[Nfbnet-members-list] #FixWIA Wednesday and Twitter Chat Thursday

Tue Feb 25 19:51:13 UTC 2014

Fellow Federationists:

Tomorrow, Feb. 26, we will host another #FixWIA 
Wednesday. A few weeks ago, we had our best 
campaign yetwe, with the help of TASH and APSE, 
generated over 600 tweets with the hashtag 
#FixWIA! Unfortunately, our Senators still do not 
understand our concerns with WIA.

As you know, we are concerned with two aspects of 
the Senate’s version of the reauthorization of 
Workforce Investment Act (WIA). First, Section 
511 of Title V brings the payment of subminimum 
wages to people with disabilities into the 
Rehabilitation Act for the first time. Second, 
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) will 
be transferred from the Department of Education 
to the Department of Labor. No research shows 
that this move will improve services for people 
with disabilities, and we fear that services will 
be less effective. If you would like 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. 

Participating in #FixWIA Wednesday is simple! All 
you have to do is generate a few tweets 
expressing your concerns with WIA by tagging your 
senators and using the hashtag #FixWIA. You can 
find the handles of your Senators here: 
<http://govsm.com/w/Senate>http://govsm.com/w/Senate. 
Feel free to customize the below tweets with your Senators’ handles.

@SenatorDurbin, will you #FixWIA? Please 
#Strike511 and keep RSA in the @usedgov. 
Americans with Disabilities are counting on you.

@SenatorBarb Section 14(c) is discriminatory. 
Don't ease it, end it. #Strike511. #FixWIA.

@SenJohnsonSD, Quality education and 
rehabilitation lead to competitive integrated 
employment. Keep RSA in @usedgov. #FixWIA.

@SenJohnBarrasso, Shaking up the #rehabact 
without data & research could adversely affect 
millions of PWDs. #FixWIA. Keep RSA in @usedgov.

@SenFeinstein, Sec. 511 puts subminimum wages of 
Sec. 14(c) of the FLSA into the #RehabAct. Please #FixWIA. #Strike511.

@StabenowPress, do you support equal pay for 
people with disabilities? #FixWIA. #Strike511.

Last time, the Association of People Supporting 
Employment First (APSE) activated their 
membership to help us reach 600 tweets. They have 
the same concerns with WIA that we do. In fact, 
APSE and the NFB will be hosting a Twitter Chat 
on Thursday Feb. 27 from 1-2 PM Eastern about 
subminimum wages and President Obama’s recent 
Executive Order. I encourage anyone who can to 
please participate in the chat by tweeting 
questions and concerns about subminimum wages. 
The hashtag for this event is #EmploymentFirst.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 
previous #FixWIA campaigns. I know the more 
#FixWIA Wednesdays we do, the more tweets we will 
be able to generate. The more tweets we generate, 
the more our Senators will become aware of our 
concerns. Once Senators understand our concerns, 
change will happen. Let your concerns 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 about #FixWIA Wednesday 
or the twitter chat, 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

Rose Sloan
Government Affairs Specialist

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Phone: (410)-659-9314 ext. 2441
E-mail: <mailto:rsloan at nfb.org>rsloan at nfb.org
Twitter: @RoseSloan8

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

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.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnet-members-list_nfbnet.org/attachments/20140225/676b55d8/attachment.html>