[nfbwatlk] letter regarding opposing section 511

Julie Warrington jdwtlc at frontier.com
Mon Jul 18 16:17:29 UTC 2011


Well written. great job!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Humberto Avila" <avila.bert.humberto2 at gmail.com>
To: <nfbWaTlk at nfbNet.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2011 9:38 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] letter regarding opposing section 511


> Hello everyone,
>
> I've just written to Senator Patty Murray about opposing section 511
> legislation. I am sending my letter here also just in case. If you want 
> you
> can work with it as a sample so you can write your own letter and yes, of
> course you may replace the information provided.
>
> letter:
>
> Dear Senator Patty Murray:
>
>
>
> Currently there is a bill working its way through the United States Senate
> to reauthorize the rehabilitation act as amended.  I am a beneficiary of
> this contract America has made with her blind citizens.  You and other
> Americans taught me the special skills necessary to function as a person 
> who
> is blind.  You then bought me special equipment and provided me a high
> school education.  I have been working ever since to fulfill my part of 
> the
> contract, having attended Eisenhower High School in Yakima, WA since the
> year 2006, and being able to obtain a high school diploma this year. Now I
> am headed out to college and want to fulfill my American dream of becoming
> employed full time in a career job that I actually like and will benefit
> from.
>
>
>
> Currently the proposed reauthorization contains Section 511, which would
> sanction the payment of sub-minimum wages to people who are blind or
> otherwise disabled.  There is no place in the rehabilitation act of 1973 
> for
> this kind of provision.  The emphasis in the rehabilitation act is to 
> train
> people for competitive employment, to forbid discrimination against
> qualified applicants, and to commit the federal government to buying
> technology, which has nonvisual access built into it.  This latter 
> provision
> has served to provide a powerful incentive for companies to make their
> products accessible nonvisually. Everything about the rehabilitation act 
> is
> progressive.  Sanctioning the sub minimum wage in this act is completely 
> out
> of character with the reason for its creation.  There is already language 
> in
> the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows the payment of sub minimum 
> wage.
> It was passed in 1938 and should be repealed, but the statement the sub
> minimum wage makes about blind and otherwise disabled people is completely
> incompatible with the thrust of the rehabilitation act and I urge that
> section 511 of the Workforce Investment Act be removed.
>
>
>
> Please feel free to write or call me if I can answer questions you have
> about this legislation.  My telephone number is (509) 823-8370, and you 
> may
> use the e-mail address, which is avila.bert.humberto2 at gmail.com.
>
>
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Humberto Avila
>
>
>
> end of letter
>
>
>
> I didn't provide contact information except for email and phone as I wrote
> this letter in the online form.
>
>
>                  --
> Humberto Avila
> Please consider the environment Before Printing this email.
>
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