[nfbmi-talk] sweatshops or needed choice?

[Terry D. Eagle]

If there were not a prevelant attitude of low expectations toward and for
persons with disAbilities by the public, parents of adult children with
disAbilities, and rehabilitation service providers, much progress would be
made toward full intergrated community employment of persons with
disAbilities.  As shown by the article below, if more funds and resources,
such as supported employment rehabilitation services, the number of persons
with disAbilities placed in intergrated community competitive employment
would increase dramatically.  Appropriate assessment of skills, talents, and
abilities of persons with disAbilities is what is needed, not a presumption
that a sweatshop with slave wages is the only option a person with a
disability is capable of performing.  I know it is possible because I and my
team achieved it in the developmental disability community, even with the
most challenging disAbilities.

 

Terry Eagle

    

Closing workshops would send some workers "back home playing video games in
their parents' basement. It's just not a good outcome."

 

Judy Putnam ,
Lansing State Journal
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EAST LANSING - Four days a week, Laura Kaufman rises early and packs her
lunch. Some days, she stuffs it inside her Spider-Man backpack, some days a
purple
rolling bag.

 

She then boards a CATA van shortly after 8 a.m. at the East Lansing home she
shares with her father. Her destination: a community mental health program
for adults with disabilities.
Laura Kaufman opens her locker at work on May 31, 2016,

 

Laura Kaufman opens her locker at work on May 31, 2016, at Transitions North
in Lansing. Laura earns a little more than $2 an hour doing simple,
repetitive
tasks alongside other workers with significant disabilities.
(Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)

 

Kaufman, 44, has Down syndrome. She likes bowling and coffee with friends on
Mondays and shopping on Thursday mornings, all offerings of the community
program.
But what she looks forward to the most is her job at a manufacturing
workshop where she earns just over $2 an hour doing simple repetitive tasks,
alongside
other workers with significant disabilities.

 

"I like to work," she explains. "I like the staff."

 

Low-paid jobs and workshops like Kaufman's are at the heart of a heated
debate that's playing out in mid-Michigan and across the country. It's
sharply divided
the disability community.

 

Some critics call such places "sweatshops" or sheltered workshops that take
advantage of vulnerable people by paying them little and segregating them.

 

"What we've done with sheltered workshops over the years is that we've
created a whole industry that's built on the fact that we can pay people
with disabilities
below the minimum wage in segregated environments," said Elmer Cerano,
executive director of Michigan Protection & Advocacy Service, Inc., a
nonprofit
organization that advocates for people with disabilities.

 

If workers are being paid a fraction of a wage because they are considered
just 25% as productive as non-disabled workers, maybe they need to have more
suitable jobs that fit their skills, Cerano reasoned.

 

"Now we want to promote real employment opportunities for real people in the
real community for real wages with benefits just like everybody else," he
said.

 

Others fire back that the jobs are a choice that should be offered to
workers where they have the support they need. Not everyone will be able to
find a
job in the community, they argue.

 

Kaufman's father, Dr. Matt Kaufman, a retired physician, is among those who
think the advocates are going too far. He fears that their efforts, while
based
on good intentions, will actually hurt his daughter because she will not be
able to find a job in community and the workshop's future is in question.

 

"She just loves it. It's her whole life," he said about her workshop job.
"She's so happy to work and she's so pleased to get the paycheck. It isn't
the
money. It's the feeling that they are doing something important and
valuable. All this is threatened now."

 

He fears her days instead will be filled with coloring books and puzzles.

 

Rooted in the 1930s

 

Some advocates argue that the sheltered workshop model and the sub-minimum
wages paid to workers like Kaufman have outlived their usefulness. Rooted in
the 1930s, they were a good idea at the time when those with disabilities
had no other options, they argue. The programs allow a smaller or
commensurate
wage based on comparing it to productivity of non-disabled workers.
Kaufman's productivity, for example, is 25% of that of non-disabled workers,
according
to a report from her employer.

 

In all, about 7,400 Michigan workers with disabilities statewide are paid
the sub-minimum wage, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, but their
numbers
are dropping.

