Five individuals with physical disabilities living in nursing homes have sued Illinois state officials for unnecessary institutionalization as discrimination under the ADA. The lawsuit seeks an order permitting people with disabilities in Cook County, IL, to access services in their own homes or in community-based settings rather than nursing homes. The class-action lawsuit charges that [...]
My apologies to my readers for the gap in posting. Since the release of my book, Raymond's Room, and with the end of the fiscal year, I have been very busy. Right now I am in Kansas, having just arrived from Iowa, where I presented at a statewide Case Management Conference.I spoke to numerous Iowa [...]
Despite numerouse national and state policies promoting integrated employment, 76% of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities are served in facility-based, segregated programs - usually work activity centers or sheltered workshops. Whenever advocates talk about closing a sheltered workshop so the people there can get real jobs, the argument of choice is raised. "But this [...]
During a recent training course about supported employment I gave, I found myself in a debate with a manager of an agency over whether people with disabilities should be "presumed employable." I was most discouraged by this professional's statement that the "overwhelming majority of these consumers are not employable." To me, that is the single [...]
In a recent class I was facilitating, I again ran into the argument from someone that people with disabilities need sheltered workshops because they are not productive enough to be in the business world. Aside from the moral issue of segregating a whole class of people, let us address this stereotype of non-productiveness.There is no [...]
This month marks 35 years since the filing of a lawsuit against the infamous Staten Island, NY, institution for people with disabilities, the Willowbrook State School. This action paved the way for ending decades of horrid institutionalized conditions for people with developmental disabilities throughout the United States. How far have we come since then?In my [...]
I recently received an interesting letter from a gentleman with a disability who states the he feels "very at home among the handicapped." He wonders why I have such a stress on inclusion. Is that not "cutting off an option?" - that of being with others who also have a disability?A fair question. I think [...]
Here is an interesting development concerning the sub-minimum wage issue (see my previous post). Six states enacted measures last year to raise the minimum wage. Two of the six – Ohio and Missouri – included exemptions for workers with disabilities from the minimum wage provisions. The other four – Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Montana – [...]
Arizona state legislators recently held a hearing to review the state's new minimum-wage law, which provides $6.75 an hour and does not exempt workers with disabilities from minimum wage. The hearing was packed, with advocates for both sides of the issue. In the US, certain workers, including those with disabilities, can be paid less than [...]
The future of changing disability segregation is with young people.One of the most serious concerns I have about the continued segregation of people with disabilities is based on the lack of progress we have made with young adults with severe disabilities leaving school. Far too many "transition plans" still simply recommend sheltered workshops or other [...]
One of the things I talk about in Raymond's Room is how some agencies in the disability industrial complex have lost touch with their mission. This recently came to light again in Minnesota. An AP article from January 21 wrote about the Star Tribune's investigation of Minnesota Diversified Industries (MDI). MDI plans to layoff 250-300 [...]
Hi everyone. Wow- writing and releasing Raymond's Room has been an amazing journey. There is already a lot of information on the web site about who I am and what this book is all about - so I won't explain all that here. What I would like to share in this blog is how this [...]
