[Rehab] Question about WIOA and Subminimum Wage Sheltered Workshops

[Justin Salisbury]

Hi Dan,

Thanks so much for your reply. You're the kind of expert I was looking for. 

It sounded to me like those states were actually providing these programs as Pre-ETS services, as if the subminimum wage sheltered workshops were the chosen service provider to administer a Pre-ETS VR service. I think the transition-age students are getting paid a minimum wage, but what I am concerned with is the idea that they're getting their introduction to work from a place that just should not be introducing anybody to work. 

It's hard for me to put my finger on it, but I just feel like there's a strong influence that the first employer will have over somebody. When I think of the first employer who gave me a real job, I think of them with gratitude, and I feel a sense of allegiance to them because they gave me an opportunity. I guess I feel like that about basically everyone who has ever employed me. Following that, when these transition-age youth go on to look for employment after high school or maybe college, those subminimum wage sheltered workshops will have a special place in their heart and may even be the first place that they look. The special provisions of the Pre-ETS program will be over, and they run the risk of getting sucked  into the same old subminimum wage sheltered workshop system that we talk about so often in the Federation.

Additionally, I'm sure that there are some unproductive behaviors or other workplace themes that the workshop will be likely to impose upon them, even if it's unintentional. Even if the Pre-ETS folks are placed in community job settings, they're still going to spend some time at the workshop for orientations or something, and they're naturally going to identify with the adult role models that they see in the workshop. If I had seen that kind of thing when I was in high school, I would have thought something like, "My God, is that really what my future is going to be? Life really sucks when you have a disability. My career prospects disappeared with my eyesight." 

Does that make sense?

Aloha,

Justin

-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Frye <dbfrye0468 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2019 5:54 AM
To: Rehabilitation Counselor Mailing List <rehab at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Justin Salisbury <PRESIDENT at alumni.ecu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Rehab] Question about WIOA and Subminimum Wage Sheltered Workshops

It certainly violates the spirit of the law. And, if the vocational rehabilitation agencies in question do not undertake a significant amount of paperwork, getting the consumers to except these terms, and not ask for VR services, it is definitely a violation, based on my most recent understanding of the law. There are pending regulations that may change the definition of integrated, competitive employment, but to the best of my knowledge these have yet to be fully adopted.

Dan Frye
(410) 241-7006 (personal mobile)

Please forgive brevity and any typographical errors.
Sent from my iPhone

> On 20 Jan 2019, at 2:03 am, Justin Salisbury via Rehab <rehab at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Aloha everyone,
> 
> I was talking with a friend today and came out of that conversation with a question about how WIOA Pre-ETS funding works. Some state VR agencies have been setting up Summer Youth Employment Programs where they contract in subminimum wage sheltered workshops to administer the summer work experiences. To me, this seems to go against the spirit of WIOA, but I don't know if it violates the actual federal VR policy.
> 
> Can anyone tell me if it does?
> 
> Mahalo,
> 
> Justin
> 
> Justin M. Hideaki Salisbury, MA, NOMC, NCRTB, NCUEB Board Member | 
> National Association of Blind Students
>   A proud division of the National Federation of the Blind
> (808) 797-8606
> president at alumni.ecu.edu | www.nabslink.org<http://www.nabslink.org/>
> 
> 
> 
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