 

Six years ago, there were 81 employers in Michigan paying below-minimum
wage. There are 62 this year. Those are mostly community groups such as
public mental
health and nonprofit providers, but also include a few businesses and
schools.

 

Kaufman does what is called piece work at the Transitions North workshop run
by the Community Mental Health Authority of Clinton, Eaton, Ingham counties
near the Capital Region International Airport.

 

Transitions North employs 125 people with disabilities; 100 of them earn
less than minimum wage.

 

The 29-year-old Transitions North is the last in mid-Michigan to pay less
than minimum wage after Peckham Industries, Inc., a Lansing-based nonprofit
rehabilitation
organization, decided last year to pay all its workers at least that much.

 

Read more:
Peckham ends sub-minimum pay

 

The trend away from the sub-minimum wage jobs is driven by a national
movement and the exposure of some horrific abuses. At a now-closed turkey
processing
plant in Atalissa, Iowa, for instance, 32 men with disabilities were paid as
little as 41 cents per hour and lived in squalid conditions for decades. A
judge said they were virtually enslaved and a jury awarded them $240 million
in damages in 2013.

 

Hillary Clinton, Democratic nominee for president, has called for an end to
sub-minimum wage jobs. And newer federal mandates, through health and job
training
dollars sent to the states, require that federal funds directed at people
with disabilities be spent in housing, job training and employment in
integrated
settings. States are crafting their own plans to follow those mandates.

 

Michigan and other states have a March 2019 deadline to transition to more
integrated settings to continue Medicaid dollars that are used on day
programs
such as Transitions North.

 

Cerano's organization and others want to see public dollars used to develop
jobs in the community for those with disabilities. One idea is to carve out
a specific task, instead of requiring multiple tasks, for a worker with a
disability while removing that task from other employees' workloads.
Adaptive
technology can also help workers with disabilities.

 

States such as Vermont and Maine decided to close their workshops years ago,
while lawsuits have been the driver of change in others.

 

Read more:
Mixed reports from other states when workshops closed

 

It's not clear what will happen in Michigan.

 

"There's a huge amount of uncertainty and anxiety both in the provider
community and among individuals and their families," said Todd Culver,
executive
director of MARO, an association representing nonprofit and public mental
health organizations that serve workers with disabilities across the state.

 

In 2014, Michigan spent far more on facility-based work, what critics still
call sheltered work, than integrated employment - $48 million versus $27
million,
according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment
Policy.

 

And only 30% of those with disabilities were employed compared with 75% of
the nondisabled working age population in Michigan.

 

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley is the point person in Gov. Rick Snyder administration
for "Employment First." That term describes the national movement to
integrate
people with disabilities in mainstream workplaces.

 

Calley said he sees a role for facility-based workshops and, reluctantly,
sub-minimum wage jobs, but with safeguards in place that ensure workers are
offered
opportunities to first work in regular workplaces.

 

A year ago, Calley signed an executive order calling for "Employment First"
policies to get more jobs for those with disabilities in the community or
integrated
settings.

 

Dohn Hoyle, public policy director for The Arc Michigan, which advocates for
people with developmental disabilities, called Michigan's version of
Employment
First "weak."

 

"Many states have put it in public policy. Some have it in statute. Michigan
has instead a governor's edict that we think is weak compared with what we
see in other states," he said.

 

Calley disagreed, saying the state's policy is a strong one, offering
flexibility and choice. He said the administration has resisted a "one size
fits all"
approach.

 

Closing facility-based workshops won't work because "there aren't enough
places today that are successful at hiring people with disabilities" Calley
said.

 

"Many would just end up being back home playing video games in their
parents' basement. It's just not a good outcome."

 

Kristen Columbus, chair of the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council,
a federally funded advocacy organization appointed by the governor, said in
a written response to questions that the executive order was a "good start."
But, she said, it is flawed because it allows workers to stay in programs
such as Transitions North permanently, rather than use them for training and
a stepping stone to a job in the community.

 

She said such programs can still be used to help people with disabilities
build skills to find jobs in the regular workplace.

 

"There is most definitely a role for these providers in the provision of
customized and supportive employment services to support persons with
significant
disabilities finding employment," she said.

