November 18, 2016
In September, the presidential candidates responded to questions posed by the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Council on Independent Living, and the REV UP Campaign, as to the candidates’ positions on issues important to many in the disability community. Although ACCSES has previously circulated the questionnaire responses, we want to provide President-Elect Trump’s responses separately as they might be of greater interest now following the election. To read his answers to the questionnaire, click here.
December 8, 2016
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP'S POSITIONS ON DISABILITY ISSUES
In September, the presidential candidates responded to questions posed by the American Association of People with Disabilities, the National Council on Independent Living, and the REV UP Campaign, as to the candidates’ positions on issues important to many in the disability community. Although ACCSES has previously circulated the questionnaire responses, we want to provide President-Elect Trump’s responses separately as they might be of greater interest now following the election. To read his answers to the questionnaire, click here.
December 8, 2016
MAINE IS BACK IN THE HOT SEAT
Maine has continually been held up by disability advocates fighting to limit a full array of employment opportunities and housing options for people with the most significant disabilities. Just this week, another scathing article was published on the growing waiting lists in Maine and the lack of funding. All while people with disabilities are denied jobs and housing options are shrinking. Click here to read the article published in the Portland Press Herald.
[See also, "Negative effects of Maine's Conversion from Sheltered Workshops to Integrated Employment", 6/23/15]
Maine has continually been held up by disability advocates fighting to limit a full array of employment opportunities and housing options for people with the most significant disabilities. Just this week, another scathing article was published on the growing waiting lists in Maine and the lack of funding. All while people with disabilities are denied jobs and housing options are shrinking. Click here to read the article published in the Portland Press Herald.
[See also, "Negative effects of Maine's Conversion from Sheltered Workshops to Integrated Employment", 6/23/15]
DISABILITY ADVOCATES HIT WITH THE REALITY OF THEIR ACTIONS
Many disability advocates have pushed policy makers to close center-based employment programs and to get rid of the special minimum wage. In Massachusetts, the state, with urging from advocates, closed its sheltered workshops "with the promise of expanding more inclusive employment and meaningful day opportunities for people with I/DD." Instead, Massachusetts cut funding, and with it the prospect of hoped-for jobs. (ACCSES notes that people with disabilities who are working may not wish to be placed in "meaningful day programs," any more than any other worker wants to be laid off.) In a guest column for a Massachusetts newspaper, Gary Blumenthal acknowledges that while Massachusetts' unemployment rate may be 3.3 percent overall, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is over 70 percent. This result comports with the risk a recent report from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee warned about if Section 14(c) were to be eliminated. Keeping workers attached to the workforce can make a substantive difference in future success. Eliminating jobs without jobs to replace them only harms the people who want to work. ACCSES continues to advocate that people with disabilities have a right to choose where they want to work; our State and Federal governments must keep a full array of options available through common sense policies that protect the right to work.
Many disability advocates have pushed policy makers to close center-based employment programs and to get rid of the special minimum wage. In Massachusetts, the state, with urging from advocates, closed its sheltered workshops "with the promise of expanding more inclusive employment and meaningful day opportunities for people with I/DD." Instead, Massachusetts cut funding, and with it the prospect of hoped-for jobs. (ACCSES notes that people with disabilities who are working may not wish to be placed in "meaningful day programs," any more than any other worker wants to be laid off.) In a guest column for a Massachusetts newspaper, Gary Blumenthal acknowledges that while Massachusetts' unemployment rate may be 3.3 percent overall, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is over 70 percent. This result comports with the risk a recent report from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee warned about if Section 14(c) were to be eliminated. Keeping workers attached to the workforce can make a substantive difference in future success. Eliminating jobs without jobs to replace them only harms the people who want to work. ACCSES continues to advocate that people with disabilities have a right to choose where they want to work; our State and Federal governments must keep a full array of options available through common sense policies that protect the right to work.
