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Labor Pains
In honor of Labor Day, I thought it was only appropriate to dedicate this week’s blog posting to employment and disability. Twenty-five years after the ADA was passed, while we have made huge strides, disabled people, unfortunately, still also face huge barriers in the employment arena.
When looking at employment through the lens of disability, there seems to be three main issues happening that are pretty problematic. One is, for those who are seeking employment, there are still significant barriers to gaining it. Secondly, there are entirely too many people with intellectual or developmental disabilities that are working in sheltered workshops, at subminimum wages. Thirdly, there are many disabled people that choose not to work for pay and are being shamed by family and friends on a daily, if not hourly, basis. None of this is acceptable.
For those seeking employment, according to the Office of Disability Employment* Policy, the current unemployment rate among nondisabled workers is 5%; however, 10.2% of those with disabilities looking for work currently remain unemployed. However, this does not count those with disabilities living in an institution, such as a nursing home, as the Census Bureau does not count them in any of their data. 203,000 people** under the age of 65 currently live in a nursing home in the United States. Of those 203,000 people, its safe to assume that at least some would like to work for pay. The reason why the unemployment rate for disabled people is double that of nondisabled workers can be directly attributed to many barriers, such as: direct discrimination, lack of access (to transportation and reasonable accommodations in the workplace), lack of education/training and the work disincentives of Medicare and Medicaid.
Of those that are working, 30% of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities are working in sheltered workshops. In case you’ve never heard of a sheltered workshop, they are organizations that employ people with disabilities at subminimum wages. Often times, wages are less than $1/ hour and workers do not have benefits, such as workers compensation insurance. Just last year, President Obama ***signed a new law regulating that people with disabilities under the age of 24 will no longer be allowed to work for less than the federal minimum wage, unless they first receive pre-employment transition services at school and try vocational rehabilitation services. While this is a huge step toward ending sheltered workshops, there is still work to be done to achieve equality for the many thousands of people over the age of twenty-four that are working at these facilities.
Last, but definitely not least, is the issue of those within the disability community that are currently not employed and not seeking employment, no matter what the reason is. For many people, work is part of how they define who they are; however, it is not the ONLY possible definition of someone’s purpose in life. If one chooses to define who they are with unpaid work, it does NOT, in any way, mean they are lazy or not giving back to society. Some of the people I know that are giving the most to society and making the biggest moves for social change are not the ones getting paid for it.
Leah Smith is a writer, communications professional and disability advocate. Leah holds a Bachelor’s in Public Relations and a Masters in Public Administration and Policy. She has focused her career on creating access and equality for all. Leah currently resides in Philadelphia with her partner and two dogs.
***http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2014/07/22/obama-law-limiting-sheltered/19538/