 

Proud of her paycheck
Laura Kaufman signs her paycheck from Transitions North

 

Laura Kaufman signs her paycheck from Transitions North on June 3, 2016 at
her home in East Lansing. "It's not the amount, it's the fact that she gets
a
paycheck," her father Matt said. "She's proud."
(Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)

 

Laura Kaufman isn't forced to work when she's at Transitions North. She has
the choice of other activities, such as heading outside to sit in the
sunshine,
playing board games or making a snack in the kitchen. But she always chooses
work when she can.

 

Matt Kaufman said his daughter receives about $1,000 a month in federal
disability benefits. Over a 12-month period ending June 30, she supplemented
that
with earnings of $936.72 for 426 hours of work.

 

That's an hourly rate of about $2.20, far below the federal minimum wage of
$7.25 an hour.

 

She's proud of her paycheck, purchasing potato chips and CDs with her
earnings

 

Matt Kaufman describes his daughter as a "miracle child in a lot of ways."
She was the fifth child and only daughter born to Kaufman and his late wife,
Lois, also a doctor, in 1972.

 

Kaufman's said his late wife was devoted to their youngest child, helping
her learn to read and write.  Laura nearly died as a teenager from leukemia
in
1988, the same disease that claimed the life of Lois Kaufman in 1992.

 

After her mother's death, Laura Kaufman continued at school, graduating from
Okemos High School in 1999, as Michigan allows special education students to
stay until age 26. She then briefly held a job folding sheets in a hotel
basement. The working conditions were dreadful, Matt Kaufman said, and he
quickly
removed her from the job.
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Laura Kaufman works at Transitions North in Lansing. She loves baseball. She
listens to Ice T. And she has Down syndrome. Julia Nagy/Lansing State
Journal

 

Other efforts to find a job in the community didn't work out. She's now been
at Transitions North workshop for about 16 years.

 

That type of longevity - as opposed to a stepping stone to a competitive job
- draws criticism. Only a few leave for competitive employment. Six of the
125 workers at Transitions North left for a job outside the agency in the
past year and two returned, said Richard Jenness, Transitions coordinator,
in
an email. Four who were successful got jobs cleaning, washing dishes and
working in laundry service and at a gardening center. The two who came back
couldn't
do the required work in a laundry, he said.

 

Kaufman's father describes her as a person with a kind heart who isn't
afraid to speak up for herself. She taught herself to use sign language to
communicate
with people who are deaf and she has a sharp memory for names.

 

In 2004, she wrote a fan letter to NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victims
Unit" star Mariska Hargitay. She ended up with a trip to visit the set with
a cameo
appearance on the show.

 

On a recent Thursday, Kaufman went on a morning outing to a Dollar Tree
store where she bought a large big bag of off-brand potato chips and a
Mountain
Dew soda, which she took takes to the workshop for her lunch.

 

She also packed mini-donuts, strawberry Fig Newtons, dill pickle chips and a
baggie of vitamins to accompany a Big Mac from McDonald's, her favorite
meal.
The staff said she likes to eat in the music room, away from the noise of
others at the facility.

 

After a leisurely lunch, she walked slowly to the workshop to start an
afternoon of work.

 

The workshop is a warehouse-style space with exposed heating vents and a
concrete floor. It's brightly lit and has windows supplemented by
fluorescent lights.

 

Kaufman pulled a disposable hand wipe from her bag and cleaned her hands
thoroughly before carefully adjusting her headphones over an MSU cap. She
tuned
her Walkman to a classical radio channel.

 

Then she set to work.

 

On this day, she and 30 other workers with disabilities, sat on molded
plastic chairs or in wheelchairs at metal tables, putting plastic pipettes
for Neogen
Corp., a Lansing company, into a board with holes to hold the pipettes
upright. Once a pegboard is filled, with 20 plastic pieces, the workers put
them
into a plastic bag with a slide top and toss them into a bin. The pipettes
are used in food safety test kits.
Laura Kaufman works on May 26, 2016 at Transitions

 

Laura Kaufman works on May 26, 2016 at Transitions North in Lansing. Kaufman
often works on counting out pipettes for packaging or labels for toothbrush
holders.
(Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)

 

Because many of the workers can't count - though one fellow counted loudly
as he filled a plastic bag - the pegboards are a way to ensure the right
number
of pieces make it into the bag.

