[Nfbmt] Fwd: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] Compassion Can Be Discrimination: Sign The Petition Against Subminimum Wages

[Dan Burke]

Another excellent article from Anil Lewis on the subminimum wage
national embarrassment

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From: "Lewis, Anil" <ALewis at nfb.org>
Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 12:22:38 +0000
Subject: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] Compassion Can Be
Discrimination: Sign The Petition Against Subminimum Wages
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Compassion Can Be Discrimination: Sign The Petition Against Subminimum Wages
http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/new-normal/compassion-can-be-discrimination-sign-petition-against-subminimum-wages
Anil Lewis



Most theological references to people with disabilities portray us as
broken people in need of healing who are dependent on the benevolence
of others. Also, most faith traditions have a moral imperative to seek
salvation by caring for the less fortunate, and people with
disabilities, being deemed less fortunate, are therefore tokens for
that salvation. The false perception of brokenness, coupled with the
misapplied moral edict, results in a "compassionate discrimination"
that limits the potential of every person with a disability.

Compassionate discrimination, like other types of discrimination,
springs from ignorance, and deprives us all of the value each person
and group of people has to offer. But unlike the abusive treatment of
slaves resulting from racial discrimination, and unlike the
chauvinistic treatment of women resulting from gender discrimination,
compassionate discrimination is cloaked in sympathy and good
intentions. The segregation of African-Americans in educational,
employment, and living environments is unlawful and universally
censured-no questions asked, no exceptions. Conversely, the
segregation of people with disabilities in school, work, and home is
justified as the creation of safe environments where we are nurtured
and protected.

The 20 to 30 percent wage disparity between male and female employees
is considered a discriminatory practice in the workplace. But
perversely, the disparity between an executive's $500,000 salary and
the 22-cent-per-hour wage of the worker with a disability is
considered reasonable. Work at such wages is even promoted as an
opportunity for the disabled worker to experience the tangible and
intangible benefits of work. Given this confused moral perspective, it
is almost understandable why public policies have been developed that
continues to limit people with disabilities from reaching our full
potential.

In 1938, policymakers, acting on a laudable desire to integrate people
with disabilities into the workforce, made a huge mistake when they
enacted Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act
www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/14c/<http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/14c/>.
That provision that authorizes the U.S. Department of Labor to issue
Special Wage Certificates to employers, permitting them to pay workers
with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage. As a result of
the erroneous belief, commonly held in 1938 but long since disproved,
that people with disabilities cannot be productive employees,
employers are permitted to pay workers with disabilities subminimum
wages that are supposedly based on our productivity. This denial of
fundamental wage protections to workers with disabilities, although
masked as a compassionate offering of a work opportunity that would
otherwise not be available, leaves over 300,000 people with
disabilities employed at subminimum wages, some as low as three cents
per hour.

A person with a disability is not less valuable than any other person,
and although employing that person may require the use of
nontraditional training and employment strategies, a worker with a
disability is not inherently less productive than a nondisabled
worker. Section 14(c) is a poor public policy that perpetuates
compassionate discrimination and harms people with disabilities by
denying us proper education and training opportunities, and by
prohibiting most of us from obtaining competitive, integrated
employment.

It is true that over 70 percent of people with disabilities are
unemployed, but current segregated subminimum-wage work environments
have proven that they are not the solution to this dilemma. We must
understand that it is not the disability itself that causes this
circumstance. It is the lack of understanding about the true capacity
of people with disabilities that results in the misperception that we
cannot be productive. Once this misperception has been embraced, it is
difficult, if not impossible, for us to obtain real opportunities to
demonstrate that we have that capacity. Rather than challenging the
mistaken status quo, society's "compassionate" remedy is to continue
to create "safe," segregated living, educational, and work
environments for people with disabilities.

In order to implement a real solution to the unemployment problem, we
must remove the mask of compassion from the discrimination we face. We
must eliminate the "separate but equal" environments and we must
repeal the discriminatory policies that are founded on the flawed
assertion of incapacity. We can achieve this goal. Congressman Gregg
Harper has introduced the Fair Wages for Workers with Disabilities Act
of 2013 (H.R. 831) to repeal Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act, and an online petition that you can sign to support the repeal of
Section 14(c) can be found at
https://www.nfb.org/fair-wages-petition<https://nfb.org/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=1&reset=1>.

We are not broken. Our disabilities are neither a curse from God nor
penance for our sins. They are a manifestation of the life with which
God has blessed us, and although the vessels which contain them are
different, we have the same needs, desires, and abilities as everyone
else. People with disabilities are not passive recipients of
benevolence, we are also benevolent. We clothe the naked, we feed the
hungry, we care for the sick and we demonstrate the capacity to
believe, to have faith, and to worship God. We demand to be fully
participating members of society, and we refuse to be reduced to the
status of tokens for the salvation of others.

Anil Lewis was born in 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia.  Lewis was diagnosed
at age nine with retinitis pigmentosa, although his vision was fairly
unaffected until 1989.  He has a master's in business administration
in computer information systems and a master's in public
administration from Georgia State University. He has developed a job
placement program for people with disabilities, represented people
with disabilities in a law office and headed Georgia's chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind https://nfb.org/. Today, he lives in
Baltimore, Maryland and is the Director of Advocacy and Policy at the
National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute. He works with the
NFB's government affairs team to eliminate subminimum wages and the
antiquated notion that blind and disabled people cannot be productive
members of society. He is also the proud father of Amari, his bright,
ambitious son.


Mr. Anil Lewis
Director of Advocacy and Policy

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
http://www.nfb.org/fairwages

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, Maryland   21230

(410) 659-9314 ext. 2374 (Voice)
(410) 685-5653 (FAX)
Email: alewis at nfb.org<mailto:alewis at nfb.org>
Web: www.nfb.org<http://www.nfb.org>
twitter: @anillife




-- 
Dan Burke, President
The National Federation of the Blind of Montana
www.nfbmontana.org
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