Pennies for Pay Must End
Recently, the Green Bay Press Gazette featured an article that reviewed the ongoing debate over the use of subminimum wages for people with disabilities. The publication found over 10,000 Wisconsin citizens with disabilities earn less [...]
On Simulated Communities for People with Disabilities: From Agency Businesses to Gated Disability Neighborhoods
Ah, vacation. I am sitting on a porch in a house in the Great Smoky Mountains, altitude about 4,000 feet, in just about near-perfect weather. My family and friends have enjoyed great food, good company, [...]
Employment First: A Promising Hope, but at Risk of Being Watered Down
Last month, I had the privilege of speaking at two statewide disability employment conferences, one in New York and one in Minnesota. These events focused on "Employment First." This concept refers to having employment be [...]
A Turkey Farm Lesson about Group Labor and Sub-Minimum Wage
Not only is sub-minimum wages for workers with disabilities unfair, one of the effects of such wages and using group labor of people with disabilities is the dehumanizing impact it creates on the workers by [...]
Thoughts on Employment First: Don’t Water it Down!
Employment First refers to a relatively new movement to change public policy for individuals with disabilities who receive publicly funded day services. Employment First begins as an effort to change the expectations people have about [...]
Restrict Choice? You Bet!
Numerous recent comments sent to the US Administration on Developmental Disabilities from the "Voice of the Retarded" have centered on maintaining a range of choice as the main argument against the desegregation of institutions into [...]
Why I Resigned from The Alliance for Full Participation
We often compromise in the interest of a final goal – in life and politics you must – but in this instance, well, it was just way over the line for me. For many years [...]
Illinois Nursing Home Residents with Disabilities File Suit
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, [...]
On the Road in Iowa and Kansas
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 [...]
The Fallacy of the “Choice Argument”: Most People in Sheltered Workshops Want a Job
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 [...]
Employability is a Given, Not Line to Cross
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 [...]
The Fallacy of Low Productivity: Why People with Disabilities Are Relegated to Segregated Facilities at Low Wages
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 [...]
35 Year Anniversary of the Lawsuit that Helped Close Willowbrook
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 [...]
Does Inclusion Restrict Choice? Or Does It Offer More?
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 [...]
Update to the Subminimum Wage Issue
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 [...]
Sub-Minimum Wages: A Disability Oxymoron
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 [...]
We Are Failing Students with Disabilities in Transition from School to Work
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 [...]
More Evidence of the Ills of the Disability System
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 [...]
It takes a community…
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 [...]
The Two Sides of the Employment First Coin
Like a two-sided coin, the advocacy movement of Employment First has two core linked components. The first side is about ending obsolete practices – to phase out the needless segregation, less-than-minimum wages, and limited work [...]
Transition from School to Work: Time to Move Out from your Classroom Walls
Having just returned from speaking at a Transition Conference in Illinois, I was encouraged by how much enthusiasm the transition teachers there brought to learning about community employment. They took furious notes during my opening. [...]
Workshops: The Burden of Proof is On You
Over the last year, I've been in front of numerous audiences to discuss the concept of Employment First and the need to phase out facility-based sheltered workshops. I don't make the argument lightly. It is [...]
Mixed Marketing: How Job Development Can Be Hindered by Typical Agency Communications
Recruiting for an Intensive Behavioral Group Home Having visited and consulted with many disability employment organizations over the years, I believe the single skill most in need of training is in the area of [...]
The Bad Wages Stew: The Sub-minimum Pay Exposé Includes at Least 8 Critical Issues We Need to Face
Earlier this summer, the NBC's news show, Rock Center, aired a critical examination of some Goodwill agencies paying workers with disabilities wages as low as 22 cents per hour. Some viewers responded with outrage; others [...]
Sheltered Work Phasing Out in Rhode Island; Will Your State Host the Next Olmstead Investigation?
This week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a landmark settlement based on the conclusion that the state of RI and the city of Providence failed to provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities [...]
The Two Sides of the Employment First Coin
Like a two-sided coin, the advocacy movement of Employment First has two core linked components. The first side is about ending obsolete practices – to phase out the needless segregation, less-than-minimum wages, and limited work [...]