 

After filling each bag, Kaufman hit a metal counter with satisfaction.

 

Contracts for work at Transitions North this year will bring in $373,000.
About a third of that is paid to workers, about $125,000 in salaries,
according
to Community Mental Health. The workshop runs on contracts it brings in but
Medicaid dollars are used to pay staff who help with skill-building of the
clients.

 

Kaufman likes her job and is especially close to Pamm McDaniel, a friendly
woman in a pink T-shirt and gray ponytail who runs the workshop. McDaniel
has
worked there since 1989. "She's like a second mother to Laura," Kaufman's
father, Matt, said.

 

At the beginning of the afternoon, McDaniel steered Kaufman away from the
worker who was counting, knowing that the noise would bother Kaufman -- and
that
she is more than willing to speak up when irritated.

 

That's the kind of trouble prevention that might be missing from a job in
the larger community, staff members fear.

 

Dorothy Archambeau, program coordinator for Transitions North, said many
workers also need help with personal hygiene and using the bathroom. Who
will do
that in the regular workplace? she asks.

 

"I feel like they don't understand the level of the disability of the people
that we work with," she said. "They don't understand the value the work
holds
for people."

 

As for Laura Kaufman, when asked what she likes about her job, she shrugged.

 

"That's a hard question," she said, then added: "I like to work."
Laura Kaufman laughs with Stacie Earley, community
Laura Kaufman laughs with Stacie Earley, community support technician, after
she teased Earley on May 26, 2016 at Transitions North in Lansing. "I just
like it," Kaufman said of work. "I like the staff." Kaufman often expresses
her affection by teasing others.  (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
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Erika Stork wiggles her toes to try to annoy Laura
Erika Stork wiggles her toes to try to annoy Laura Kaufman as Kaufman looks
at the weather forecast on her phone on June 10, 2016 during a sleepover at
Kaufman's house in East Lansing. The two sat on the couch and watched Tigers
baseball. Stork also has Down syndrome. The two have been friends for over
40 years. They met at a lab preschool at Michigan State University.  (Photo:
Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman staples together coloring book pages
Laura Kaufman staples together coloring book pages on April 29, 2016 at her
home in East Lansing. Kaufman enjoys writing letters to people. She often
mails
coloring book pages and crossword puzzles as well and keeps the envelopes
from letters she has received. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman walks to the CATA van that takes her
Laura Kaufman walks to the CATA van that takes her to work as her father
Matt watches from the door on May 31, 2016 at her home in East Lansing.
Laura generally
starts her day around 7 a.m. to get ready for work and gets home around 4
p.m. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman opens her locker at work on May 31, 2016,
Laura Kaufman opens her locker at work on May 31, 2016, at Transitions North
in Lansing. Laura earns a little more than $2 an hour doing simple,
repetitive
tasks alongside other workers with significant disabilities. (Photo: Julia
Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman opens her locker at work on May 31, 2016
Laura Kaufman opens her locker at work on May 31, 2016 at Transitions North
in Lansing. Kaufman is a big sports fan, watching games on the television.
Kaufman
watches everything from WWE Monday Night Raw to baseball.  (Photo: Julia
Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman listens to the radio on May 26, 2016
Laura Kaufman listens to the radio on May 26, 2016 at Transitions North in
Lansing. As Kaufman works, she likes to listen to music. She said she likes
everything
from classical to rap. One of her favorite rappers is Ice-T. (Photo: Julia
Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman turns off the light in the den as she
Laura Kaufman turns off the light in the den as she gets ready for bed on
June 6, 2016 at her home in East Lansing. Kaufman often spends time watching
sports
or the Weather Channel when she's at home. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State
Journal)
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Laura Kaufman takes medication as she gets ready for
Laura Kaufman takes medication as she gets ready for bed on June 6, 2016 at
her home in East Lansing. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
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Laura Kaufman throws the covers over herself as she
Laura Kaufman throws the covers over herself as she gets ready for bed on
June 6, 2016 at her home in East Lansing. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State
Journal)
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Laura Kaufman rubs lotion into her hands as she gets
Laura Kaufman rubs lotion into her hands as she gets ready for bed on June
