Recently I went to a play with friends in the hood. They had no disability consciousness and mentioned something about the best time to shop at Goodwill. After the discussion I mentioned that Goodwill pays their workers sub-minimum wage. A woman from another row said, “How can they do that?” I explained Ability One was an outdated federal law to pay less to those of us with significant disabilities. As soon as I said the “d” word, the woman was so done with the conversation. Those with disabilities were clearly sub-workers and paying sub-minimum was just fine.
If this is the non-disabled, general public’s view, no wonder we have such an uphill struggle reforming Ability One and the alleged corrupt 14c sheltered workshop system. Still, the disability movement is working hard for reform now. Please join us by singing the petition at www.ReformAbilityOne.org
Last September Tom Olin and the Road to Freedom Bus Tour joined NCIL in refusing to participate in Michigan’s ADA 25 celebration because an alleged corrupt contractor funded it. Now there is a federal investigation of corruption and a movement started by several national organizations calling for reform. So, community, where are you? We all have priorities and also moments to support each other.
All of us in the Road to Freedom Bus Tour are disability strong for the #ReformAbilityOne campaign. We have signed the petition and been active on social media. Rooted in Rights is making powerful videos and DisBeat, a project of The ADA Legacy Project, is assisting with media.
AbilityOne is the law that allows SourceAmerica to distribute about $2.3 billion dollars to non-profit agencies for employment of people who are blind or have significant disabilities. Under the law 75% of the hours worked have to be by workers with significant disabilities. Part of the program allows the non-profits to pay less than minimum wage.
It seems the contractors SourceAmerica chooses are flouting the law. CNN’s Anderson Cooper exposed the alleged corruption of the program and Wikileaks released insider tapes discussing the fraud. Anderson Cooper’s staff notes several federal government agencies are investigating corruption. (See links below).
Seven national disability groups wrote a letter calling for reform of the AbilityOne program and how it is being implemented.
Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE), Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), National Disability Rights Network (NDRN), National Federation of the Blind (NFB), TASH, and United Spinal Association called for reform of AbilityOne. Other groups are joining in the call for transparency and accountability, end workplace segregation, pay fair wages, provide real job training and award contracts to people with disabilities.
Having this many national membership groups call for Reform of AbilityOne is a unity reminiscent of when we began organizing in earnest for ADA. Join this campaign to reform AbilityOne and stop one of the worst travesties of injustice perpetrated against people with disabilities.
Links to Resources and Key Organizations For Reform of AbilityOne
Go to WikiLeaks and watch CNN and NBC coverage. https://wikileaks.org/sourceamerica-tapes/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/28/us/disabled-work-program/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/us/abilityone-investigation-update/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/curtis-l-decker-jd/people-with-disabilities-_3_b_8303198.html
Background NBC Coverage: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/rock-center/52280748
Sample Wiki:
Transcript #5 2013-12-12 pg34:24 "Why is the Ginn Group still at Fort Knox? I don't get it. They don't hire anybody with disabilities. They're getting 20 -- it was something crazy like 20 million. I want to go back and look, but I think it was like 20 million a month or -- I mean, it's just crazy money at Fort Knox, and -- and I said, why isn't Lakeview or some CRP doing the work?"
#ReformAbilityOne
Videos at www.RootedInRights.org
