[The term "Sheltered Workshop" is used pejoratively by many advocacy organizations promoting the elimination of these programs. Other terms, such as facility-based or center-based work programs for people with severe disabilities are equally valid and often preferred by those who need and want these programs to continue, even when they pay less than minimum wage as allowed by law. Any of these terms mean the same thing as far as I am concerned.]
A 1998 Technical Assistance Circular from the U.S. Department of Education on State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies and Community Rehabilitation Programs gives some historical perspective on the origins of employment programs for people with severe disabilities:
"In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Wagner O'Day Act to provide employment through the sale of products to the Federal government for persons who were blind. Congress amended this Act in 1971 as the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (JWOD) to also include Federal contracts for products and services and expanded the Act to provide employment opportunities for other persons with severe disabilities..."
The 1971 amendments to the act include expanded employment opportunities. State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies were encouraged to coordinate with Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) that employ people at or above minimum wage, but also to provide “extended employment”. Extended employment is defined as "work in a non-integrated or sheltered setting for a public or private non profit agency that provides compensation in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, and any needed support services to an individual with a disability to enable the individual to continue to train or otherwise prepare for competitive employment, unless the individual through informed choice chooses to remain in extended employment”[emphasis added].
One of the criticisms of the 1938 law is that it is old - sometimes the word "archaic" is used. Tell that to people receiving social security old age benefits based on a 1935 law, and I doubt that many of them will return their checks because the law is old.
A criticism of the 1971 amendments (JWOD) is that the people who passed the law were somehow unenlightened and did not believe, as many advocates now claim, that everyone with a severe disability can work in integrated, competitive employment. Thousands of people in center-based work programs and their families disagree. They need and value the types of employment and other services offered by these so-called archaic work programs. Many disabled individuals have tried integrated, competitive employment, and either could not find or keep a job or could not function in competition with other employees in integrated work settings.
Vocational Rehabilitation programs that train and provide services for people with disabilities for competitive employment are time-limited and the goals of these programs are out of reach for many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). WIOA, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act signed by President Obama in 2014, loosened up some of the requirements for vocational rehabilitation services, but it prioritizes integrated competitive employment above work in non-integrated work settings that may not be suitable for many people with IDD.
Supported Employment Services, are defined in the DD Act (The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000) for people with IDD as follows:
The term 'supported employment services' means services that enable individuals with developmental disabilities to perform competitive work in integrated work settings, in the case of individuals with developmental disabilities
The 1971 amendments to the act include expanded employment opportunities. State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies were encouraged to coordinate with Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPs) that employ people at or above minimum wage, but also to provide “extended employment”. Extended employment is defined as "work in a non-integrated or sheltered setting for a public or private non profit agency that provides compensation in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, and any needed support services to an individual with a disability to enable the individual to continue to train or otherwise prepare for competitive employment, unless the individual through informed choice chooses to remain in extended employment”[emphasis added].
One of the criticisms of the 1938 law is that it is old - sometimes the word "archaic" is used. Tell that to people receiving social security old age benefits based on a 1935 law, and I doubt that many of them will return their checks because the law is old.
A criticism of the 1971 amendments (JWOD) is that the people who passed the law were somehow unenlightened and did not believe, as many advocates now claim, that everyone with a severe disability can work in integrated, competitive employment. Thousands of people in center-based work programs and their families disagree. They need and value the types of employment and other services offered by these so-called archaic work programs. Many disabled individuals have tried integrated, competitive employment, and either could not find or keep a job or could not function in competition with other employees in integrated work settings.
Vocational Rehabilitation programs that train and provide services for people with disabilities for competitive employment are time-limited and the goals of these programs are out of reach for many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). WIOA, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act signed by President Obama in 2014, loosened up some of the requirements for vocational rehabilitation services, but it prioritizes integrated competitive employment above work in non-integrated work settings that may not be suitable for many people with IDD.
Supported Employment Services, are defined in the DD Act (The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000) for people with IDD as follows:
The term 'supported employment services' means services that enable individuals with developmental disabilities to perform competitive work in integrated work settings, in the case of individuals with developmental disabilities
- for whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred; or
- for whom competitive employment has been interrupted or intermittent as a result of significant disabilities; and
- who, because of the nature and severity of their disabilities, need intensive supported employment services or extended services in order to perform such work.
Work programs that hire people with more severe disabilities can obtain special wage certificates under the Fair Labor Standards Act to pay employees less than minimum wage, but commensurate with the individual's abilities and productivity. Wage certificates are threatened with elimination as are the programs that employ people with severe disabilities. The claim that these are inherently discriminatory is belied by the protections in law that make acceptance of these services voluntary and a choice among alternatives for employment.
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See also, The DD News Blog "Fact Sheet on Sub Minimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
Comments needed by 12/15/19.
The DD News Blog on supported employment
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