[Nfbnet-members-list] Tomorrow is our second #FixWIA Wednesday!

[Sloan, Rose]

Federation Family,

Tomorrow is our second #FixWIA Wednesday. We had 
a very good campaign a few weeks ago, but 
unfortunately our Senators do not understand our concerns with WIA yet.

During our last campaign, we had just over 150 
tweets with the hash tag #FixWIA. When we set our 
minds to something, there is nothing the 
Federation cannot accomplish. I am setting the 
goal of 250 tweets with the hash tag #FixWIA. 
When tweeting, do not forget to use your 
Senators’ handles. You can find them, along with 
their Facebook pages here: 
<http://govsm.com/w/Senate>http://govsm.com/w/Senate.

For those of you who prefer to e-mail your 
Senators, I have attached the letter I plan to 
send to my Senators. Please consider using this 
as a template. For those of you who prefer to 
call your Senators, feel free to use this email as a guide for your call.

If you would like even more information about our 
concerns with WIA, please see our blog post at: 
<https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia>https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with our 
first #FixWIA campaign. We have invited other 
disability organizations to help with this 
effort­together I know we can come up with 250 
tweets that embed the hash tag #FixWIA.  Let your 
concerns about WIA be heard! Through our efforts, 
we can ensure that fewer people with disabilities 
are subjected to detrimental subminimum wage sheltered employment.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out 
to me at <mailto:rsloan at nfb.org>rsloan at nfb.org or 
by calling 410-659-9314 extension 2441.

Thanks everyone,

Rose


February 5, 2014

Dear Senator,

I am writing to express my strong opposition to 
Section 511 of Title 5 of the reauthorization of 
the Workforce Investment Act (S. 1356).  My main 
concern is that Section 511 introduces subminimum 
wage employment into the Rehabilitation Act for 
the first time ever.  Even more importantly, the 
title of Section 511 is not reflected in the text 
of Section 511.  While the title claims to put 
limitations on employment of individuals with 
disabilities at subminimum wage, Subsection a (4) 
of the bill text allows anyone to enter subminimum wage sheltered employment.

Senator, I have done my homework with respect to 
the impact of subminimum-wage sheltered 
employment on people with disabilities.  Studies 
show that people with disabilities who enter 
sheltered workshops rarely transition into 
competitive, community-integrated 
employment.  Even though the stated goal of WIA 
is to ensure community-integrated employment, 
subminimum wage employment is not a viable path 
to that goal.  Less than five percent of people 
with disabilities in subminimum wage sheltered 
employment receive a job in community-integrated 
employment.  Please strike Section 511 from WIA.

Additionally, I am concerned about the proposed 
move of the Rehabilitation Services 
Administration (RSA) from the Department of 
Education to the Department of Labor.  Just as 
sheltered workshops focus on what people with 
disabilities cannot do, the Department of Labor 
looks at what a person can currently do without 
taking into consideration their potential to 
build further skills.  The role of the Department 
of Education is to educate, or teach people new 
skills.  I fear that if RSA is moved to Labor, 
people with disabilities will not be able to 
reach their full potential.  Furthermore, there 
is no research that shows that moving RSA to the 
Department of Labor will be more efficient for 
people with disabilities.  Why not save the money 
that would be spent to make the move, and put it 
towards improving the services that RSA provides?

I hope that I can count on your support.  I 
sincerely feel that if you took the time to 
review Section 511 for yourself that you will 
realize that people with disabilities will be 
hindered by the current language in WIA.  Please 
offer an amendment that will strike Section 511 
and will remove the language that moves RSA from 
the Department of Education to the Department of Labor.

I look forward to hearing back from you.  I fear 
that WIA may be coming to the floor soon.  Please 
contact me at <mailto:Rsloan at nfb.org>Rsloan at nfb.org.

Thank you,

Rose Sloan


Rose Sloan
Government Affairs Specialist

“Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities”
<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages>http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages

National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
rsloan at nfb.org
(410)-659-9314 ext 2441

The National Federation of the Blind needs your 
support to ensure blind children get an equal 
education; to connect blind veterans with the 
training and services they need; and to help 
seniors who are losing vision continue to live 
independent and fulfilling lives. To make a 
donation, please go to <http://www.nfb.org>www.nfb.org.

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