, I am
>>>>>
>>>>> writing to you to sound the alarm against those who say that they know
>>>>> better what to do for the disabled than disabled Americans themselves.
>>>>> They will tell you that disabled Americans cannot speak for themselves
>>>>> and that they have taken on "this burden."  They are trying to deny us
>>>>> our own voice in Congress and we ask you to listen to the people, not
>>>>> to the self-appointed so-called spokesmen of the people.
>>>>>
>>>>> The National Federation of the Blind and the growing list of over forty
>>>>>
>>>>> other organizations of disabled Americans that support this legislation
>>>>>
>>>>> are well aware that those of you who are cosponsoring this legislation
>>>>> or considering doing so are receiving considerable pressure from
>>>>> representatives of sheltered workshops and others holding special wage
>>>>> certificates that allow them to pay less than the federal minimum wage.
>>>>>
>>>>> You are being told that the workers who receive subminimum wages in the
>>>>>
>>>>> sheltered workshop system have nowhere else to go, and that their lives
>>>>>
>>>>> would be destroyed by H.R. 3086.  Those of you from Missouri, in fact,
>>>>> may have received a piece of correspondence that asks, "Where will
>>>>> Sammy, Patti, and Becky go when you eliminate their jobs?"  This flyer
>>>>> also contains quotes from parents, siblings, and caregivers of
>>>>> sheltered workshop employees, wondering what H.R. 3086 will mean for
>>>>> their loved ones.
>>>>>
>>>>> Whatever the motives of the people behind it, the correspondence is
>>>>> based on outdated ideas about the capacity of workers with disabilities
>>>>>
>>>>> and a misguided commitment to an antiquated model of service to such
>>>>> workers. Rather than participating in a constructive dialogue about
>>>>> what life will be like for workers with disabilities, once the
>>>>> subminimum wage exemption is phased out in three years as required by
>>>>> H.R. 3086, the workshops choose to circulate correspondence meant to
>>>>> pull on your heartstrings, to evoke your pity, and to promote low
>>>>> expectations.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> United States Representative
>>>>> February 23, 2012
>>>>> Page two
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The argument of the sheltered workshops is that some people,
>>>>> particularly those with severe developmental disabilities, are simply
>>>>> unfit for competitive employment.
>>>>> This is simply wrong.  To continue this practice when proven employment
>>>>>
>>>>> strategies exist is inexcusable.
>>>>>
>>>>> We are also told that these individuals must be given a choice.  We are
>>>>>
>>>>> all for freedom of choice, but true freedom of choice can only come
>>>>> with unbiased and accurate information.  Do Sammy, Patti, and Becky
>>>>> know that people like them are in fact working in competitive jobs?  Do
>>>>>
>>>>> they know that services like supported employment are already available
>>>>>
>>>>> to help them acquire and keep such jobs?  Do their parents, guardians,
>>>>> and loved ones know this?  My experience tells me that they do not.
>>>>> Rather, they have far more likely been told by sheltered workshop
>>>>> staff-who all too often share society's low expectations for disabled
>>>>> people and have an obvious conflict of interest-that Sammy, Patti, and
>>>>> Becky will never achieve competitive employment and that the sheltered
>>>>> workshop is the best they can hope for.  In short, what they have been
>>>>> told is neither accurate nor unbiased.
>>>>>
>>>>> Despite the manipulative tone of the correspondence, however, it is
>>>>> fair enough to ask what will happen to Sammy, Patti, and Becky and
>>>>> others like them if this bill passes.  I believe that the answer to
>>>>> this question is limited only by the spirit, ambition, and imagination
>>>>> of disabled workers themselves, and by our willingness as a society to
>>>>> work hard to help them succeed in their goals.  I believe that disabled
>>>>>
>>>>> workers can do far better than receiving pennies per hour.  Under this
>>>>> bill, they will either earn real wages in the workshops that currently
>>>>> employ them, or they will receive the training and support that they
>>>>> need to obtain competitive employment somewhere else.  Imagine for a
>>>>> moment that all of the government and philanthropic resources that are
>>>>> currently supporting the sheltered workshop system were redirected to
>>>>> finding real employment opportunities for people with disabilities.  If
>>>>>
>>>>> they were, I suspect that solutions as yet undreamt of would emerge to
>>>>> help such
>>>>> individuals succeed in competitive employment situations.
>>>>>
>>>>> The sheltered workshop industry has existed for over seventy years.