6, 2016 at her home in East Lansing. Kaufman focuses on her cuticles because
she often picks at her nails as a nervous habit. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing
State Journal)
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Laura Kaufman helps Erika Stork turn off a light in
Laura Kaufman helps Erika Stork turn off a light in the laundry room on June
10, 2016 during a sleepover at Kaufman's house in East Lansing. Stork also
has Down syndrome. The two have been friends for over 40 years. They met at
a lab preschool at Michigan State University.  (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing
State
Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Erika Stork peeks at Laura Kaufman after Kaufman threw
Erika Stork peeks at Laura Kaufman after Kaufman threw a towel on her head
on June 10, 2016 during a sleepover at Kaufman's house in East Lansing.
Stork
came downstairs to help Kaufman with the laundry. Stork also has Down
syndrome. The two have been friends for over 40 years. They met at a lab
preschool
at Michigan State University.  (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman talks to her father Matt as she takes
Laura Kaufman talks to her father Matt as she takes the laundry upstairs on
June 6, 2016 at their home in East Lansing. Laura helps with the household
chores,
including bringing up the laundry. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
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Laura Kaufman drinks apple juice in the kitchen on
Laura Kaufman drinks apple juice in the kitchen on June 6, 2016 at her home
in East Lansing. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
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Matt Kaufman and his daughter, Laura, visit the grave
Matt Kaufman and his daughter, Laura, visit the grave of Lois Kaufman,
Laura's mom, at Mount Hope Cemetery in East Lansing on June 3, 2016. Lois
passed
away in 1992 after a battle with leukemia. "She taught Laura most of what
she knows," Matt said. "We just keep my wife's memory alive." Laura also had
a battle with leukemia in 1988. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
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Laura Kaufman signs her paycheck from Transitions North
Laura Kaufman signs her paycheck from Transitions North on June 3, 2016 at
her home in East Lansing. "It's not the amount, it's the fact that she gets
a
paycheck," her father Matt said. "She's proud." (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing
State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Erika Stork rubs Laura Kaufman's feet on June 10, 2016
Erika Stork rubs Laura Kaufman's feet on June 10, 2016 during a sleepover at
Kaufman's house in East Lansing. Stork also has Down syndrome. The two have
been friends for over 40 years. They met at a lab preschool at Michigan
State University.  (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman rips out pages of a coloring book while
Laura Kaufman rips out pages of a coloring book while watching the Disney
Channel on April 29, 2016 as her father Matt browses on the computer at
their
home in East Lansing. She often mails coloring book pages and crossword
puzzles as well and keeps the envelopes from letters she has received.
(Photo:
Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman jokes with her father, Matt, that he's
Laura Kaufman jokes with her father, Matt, that he's crazy on June 3, 2016
at her home in East Lansing after the pair picked up lunch from McDonald's.
The
Big Mac is Laura's favorite meal. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman works on May 26, 2016 at Transitions
Laura Kaufman works on May 26, 2016 at Transitions North in Lansing. Kaufman
often works on counting out pipettes for packaging or labels for toothbrush
holders.  (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen
Laura Kaufman listens to the radio at work on May 31,
Laura Kaufman listens to the radio at work on May 31, 2016 at Transitions
North in Lansing. As Kaufman works, she likes to listen to music. She said
she
likes everything from classical to rap. One of her favorite rappers is
Ice-T. (Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
Buy Photo
 Fullscreen

 

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Contact Judy Putnam at (517) 267-1304 or email her at jputnam at lsj.com
<mailto:jputnam at lsj.com> . Follow her on Twitter
@judyputnam.
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'Sweatshops' or a needed choice? Michigan debates the future of jobs for
workers with disabilities

 

Closing workshops would send some workers "back home playing video games in
their parents' basement. It's just not a good outcome."
 
 
 
 'Sweatshops' or a needed choice? Michigan debates the future of jobs for
workers with disabilities

 

Closing workshops would send some workers "back home playing video games in
their parents' basement. It's just not a good outcome."

 

Check out this story on lansingstatejournal.com: http://on.lsj.com/2dQIlWU
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