[nfbmi-talk] ri to close all shelterred shops

Sat Jun 15 12:53:33 UTC 2013

RI to close all 'sheltered workshops' for disabled

Friday June 14, 2013 4:15 PM

By ERIKA NIEDOWSKI

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island is moving to eliminate the type of "sheltered workshop" that were found to have violated the rights of disabled individuals

for years at a state-licensed employment program in North Providence.

In March, the state became one of the latest to adopt what's known as an Employment First policy that prioritizes finding jobs for those with intellectual

and developmental disabilities in regular workplaces.

Craig Stenning, director of the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, said Thursday the state has

begun to shut down its sheltered workshops, including the one at Training Thru Placement Inc., which the U.S. Justice Department began investigating in

January.

About 200 people at Training Thru Placement and the Harold A. Birch Vocational School, which served as a pipeline, were unnecessarily segregated doing manual

labor for substandard wages and little was done to link them to more meaningful work in integrated settings, the federal investigation found. The Justice

Department announced a settlement Thursday with Rhode Island and the city of Providence that resolved violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Under the state's new policy, new participants in the state system that provides employment and other daytime services to 3,600 people with developmental

disabilities will no longer be placed in sheltered workshops. The sheltered workshops should be phased out within the next two to three years, Stenning

said.

"Segregated day activities need to be replaced by fully integrated community activities with a focus on full employment," he said.

The department said the state is committed to a "transformative system of change." Spokeswoman Deborah Varga said the employment-first policy has been under

discussion since 2011.

Under the settlement, individuals at Training Thru Placement will get assistance accessing jobs in typical work settings alongside non-disabled employees

and customers. They will work at least 20 hours a week at competitive wages and get other services to fill what would be a standard 40-hour work week.

"This is the first agreement reached by a public entity with the Justice Department to articulate and embrace this full-time integration standard," Eve

Hill, of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in announcing the settlement.

The Justice Department moved in March to join a lawsuit against the state of Oregon that alleges violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act over

sheltered workshops.

Training Thru Placement is one of the largest of Rhode Island's 37 licensed providers of employment and day services for the disabled. Most who work in

the facility — an old elementary school — assemble, sort and package jewelry or medical equipment, even though many are capable of holding and want to

hold regular jobs, federal officials said. On average, they earned $1.57 an hour.

Hill said that the state-funded day services at Training Thru Placement — for when participants were not working — consisted mostly of playing cards, coloring

and talking to other disabled workers at the facility.

The state in March handed operations of Training Thru Placement to an outside contractor, Fedcap.

The Justice Department is continuing to investigate Rhode Island's employment and day program system.

According to the Association of People Supporting Employment First, at least 24 states have adopted an employment-first policy either through legislation,

executive order or department directive.