>>>>> Many argue that it is an acceptable status quo, which must not be
>>>>> changed.  We reject this formulation.  Even if you believe that those
>>>>> of us advocating against subminimum wages do not have all the answers,
>>>>> this is no excuse for allowing the system to continue.  The current
>>>>> practice of paying subminimum wages is unfair, discriminatory, and
>>>>> immoral, and no amount of hand-wringing about what may follow it can
>>>>> change that. Please do not simply let inertia direct our course.  We
>>>>> are urging you and other willing partners, including any from the
>>>>> sheltered workshop industry, to work with us to find real solutions for
>>>>>
>>>>> people like Sammy, Patti, and Becky, rather than shrugging your
>>>>>
>>>>> United States Representative
>>>>> February 23, 2012
>>>>> Page three
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> shoulders and saying that the exploitation must continue because we as
>>>>> a society will not expend the effort to come up with anything better.
>>>>>
>>>>> There was a time in our nation's history when African-Americans were
>>>>> believed to have limited capacity and were fit only for slave labor on
>>>>> plantations.  There was a time when women were thought capable only of
>>>>> maintaining the family home, and thus were not even permitted to vote.
>>>>> Fortunately we realized as a nation that it was bigotry and low
>>>>> expectations that were defining the roles of African-Americans and
>>>>> women rather than their true capabilities.  We realized, albeit
>>>>> belatedly, that America would be a better nation if the true capacities
>>>>>
>>>>> of these citizens were unleashed.  Americans with disabilities are now
>>>>> calling upon our fellow citizens to realize that the soft bigotry of
>>>>> low expectations is condemning workers with disabilities to near-slave
>>>>> labor, and that the system that arises from these low expectations must
>>>>>
>>>>> be abolished.
>>>>>
>>>>> H.R. 3086 allows for a grace period of three years before sheltered
>>>>> workshops and other nonprofit employers currently holding special wage
>>>>> certificates must begin to pay their workers at least the federal
>>>>> minimum wage.  This is plenty of time for sheltered workshops to study
>>>>> the business models of similar entities that are already paying their
>>>>> employees competitive wages and make adjustments to their own policies
>>>>> and practices.  Meanwhile, policy makers can redirect resources to
>>>>> enhance programs like supported employment, and create new solutions,
>>>>> to help workers with disabilities transition to real work for real
>>>>> wages.
>>>>>
>>>>> As for freedom of choice: I am a person with a disability.  I have been
>>>>>
>>>>> blind all of my life.  I know the pain and despair that comes with low
>>>>> expectations and prejudice.  Fortunately, I was given the opportunity
>>>>> to make real choices about my life and career, and to experience the
>>>>> joy of the accomplishments that can only come through full and equal
>>>>> participation in society.  I want Sammy, Patti, and Becky to have the
>>>>> choices that I had.  If workers with disabilities truly want to stay in
>>>>>
>>>>> the sheltered workshop that currently employs them, or a facility like
>>>>> it, then no one will prohibit them from doing so.  However, if H.R.
>>>>> 3086 is enacted, wherever they choose to work, they will receive real
>>>>> wages that allow them to live fuller lives.  They will know the
>>>>> satisfaction of receiving the equal pay for equal work that they
>>>>> deserve, in addition to any satisfaction that they may receive from
>>>>> getting out of the house and being among their friends.  They will no
>>>>> longer be dependent upon
>>> the
>>>>> resources of their loved ones or on public assistance in order to buy
>>>>> the things they need.  They will have disposable income to spend in the
>>>>>
>>>>> community, thereby contributing to our society and its economy.  They
>>>>> will go from a subsistent existence to one in which they can enjoy
>>>>> taking in a movie with their friends, an occasional restaurant meal,
>>>>> and all of the other small pleasures of life that other American
>>>>> workers take for granted.  They will become free people with real
>>>>> choices, not virtual slaves with false ones.
>>>>>
>>>>> United States Representative
>>>>> February 23, 2012
>>>>> Page four
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, the over forty other
>>>>>
>>>>> organizations that support this bill, and the millions of disabled
>>>>> people we represent, we urge you to join us in our effort to change the
>>>>>
>>>>> paradigm of low expectations and kindly meant but devastating
>>>>> exploitation that has too long dominated the lives of over three
>>>>> hundred thousand Americans with disabilities.  We ask you to express
>>>>> the courage to support H.R. 3086 and the creativity to seek solutions
>>>>> that allow Americans with disabilities to become productive citizens.
>>>>> I thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Marc Maurer, President
>>>>> NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -
>>>>>
>>>>> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
>>>>>
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>>>>> It is intended only for the use of the addressee(s).  If you are not
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
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-- 
Chris Nusbaum

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists. If
a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can
be reduced to a mere physical nuissence." -- Kenneth Jernigan

Visit the I C.A.N. Foundation online at: www.icanfoundation.info for
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