Pennsylvania is considering a plan that would reduce sheltered workshop jobs, advocating for more community inclusion for adults with disabilities. Read more
sheltered work environment
After New York Times Investigation, Bias Suit Filed on Behalf of Disabled Workers
After a story from Dan Barry, a recipient of the Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability, a bias suit has been filed on behalf of a group of disabled men found working in seedy conditions at a South Carolina meat plant. Read more
Labor Laws and People with Disabilities
The Nation explores why some people with disabilities aren’t guaranteed the minimum wage. Read more
New York Times: The Opinion Pages
In a letter to the editor, Mississippi U.S. Congressman Gregg Harper wrote a recent court settlement regarding segregated work places in Rhode Island is not enough. Harper said a new bill he is cosponsoring, the Fair Wages for Workers With Disabilities Act, would phase out the practice of paying workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage over three years. Read more.
The New York Times
Rhode Island Settles Case on Jobs for the Disabled
The U.S. Justice Department and the State of Rhode Island settled a “landmark case” Tuesday that will effectively halt the long-running practice of segregating people with developmental disabilities from the general workforce by placing them in sheltered workshops and adult day programs.
Federal officials said the case provides a “road map” of compliance for the civil rights of an estimated 450,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the country. Read more.
The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
Help wanted: Jobs for the disabled
Thousands of adults with Down syndrome, autism and other developmental disabilities work in Ohio at jobs that pay less money than a teen-age babysitter earns. Some say the low pay is immoral; others view the federal law as a godsend.
KERO-TV (Bakersfield, Calif.)
Disabled Work Force Inspires Change
One North of the River company is serving as an international example for empowering people with disabilities to become an able part of the workforce.
Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader
School-to-work program gives students a chance to gain job, life skills.
Morganne Box and Ian Featherston like their jobs and the people they work with. They go to work each day confident they are doing something that benefits not only them but others as well.
Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram
Getting work is no easy job for the disabled
Michael Blazek, an out-of-work financial analyst who’s visually impaired, has one way to confront hiring managers’ questions about whether he can do the job. He brings his tools to the interview.
The Des Moines (Iowa) Register
Disabled workers paid cents per hour at state-run homes
More than 300 mentally retarded people are being paid less than the minimum wage to work at the state-run Woodward and Glenwood homes for the disabled.