fair wages for persons with disabilities

A few months ago I wrote my house rep about a bill that is going to be voted on. The bill would insure that disabled employees would get paid the Federal minimum wage for work that they do. Mr. Bishop wrote me back to say that he could not support the bill because it would limit a company's ability to train disabled employees. So what he is saying is that in order to train disabled people so that they can one day earn minimum wage, companies must first benefit from their slave labor. He claimed that businesses would not be able to "help" the disabled if they had to pay them a fair wage. He claims that this 'unintended" consequence is the reason he cannot support raising wages for a fifth of the population. What he doesn't seem to understand is that ending this so called flexibility that companies have is the entire intent of the bill.
For Rob Bishop to defend the rights of a company to pay people a sub standard wage rather than defend the rights of one in five persons to get paid the minimum wage is upsetting to say the least.
I urge all who read this to contact your house rep in support of workers rights. The bill is HB 3086 As long as companies are allowed to use the disabled as slave labor more of us will never find a way out of poverty.

The need for respite care

A 22 year old woman with FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) found tortured and murdered by her care givers highlights the need for respite care and more state oversight of the disabled.
Let me take on care first. It is common knowledge that taking care of someone with a disability is stressful. Some may feel that if someone else is willing to take on the burden it is better for them. If you know someone willing to take care of your disabled loved one you should check them out thoroughly, not only that but if you do not live in the home check on them frequently. In some states it is possible for families to get respite care. That is someone who will come and help you with the care of your special needs child, or parent. This is necessary because care giver burnout is very common. If the father of this woman had been offered this care maybe he would have been willing to seek custody of his daughter instead of leaving her to die.

As to the subject of more state intervention. If any person is collecting state and or federal dollars on behalf of someone who is elderly or disabled they need to be visited by a social worker. The disabled did not fight to escape abusive and horrific institutions so that we could live with money hungry abusive thieves. What happened to this woman is horrific, it should not be allowed to happens again.

Why the ADA needs to be rewriten.

The ADA has no federal backing. Any and all disputes are to be handled by the civil court system. This is a problem because it creates a class of sleazy lawyers who use equally sleazy disabled people to get settlements from establishments that are not quite compliant. This leads to a hostile atmosphere for all of the non sleazy disabled people who just want to go to a restaurant or a movie. In Eureka California a business owner closed his doors rather than make his restaurant accessible. The people of the community blame the disabled for this action, when the fault really lies with the law. No business owner who has just been made to pay damages to someone in a wheelchair is going to want said person as a customer. If the ADA enforcement was federal disabled people would not be the scapegoats for bad and even good business owners.
The business community needs to be shown the benefits of accommodation. Such as more revenue, because right now all they see is high handed lawyers and punishment.

California mom denied right to children

An article in the Friday issue of the Utah Statesman told the horrific story of medical negligence that lead to a mother being paralyzed. She is unable to speak or communicate verbally, because of a series of medical mistakes. Her husband left her and is raising her children in LA while her parents care for her in S.C.
The father of the children claims that being near their now disabled mother is traumatizing and he wants them to live with him and see their mother infrequently if at all. I was shocked and horrified that in the year 2011 we would still be discussing whether someone with a physical disability has the right to be a mother or not. This story is right out of the nineteen seventies, how obscene that this woman would even be dragged into court. I have seen religious leaders come out in support of mothers who expose their children to countless harms in the name of religion. I would be horrified if those same leaders did not stand up for this woman's God given and constitutional right to have her children visit her in her home.