<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Good Afternoon,</div><div>Below is an article written by John Pare. It sats it all. Enjoy!</div><div>Cathy<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> "Pare, John" <<a href="mailto:JPare@nfb.org">JPare@nfb.org</a>><br><b>Date:</b> April 28, 2014, 3:29:31 PM EDT<br><b>To:</b> "<a href="mailto:state-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org">state-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:state-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org">state-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>[State-affiliate-leadership-list] Will phasing out section 14c cause people with disabilities to lose their jobs?</b><br><b>Reply-To:</b> State Affiliate Leadership List <<a href="mailto:state-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org">state-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org</a>><br><br></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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<span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#5A2356;letter-spacing:-.6pt">This is Not Acceptable for Workers with Disabilities
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Blog Date: Monday, April 28, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">By Anil Lewis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">The abhorrent practice of employing workers with disabilities at subminimum wages, which stems from the poor public policy codified
in Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), has unfortunately been imbedded in disability service models and promoted as a viable alternative for people with disabilities who have significant challenges to employment. As a result, we needlessly
tolerate the counterproductive, sheltered subminimum-wage work environments that attempt to justify low expectations for the vocational potential of workers with disabilities, instead of providing encouragement and support for these same individuals to obtain
real jobs at real wages. This is especially intolerable in an age when innovative strategies produce viable alternatives that assist individuals with even the most significant disabilities in acquiring job skills that afford them the opportunity to secure
competitive integrated employment. By continuing to deny people with disabilities the same wage protections as every other American worker, we sustain outdated environments that deny people with disabilities the opportunity for receiving the quality education,
training, and support necessary to obtain competitive integrated employment. <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">The simple fact is that under Section 14(c) of the FLSA, many workers with disabilities have been placed in jobs that require
a skill set that they will never master under conditions that do not foster their vocational development. For example, individuals with limited hand dexterity are required to screw caps on pens; individuals who would prefer jobs with more social interaction
are segregated in isolated work environments performing mundane tasks; and individuals requiring specialized interventions are placed under the supervision of a well-meaning, but unqualified custodian. Under these conditions, they will never meet the productivity
requirements, never acquire a competitive job skill, and never be paid the same prevailing wage as the other employees. Thankfully, more and more entities that have engaged in this unfair, discriminatory, and immoral practice are recognizing the error of their
ways, and are moving toward the adoption of a new successful business model that capitalizes on the unique talents and strengths of each employee.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Under this new model, many workers with disabilities are already performing at high productivity levels and earning the same
wage as nondisabled employees. Others require some additional training and support to reach this level of productivity, and like their nondisabled co-workers, they are provided this on-the-job training by the employer. In order to encourage the continued adoption
of community integrated employment models, and to facilitate ongoing systemic change culminating in the repeal of Section 14(c), we must answer an important question. What should be done with those individuals who require a greater degree of intervention or
have been erroneously placed as workers in these subminimum-wage environments? <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">To answer this question, it must first be understood that although people with disabilities have greater challenges in gaining
competitive integrated employment; these challenges do not prevent them from becoming productive employees. Workers with disabilities, like workers without disabilities, have unique skills, interests, and abilities, and with the appropriate education, training,
and support mechanisms, they can be productive employees competitive with their non-disabled co-workers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Section 14(c) workshop owners fight reform and resort to threats of termination of workers with disabilities from their subminimum-wage
jobs. They paint a picture of hundreds of individuals with disabilities being sent to day rehabilitation environments or restricted to homecare, as though these are the only other alternatives. This is a self-serving delusion that demonstrates an inability
to provide quality training and employment while saying nothing about the actual capacity of workers with disabilities. It prevents those individuals who are sinking in this quagmire of exploitation from receiving the opportunity to get the quality education,
training, and support needed to obtain competitive integrated employment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">There are viable, proven alternatives that offer training and competitive employment to individuals whom the workshops would
otherwise condemn to a lifetime of segregated subminimum-wage employment. The reality is that in order for some businesses to convert to a new competitive integrated business model, they may need to alter the employment relationship with certain disabled workers
that they do not now know how to serve.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Some workshop managers may argue that they must fire workers if they are required to pay the minimum wage. This would be true
if they insisted that the worker perform work in accordance with a model that does not maximize their potential. If the employer is unable to competitively employ the worker with a disability, we should not continue to fund that employer. We should be using
those resources to develop and sustain systems that provide quality education, training, and supports that will empower people with disabilities to be productive employees.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Why is it such a frightening consequence to have individuals with disabilities leave these downward spiraling exploitive environments
to participate in an unpaid training program that will lead to competitive integrated employment, when nondisabled people participate in the training offered by colleges, vocational/technical schools, and other job training environments every day without compensation?
Contrary to those who would encourage us to allow workers with disabilities to continue to languish in these environments of low expectations, we support the following:
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS","sans-serif";color:#333333">Rather than continuing to condemn hundreds of thousands of individuals with disabilities to a lifetime of sheltered segregated
subminimum-wage employment, we embrace the difficult task of reform that may temporarily leave some people without their subminimum-wage paychecks. We support the expectation that people with disabilities – like their nondisabled peers – will pursue education
and training that allow them to acquire skills and explore various opportunities that will lead to their competitive integrated employment. It is not deemed acceptable for workers without disabilities to be relegated to subminimum-wage employment outcomes,
reliant on public assistance for their existence, and deprived of their dignity and self-worth. It is likewise unacceptable for workers with disabilities.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"># # #<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">John G. Paré, Jr.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Executive Director for Advocacy and Policy
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">200 East Wells Street<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Baltimore, Maryland 21230<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Telephone: (410) 659-9314, ext. 2218<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Cell phone: (410) 917-1965<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Fax: (410) 685-5653<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Email:
<a href="mailto:jpare@nfb.org"><span style="color:windowtext">jpare@nfb.org</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because
low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">To make a donation to the National Federation of the Blind Imagination Fund campaign, please visit
<a href="http://www.nfb.org/ImaginingOurFuture"><span style="color:windowtext">www.nfb.org/ImaginingOurFuture</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">--
<br>
The National Disability Leadership Alliance(NDLA) is a national cross-disability coalition that represents the authentic voice of people with disabilities. To subscribe to the list, send a request to
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</div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>State-affiliate-leadership-list mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:State-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org">State-affiliate-leadership-list@nfbnet.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/state-affiliate-leadership-list_nfbnet.org">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/state-affiliate-leadership-list_nfbnet.org</a></span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for State-affiliate-leadership-list:</span><br><span><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/state-affiliate-leadership-list_nfbnet.org/cathyj1949%40gmail.com">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/state-affiliate-leadership-list_nfbnet.org/cathyj1949%40gmail.com</a></span></div></blockquote></body></html>