[Nfbk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind Comments on Senator Harkin Report “High Expectations: Transforming the American Workforce as the ADA Generation Comes of Age”

[Cathy Jackson]

Good Afternoon Gang,

I am forwarding a press release from our National Office that you will want
to read! Also, as convention draws ever closer I want to remind everyone
that you must let me know no later than Wednesday afternoon if you plan to
join us for the luncheon and banquet. I must give the hotel an accurate
count or you will not have a meal. Don't forget to turn in your reverse
raffle tickets. We will begin drawing at the social Friday evening. Once we
begin we cannot add names. See you at convention!

Cathy



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Freeh, Jessica <JFreeh at nfb.org>
Date: Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 10:47 AM
Subject: National Federation of the Blind Comments on Senator Harkin Report
“High Expectations: Transforming the American Workforce as the ADA
Generation Comes of Age”
To: "State President, Puerto Rico" <arguza at attglobal.net>, "State
President, Nebraska" <amy.buresh74 at gmail.com>, "State President,
Connecticut" <erival at comcast.net>, "State President, Arizona" <
krezguy at cox.net>, "State President, New York" <office at nfbny.org>, "State
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baconev at yahoo.com>


 *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

** **

*CONTACT:*

Chris Danielsen****

Director of Public Relations****

National Federation of the Blind****

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330****

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)****

cdanielsen at nfb.org ****

** **

* *

*National Federation of the Blind Comments on Senator Harkin Report*

*“High Expectations: Transforming the American Workforce as the ADA
Generation Comes of Age”*

** **

*Baltimore, Maryland (September 30, 2013):* The National Federation of the
Blind <http://www.nfb.org/> (NFB) today commented on a September 26 report
submitted by Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).  The report, entitled “High
Expectations: Transforming the American Workforce as the ADA Generation
Comes of Age*,*”<http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/ADA%20Gen%20Report.pdf>provides
compelling justifications for members of the U.S. Senate to offer
and support the following two amendments to the Workforce Investment Act
(WIA):****

**1.         **Strike Title V., Section 511, which, if passed, would
incorporate the subminimum wage language of Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) into the Rehabilitation Act.****

**2.         **Remove the language that would transfer the Rehabilitation
Services Administration (RSA) to the U.S. Department of Labor, while
keeping the Older Blind Services within RSA. ****

Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
“The National Federation of the Blind sincerely hopes that Senator Harkin
is committed to the development of policies consistent with the findings
and recommendations in his report, and that he is willing to fix
WIA<https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia>in order to achieve those
goals.  We urge the Senate not to play politics
with the lives of people with disabilities who need quality services to
become fully participating members of the workforce, and instead to
implement nonpartisan language that solves the real education, training,
and employment problems we face.”****

** **

In the report, Senator Harkin provides a very compelling argument for
striking Section 511 from the WIA through an example of a woman who stopped
working for a sheltered workshop and became successfully self-employed.
This example supports the research demonstrating that sheltered workshops
are not viable conduits to competitive integrated employment.  In fact, if
the woman had not quit the sheltered workshop after two years of
“training,” the data show that she would have had less than a 5 percent
chance of ever transitioning into competitive integrated employment.
Therefore, the National Federation of the Blind strongly believes that the
language of low expectations in Section 511, which endorses the use of a
sheltered subminimum-wage workshop as a vehicle for employment training,
should be removed from WIA.  ****

** **

Senator Harkin also spends a significant portion of the report highlighting
the problems people with disabilities face in obtaining competitive
integrated employment, including: (1) the need to complement proper
education with quality rehabilitation services, and (2) the need to provide
appropriate school-to-work transition services.  The majority of the report
prescribes solutions that require earlier and more effective integration of
education and rehabilitation services.  The NFB is convinced that the
report therefore contradicts and disproves the reasoning behind the
proposal in WIA to transfer RSA to the U.S. Department of Labor, which
would increase the divide between education and rehabilitation.  The NFB
agrees with Senator Harkin’s assessment of the problems and the prescribed
remedies in the report, which supports our
assertion<https://nfb.org/national-federation-blind-workforce-investment-act-sabotages-rehabilitation-act>that
the Rehabilitation Services Administration should not be transferred
to the U.S. Department of Labor.****

** **

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*###*

** **

** **

*About the National Federation of the Blind*

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest, largest, and most
influential nationwide membership organization of blind people in the
United States.  Founded in 1940, the NFB advocates for the civil rights and
equality of blind Americans, and develops innovative education, technology,
and training programs to provide the blind and those who are losing vision
with the tools they need to become independent and successful.  ****

** **
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