[nfbwatlk] letter regarding opposing section 511

[Humberto Avila]

Hello everyone,
 
I've just written to Senator Patty Murray about opposing section 511
legislation. I am sending my letter here also just in case. If you want you
can work with it as a sample so you can write your own letter and yes, of
course you may replace the information provided.
 
letter:
 
Dear Senator Patty Murray:

 

Currently there is a bill working its way through the United States Senate
to reauthorize the rehabilitation act as amended.  I am a beneficiary of
this contract America has made with her blind citizens.  You and other
Americans taught me the special skills necessary to function as a person who
is blind.  You then bought me special equipment and provided me a high
school education.  I have been working ever since to fulfill my part of the
contract, having attended Eisenhower High School in Yakima, WA since the
year 2006, and being able to obtain a high school diploma this year. Now I
am headed out to college and want to fulfill my American dream of becoming
employed full time in a career job that I actually like and will benefit
from.

 

Currently the proposed reauthorization contains Section 511, which would
sanction the payment of sub-minimum wages to people who are blind or
otherwise disabled.  There is no place in the rehabilitation act of 1973 for
this kind of provision.  The emphasis in the rehabilitation act is to train
people for competitive employment, to forbid discrimination against
qualified applicants, and to commit the federal government to buying
technology, which has nonvisual access built into it.  This latter provision
has served to provide a powerful incentive for companies to make their
products accessible nonvisually. Everything about the rehabilitation act is
progressive.  Sanctioning the sub minimum wage in this act is completely out
of character with the reason for its creation.  There is already language in
the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows the payment of sub minimum wage.
It was passed in 1938 and should be repealed, but the statement the sub
minimum wage makes about blind and otherwise disabled people is completely
incompatible with the thrust of the rehabilitation act and I urge that
section 511 of the Workforce Investment Act be removed.

 

Please feel free to write or call me if I can answer questions you have
about this legislation.  My telephone number is (509) 823-8370, and you may
use the e-mail address, which is avila.bert.humberto2 at gmail.com. 

 

Respectfully,

Humberto Avila

 

end of letter

 

I didn't provide contact information except for email and phone as I wrote
this letter in the online form. 

 
                  --
Humberto Avila
Please consider the environment Before Printing this email.