In the name of "dignity," federally funded disabilities rights groups are pushing to ban employers -- 90 percent are disability nonprofits -- from paying subminimum wages to adults with intellectual disabilities, writes Jill Escher, the mother of two profoundly autistic children, in The Free Press.
If it becomes illegal to pay less to disabled workers who are less productive, most adults with intellectual disabilities will sit home, she argues. These are people who want the dignity of paid work, but need to work slowly at simple jobs with lots of supervision. The severely disabled can't go out and compete for jobs.
Disability rights groups believe "sheltered workshops" and other subminimum wage jobs perpetuate "segregation, exploitation and limited opportunity."
Since 2018, the number of sheltered jobs has declined by 68 percent, reports the Department of Labor. Illinois recently became the 16th state to eliminate the subminimum wage for the severely disabled. Democrat Theresa Mah, co-sponsor of the Dignity in Pay Act, told Escher that if agencies that run sheltered workshops can't afford to pay minimum wage, their laid-off workers could go to "the museum, park, zoo or do art."
In December, President Biden's Department of Labor proposed a rule eliminating minimum-wage exemptions as "no longer necessary" owing to the "dramatic expansion of employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities," writes Escher. There has been no such expansion for the severely disabled, she writes. However, "the proposed rule is currently on ice" due to President Trump's executive order suspending new federal regulations.
Escher thinks disability rights groups have focused on people with mild disabilities, ignoring the needs of those who are more severely disabled, like her son and daughter. She'd like them to have the opportunity to work -- not just go to the zoo or draw pictures. It's not about the money.
Massachusetts is threatening to close a hospital-school for children with severe physical disabilities, writes John Hirschauer in City Journal. But some of the children have no safe place to go.
Federal and state policies "discourage special residential placements for disabled students," he writes. But these facilities can provide specialized medical treatment and services that aren't available in residents' communities.
Massachusetts also has closed five of its seven public institutions for people with developmental disabilities.
As those with severe disabilities will be getting public assistance, the work is giving them purpose and not for livelihood. It's only been 130 years since the impact of minimum wage laws on the slow workers with disabilities.
These are people who want the dignity of paid work, but need to work slowly at simple jobs with lots of supervision. The severely disabled can't go out and compete for jobs.
Several years ago my wife went through 3 months of physical therapy, and used our local disabled transit services to make her appointments. She was surprised at the number of handicapped who were riding every day to their jobs, delighted to do so. What was more surprising was that many of these same handicapped were the only members of their families who had a paying job. And that's what the thumbsuckers cut.
State--mandated price floors hurt most the sellers of low-end goods and services.
Minimum wage laws, child labor laws, and compulsory school attendance laws put on-the-job training off limits to many normal children.