if you get a disability check from the government. It’s very low. Maybe that part of the law needs changed.

I worked at two different places like this in my career working with people with disabilities. One man I know got his first check for $5 and quit.

beyond the SSI threshold, which is $943/month they can have part or all of their SSI benefits removed. If someone on SSI works and earns $300/month, their SSI check would be only $643/month. If they earn $1000/month, they lose their SSI. They are allowed to deduct certain work related expenses.

https://www.usa.gov/disability-benefits-while-working


See this post. Explanation is better than mine!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3298659

I wonder how much the prisons want all the contracts that used to be won by sheltered workshops. Of course, the prisoners get hardly any pay for their work, so where there's profit to be made by moving in on social services private companies will influence legislature.

The workshops paid piece rate and that rate had to be regularly researched and updated by law. But there was an outcry over how the workshops "segregated those with disabilities from the rest of the community" and we needed to have integrated workplaces.

Without sheltered workshops, people with severe physical or intellectual disabilities who could have done real work at their own pace for piece rate, had a stable work place, friendly staff, friends at work and their own money are left sitting around and wondering when their vocational rehabilitation counselor might find a business that is accepting and inclusive. Guess what? DEI is getting pushback, so I don't think we're gonna see a hiring wave for folks with disabilities.

Sad that employers won't do more job carve outs, etc. They can't afford it, they say. Carve outs, accommodations and modifications are specialties of the vocational rehab world and were available at (the now closed) sheltered workshop programs. It's rare to find an employer willing to accommodate workers with disabilities. Prisons will use prisoners, some with disabilities, for their contracts involving prison labor, and they'll pay the prisoners less than what people working in sheltered workshops were making.

Many qualify for Medicaid, SSI or SSD and in order to continue to receive these benefits their income must be under a certain amount. Most of my clients enjoyed working, loved learning new skills, making spending money and enjoyed the socialization. The only way to change this would be for the federal government to raise the amount of assets an individual can have without affecting their benefits. I worked for NYS and the business's that participated in hiring disabled individuals received benefits from the state and arranged pay around the disabled employees benefits so they wouldn’t be affected. They also allowed outside agencies to come into their business to train disabled workers so there’s quite a bit involved and I don’t want the employers to take heat for this, when it’s the government that dictates how an individual receiving benefits will be paid.

the constitution exempts prisoners from the ban on slavery.

Gee, I wonder why the US has such a high incarceration rate.

of their costs of incarceration. However, that doesn't mean that private companies should be benefiting in that the private company should be reimbursing the state for the full amount of their pay with a portion of that pay going to the inmate, a portion saved (with interest) for the inmate upon release and a portion reimbursing the state/county for the expense with the amounts fully documented.

If an inmate dies while in prison, the savings portion should go to any minor children of the inmate, if any, or to a general victim's reimbursement fund.

As to the disabled, they should receive at least minimum wage (which is way too low) with the employer paying a portion (with the rest paid by the state/feds) which rises to the full amount over time based on the government's determination as to their output as compared to other workers. Their other benefits should be based on a measure of income that rises with inflation like SS does. So the maximum income level that qualifies them for benefits rises over time.

for all sorts of infractions, as well as to deny the right to vote.

There is a definition. However, it's the sheltered workshops which are taking advantage of the situation.

Some people just cannot "work". They can perform tasks that do not rise to the level of minimum wage. However, they should not be pushed into "work" without being properly compensated. These people generally do not have the skills to live on their own. Many live with their parents or in group homes. They can't be on their own for an extended time. (Someone needs to make sure they go to bed. Wake up. Eat etc). The tasks they do, do not meet minimum wage requirements.

For example:
Making necklaces stringing beads is considered menial work, however it as to whether it is "work" would depend on the quantity of necklaces produced per hour. A person with an intellect (IQ of 70 and above) and physical skills (able to sit, see, stand, and motor skills) can probably produce X necklaces, (and compensated at minimum wage) whereas someone with significant impairments can only produce Y necklaces.
Both can be disabled, however the first person is a disabled person who can "work", the second would be a disabled person who cannot meet the legal standards of "work".


Also see this post for a good explanation

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3298659

minimum wage. The employer might be paying less because neither is able to do as much as an average minimum wage worker not disabled so the government makes up the difference, paying more of the share of Y's pay than X's pay. As X gets closer to to meeting the "standard", the employer is obligated to pay an increased share of the wage. When X meets the standard, the employer should be paying X's full pay. For Y who may or may not be able to get any better, the employer should pay an increased portion of the pay if their output goes up and the government continues to pay the difference between what the employer is required to pay based on output and the minimum wage.

As to benefits provided by various government agencies where benefits are based on earning below a certain level, that level should go up based on the cost of living so if the wage rises, the recipient doesn't hit the benefit limit if their increased income doesn't exceed the increased maximum level because that level also goes up.

Goodwill helps jobless people - who may or may not be handicapped - get training and build up a positive employment record so they can get a full-time job (with full salary and benefits) elsewhere.

I hesitate to speak of it on social media platforms because...well, they're not sorry about the scapegoating, gaslighting, or the fundamentalist, religious BS my mother exhibited more and more as she aged. All persons have had either mental health or lifestyle issues they chose to "hide." Dearest sister once called on me to be the better angel, and I quote..."You had healthy children, both girls, so they deserve absolutely nothing." Dearest mother and I quote, "I never want to speak to you again." She said my father was ALWAYS on the same page. Having had enough, I honored her request to protect my girls from that toxicity, and my siblings took her/their side.

I don't know much about my niece past the age of 5 when I took her to a Disney flick at a theater. She has severe developmental disabilities supposedly caused by a birth injury but was mainstreamed in a progressive public school. Today is her birthday; she's not quite 40.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheltered_workshop


The term sheltered workshop refers to an organization or environment that employs people with disabilities separately from others, usually with exemptions from labor standards, including but not limited to the absence of minimum wage requirements.[1]

In the United States, an exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 allowed a lower minimum wage for people with disabilities, intended to help disabled World War I veterans have opportunities for employment. Since then, non-profit organizations have hired disabled workers in sheltered workshops, with about 300,000 individuals working in this arrangement in 2015. At the end of the 20th century, a movement to end sheltered workshops gained traction, with supporters stating that the jobs pay low wages, lack advancement training and opportunities, permanently trapping disabled people in those jobs while reducing their independence, and are discriminatory because they segregate disabled workers into separate work environments. Disability service providers, many parents, and disabled workers themselves support the workshops and state that eliminating the minimum wage exemption would eliminate those jobs and the choice to work (because many with severe disabilities will never be able to perform at the level of an ordinary worker) and thereby prevent disabled people from enjoying the many non-wage benefits of work (like a sense of pride for their societal contribution), and replace it with adult day care. By 2023, fourteen states had passed laws banning subminimum wages.[2]

__________

If someone cannot live independently and is receiving special housing, care etc and cannot do regular work, then I think these arrangements are OK as long as they aren't exploited or expected to perform work at a minimum wage standard.

The problem is, they are exploited and expected to "work". When in reality, sheltered workshops should be considered "compensated productive activity" instead of "work". There is a legal definition of "work" in the US. (It is work compensated at minimum wage or tips etc)
Meaningful activity is somewhat parallel to therapeutic activity, however a therapeutic activity, would not be compensated.

Unfortunately, too many workshops take advantage of "cheap labor". The workshops should be enriching environments. Unfortunately, many are not. They should have "social events" and "independent living" events etc. It is not expensive to arrange simple social events etc.

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