Transition from School to Work: Time to Move Out from your Classroom Walls
Having just returned from speaking at a Transition Conference in Illinois, I was encouraged by how much enthusiasm the transition teachers there brought to learning about community employment. They took furious notes during my opening. [...]
Workshops: The Burden of Proof is On You
Over the last year, I've been in front of numerous audiences to discuss the concept of Employment First and the need to phase out facility-based sheltered workshops. I don't make the argument lightly. It is [...]
Mixed Marketing: How Job Development Can Be Hindered by Typical Agency Communications
Recruiting for an Intensive Behavioral Group Home Having visited and consulted with many disability employment organizations over the years, I believe the single skill most in need of training is in the area of [...]
The Bad Wages Stew: The Sub-minimum Pay Exposé Includes at Least 8 Critical Issues We Need to Face
Earlier this summer, the NBC's news show, Rock Center, aired a critical examination of some Goodwill agencies paying workers with disabilities wages as low as 22 cents per hour. Some viewers responded with outrage; others [...]
Sheltered Work Phasing Out in Rhode Island; Will Your State Host the Next Olmstead Investigation?
This week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a landmark settlement based on the conclusion that the state of RI and the city of Providence failed to provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities [...]
The Two Sides of the Employment First Coin
Like a two-sided coin, the advocacy movement of Employment First has two core linked components. The first side is about ending obsolete practices – to phase out the needless segregation, less-than-minimum wages, and limited work [...]
Transition from School to Work: Time to Move Out from your Classroom Walls
Having just returned from speaking at a Transition Conference in Illinois, I was encouraged by how much enthusiasm the transition teachers there brought to learning about community employment. They took furious notes during my opening. [...]
Workshops: The Burden of Proof is On You
Over the last year, I've been in front of numerous audiences to discuss the concept of Employment First and the need to phase out facility-based sheltered workshops. I don't make the argument lightly. It is [...]
Mixed Marketing: How Job Development Can Be Hindered by Typical Agency Communications
Recruiting for an Intensive Behavioral Group Home Having visited and consulted with many disability employment organizations over the years, I believe the single skill most in need of training is in the area of [...]
The Bad Wages Stew: The Sub-minimum Pay Exposé Includes at Least 8 Critical Issues We Need to Face
Earlier this summer, the NBC's news show, Rock Center, aired a critical examination of some Goodwill agencies paying workers with disabilities wages as low as 22 cents per hour. Some viewers responded with outrage; others [...]
Sheltered Work Phasing Out in Rhode Island; Will Your State Host the Next Olmstead Investigation?
This week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a landmark settlement based on the conclusion that the state of RI and the city of Providence failed to provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities [...]
The Two Sides of the Employment First Coin
Like a two-sided coin, the advocacy movement of Employment First has two core linked components. The first side is about ending obsolete practices – to phase out the needless segregation, less-than-minimum wages, and limited work [...]
Transition from School to Work: Time to Move Out from your Classroom Walls
Having just returned from speaking at a Transition Conference in Illinois, I was encouraged by how much enthusiasm the transition teachers there brought to learning about community employment. They took furious notes during my opening. [...]
Workshops: The Burden of Proof is On You
Over the last year, I've been in front of numerous audiences to discuss the concept of Employment First and the need to phase out facility-based sheltered workshops. I don't make the argument lightly. It is [...]
Mixed Marketing: How Job Development Can Be Hindered by Typical Agency Communications
Recruiting for an Intensive Behavioral Group Home Having visited and consulted with many disability employment organizations over the years, I believe the single skill most in need of training is in the area of [...]
The Bad Wages Stew: The Sub-minimum Pay Exposé Includes at Least 8 Critical Issues We Need to Face
Earlier this summer, the NBC's news show, Rock Center, aired a critical examination of some Goodwill agencies paying workers with disabilities wages as low as 22 cents per hour. Some viewers responded with outrage; others [...]
Sheltered Work Phasing Out in Rhode Island; Will Your State Host the Next Olmstead Investigation?
This week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a landmark settlement based on the conclusion that the state of RI and the city of Providence failed to provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities [...]