[Nfbofnc] Fw: Senator Meeting Suggestions an Support Documents - Final

Wed Aug 21 17:00:11 UTC 2013

Hello everyone:

Please use the following information (two attachments) for your lobbying!

Thank you!
Sharon Newton
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lewis, Anil 
To: Affiliate Presidents (state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org) 
Cc: Pare, John 
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2013 4:33 PM
Subject: Senator Meeting Suggestions an Support Documents - Final

Federation:

I would like to thank all of the affiliate members who have provided me with summaries of your Senate meetings.  Sharon Maneki and I attended a meeting with Senator Cardin's policy director, and I thought it would be beneficial for me to provide you with the following information.  We were accompanied by Allison Wohl, executive director of the Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD), so we had cross-disability representation at our meeting.  I encourage you to reach out to any cross-disability partners in your area who would be willing to join you in your meetings.  

The staffer was very interested in Section 511 and we spent a lot of time discussing it.  I have provided you a lot of information related to Section 511.  Please let me know if you need more information or if you need to discuss the topic in greater detail.  If you are afforded the opportunity to truly educate staff about this issue, remember to answer directly and honestly.  If there are some questions you cannot answer, take notes, contact me, and I will help you find the answers.  You should also feel comfortable referring the staffer directly to me. 

I have not provided you with a lot of information about our objection to the transfer of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) from the U.S. Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Labor.  We are working on a detailed position statement and should have it ready for distribution soon.  In our meeting, we focused on how this tremendous shift of administrative/program functions and responsibilities is being proposed without any data, research, or cost/benefit analysis.  This is irresponsible policy development, founded on rhetoric rather than reason, which will result in a social experiment that could adversely affect hundreds of thousands of individuals currently receiving vocational rehabilitation services.  

The simple fact is that the mission and strategies of the Department of Labor are necessarily distinctly different than those of the Department of Education.  Most nondisabled persons receive a basic education, which exposes them to a variety of career choices, and they are able to independently maximize their employment potential.  When these individuals become unemployed or have difficulty obtaining employment, the Department of Labor considers the existing skillsets of people who have received a basic education, perhaps offers them some specific skills training, and then uses a turn-key process to help them obtain employment.  For people with disabilities, the Rehabilitation Services Administration fills the gap within the Department of Education by providing quality rehabilitation training and support services, ideally in concert with educational systems, to maximize the employability potential of persons with disabilities.  The Department of Labor model may be sufficient for individuals that become disabled as adults.  However, this model is exceptionally insufficient for school-age youth with disabilities or individuals who become significantly disabled as adults.  We agree that the biggest problem with rehabilitation and employment services for youth and adults with significant disabilities is the inability of the Rehabilitation Services Administration to become an integrated functioning entity within the Department of Education, and the ineffective process being used to transition youth with disabilities from school to work.  However, with the obvious need to increase RSA's status within the Department of Education, we feel that a move away from the Department of Education seems to be taking RSA in the wrong direction.  

The following is a list of ten handouts we used and brief explanations of how we used them in our meeting.  Do not feel obligated to use any of them, and do not try to discuss each of them in detail.  These documents are for the Senator and/or staff to read later, and can be used to structure the conversation.  A link to the webpage or a copy of the document is attached.

1.         Compassion Can Be Discrimination

{https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm13/bm1306/bm130604.htm}

This is a blog post and Braille Monitor article that describes the fundamental misguided compassion that is at the root of the problem.  We started the meeting talking briefly about Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and how this unfair, discriminatory, immoral provision of low expectations keeps over 400,000 workers with disabilities employed at subminimum wages, some at pennies per hour.

2.         The Commensurate Wage Fallacy

{https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/commensurate-wage-fallacy}

This blog describes the flawed formula used to calculate the subminimum wages.  We did not go into detail about the formula because the discussion would have wasted time, and the staffer can review this document later.  It was important to simply state that the subminimum wages are subjectively determined by the employer. 

3.         List of Supporting Organizations

{repeal_14(c)_support_list_8_5_13.doc}

We provided our list of over fifty supporting organizations, which includes organizations run by people with disabilities and businesses employing people with disabilities.  It is important for them to know that this effort is supported by more organizations than just the NFB.  We were careful to state that these organizations primarily support the repeal of Section 14(c) of the FLSA, but most, if not all, would not object to an amendment striking Section 511 from the WIA.  

4.         NFB Section 511 Position Statement

{Section 511 Position Statement 2013.docx}

We used our position statement to transition our discussion topic to Section 511 of WIA.  We stated our objection to incorporating the low-expectation language of Section 14(c) into the empowering legislation of the Rehabilitation Act.  We stated that although the language is supposed to reduce the number of youth with significant disabilities from being tracked into sheltered subminimum wage workshops, it does the opposite.   

5.         Sam Bagenstos Report

{sam bagenstos analysis of section 511.docx}

We used the Bagenstos report to show that a former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official concurs with our assessment of the Section 511 language.  This report also states that the language in Section 511 will slow the progress currently being made with respect to the enforcement of Olmstead, a landmark Supreme Court decision mandating community integration for people with disabilities.  

The staff person asked about more objective research information and I referred her to our NFB Fair Wages Web page at: www.nfb.org/fair-wages.  Links to research information that supports our efforts can be found under the heading "Research/Reference Materials." 

We used the following documents to demonstrate that the following professional rehabilitation organizations strongly object to the transfer of RSA to the Department of Labor:

6.         Council of State Agencies for Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) Comments

{Final  Comments on Title V, Bipartisan Senate Draft to reauthorize the WIA.docx}

7.         National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB) Comments

{NCSAB Comments on WIA Reauthorization July 22 2013.doc}

8.         Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) Comments

{CRCC - VRA Response July 22 2013, Final Version.docx}

9.         Council of Rehabilitation Educators (CORE) Comments

{CORE Letter to HELP Committee 22July13-2.pdf}

10.       National Council of State Rehabilitation Councils (NCSRC) Comments

{NCSRC LTR JULY 13 FINAL.doc}

I also left her my business card so that she will be able to follow up with any questions she may have.  I hope this information is helpful.  Please let me know if I can be of further assistance, and please keep me posted on your progress.

Sincerely,

Anil

Mr. Anil Lewis, M.P.A.

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities" 

http://www.nfb.org/fairwages

Work: 410-659-9314 ext. 2374

Twitter: @anillife

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