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WWhen I became disabled in my late teens and started looking for work, I faced barriers including disability discrimination, inaccessible environments and attitudinal biases. I lost a job simply because a free adjustment was rejected. My story is not unique. And it’s just one example of how systemic barriers prevent this Disabled people gain access to meaningful work.
Another big one: a nearly 90-year-old federal law called the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that allows employers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage, sometimes as little as cents on the dollar. Finally, Congress is seriously considering legislation that would end this relic of the New Deal, known as Section 14(c), which confines people with disabilities to a lifetime of poverty and segregation.
President Biden campaigned to end this discriminatory federal program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, and disability rights advocates have worked with bipartisan congressional champions like Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Representative Bobby Scott of Virginia, and Republican Senator Steve Daines. of Montana and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, to get the Transition to Competitive Integrated Employment Act (TCIEA) across the finish line as the 118th Congress ends after the election. Republican leaders, including Neil Romano, support the reforms.
When President Roosevelt signed the FLSA of 1938, it was a landmark law that established minimum wage, overtime, and protections against child labor, but initially it excluded several groups of workers. When it was first passed, it did not include farmworkers, domestic workers and others, many from marginalized communities, including Black and immigrant workers. This was largely due to political compromises to gain support from Southern Democrats, who wanted to maintain the status quo of labor practices that profited from the exploitation of these workers.
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Over time, the FLSA was amended to include some of these previously excluded groups. In 1966, agricultural and restaurant workers gained coverage under the law, and in 1974 it included domestic workers. But in 2024, workers with disabilities will still be legally allowed to be paid less than the minimum wage based on their productivity. Although efforts to phase out this exclusion have increased in recent years, workers with disabilities remain the only group still legally subject to subminimum wages under federal law.
States like Alaska, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Vermont have already abolished Section 14(c), proving that a fair and equitable labor market for workers with disabilities is possible. Additionally, red states like Utah have taken significant steps toward ending Section 14(c). It’s time to bring this reform to the federal level.
The intent of Section 14(c) was to allow employers, especially sheltered workshops, to pay employees with disabilities based on their productivity compared to non-disabled employees. The idea was that by offering subminimum wages, employers would be incentivized to hire disabled workers who would otherwise be excluded from the labor market. However, it has become a convenient loophole for employers to secure cheap labor while exploiting workers with disabilities without any consequences. By allowing these practices to continue, we enable the exploitation of an already marginalized group, further entrenching them in poverty rather than providing opportunities for growth and independence.
The idea that pay should be linked to productivity is fundamentally flawed, especially when we consider that non-disabled workers are rarely, if ever, paid solely on their productivity. In most industries, non-disabled employees are compensated at a standard rate regardless of their individual performance, and factors such as seniority, education or company role often play a much larger role in determining pay. If all workers, regardless of disability, were paid solely on the basis of productivity, it would expose the absurdity of this metric as a fair measure of value. Productivity fluctuates based on numerous factors, such as the work environment, employment, and access to resources; factors that disproportionately affect people with disabilities as a result of the systemic barriers they are confronted.
Section 14(c) only masks a much larger problem: the broken and inaccessible systems that limit opportunities for people with disabilities.
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We must reform systems that limit people with disabilities to decade-long state waiting lists to receive necessary home and community services, that restrict upward mobility to move states and careers, and that confine our community to asset and income restrictions that equate to a lifetime. of poverty. This is not the American Dream: a disincentive to work, a choice between paid work and essential support, perpetuating poverty and making it virtually impossible to build savings or financial stability.
Many people with disabilities are forced to start their own businesses because traditional employment opportunities are inaccessible. That’s what I did, frustrated by my own struggles and the lack of disability representation. Whether it concerns inaccessible workplaces, low wages or societal prejudices, the barriers that people with disabilities face in the labor market are numerous. We are often forced into entrepreneurship, and yet disabled entrepreneurs are They are 400 times less likely to receive venture capital than their non-disabled peers.
This is ironic given the labor shortage and demand for creative, adaptable workers; qualities that people with disabilities inherently possess by navigating a world not designed for us. Despite this, People with disabilities are twice as likely to be unemployed in the USand those with intersectional identities face even higher rates.
Perhaps the most important barrier is societal attitudes, negative perceptions and assumptions about the abilities of people with disabilities. Many employers still hold the preconception that people with disabilities are less capable, less productive, or require too many accommodations to be worth hiring. According to the Center for Talent Innovation 62% of employees with disabilities have ‘invisible limitations’ and many do not disclose them for fear of discrimination.
Addressing these barriers requires policy changes and a fundamental change in the way we view disability in the workplace. We must recognize that people with disabilities bring valuable skills and perspectives, and that with the right access they can succeed as well as, if not better than, their non-disabled counterparts, and that we all, if we are fortunate enough have to live a long life will at some point become disabled. Disability is a natural part of human diversity.
As we consider the myriad challenges our community faces and how we hold our elected leaders accountable, we must start by eliminating the subminimum wage. We can then work to advance proactive federal solutions that will create accessible, inclusive pathways to employment and entrepreneurship.
Having had to forge my own path when traditional employment closed its doors, I am determined to ensure that no other person with a disability is ever forced to do the same. But if they choose to do so, they should be given the funding, support and access needed to succeed on their own terms.
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