[nfb-talk] Fw: Contacting the ABC
Kenneth Chrane
kenneth.chrane at verizon.net
Tue Mar 6 08:47:08 UTC 2012
We will just have to put the pressure on them, as well as the news media in
The United States.
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 7:41 PM
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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>>>>
>>>>
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