40 Big Ideas

Summary

People with disabilities should get the same pay for doing the same jobs as anyone else. They shouldn’t be paid below the minimum wage. Service providers working with people with disabilities should first try to help them get jobs in the community before signing up for other types of day services. All of these ideas are in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It is a federal law that encouraged us to think about work differently than we had done in the past.

For most people, their job is more than just a paycheck. Work provides people with structure in their daily lives, a feeling of self-worth, a sense of purpose, and a source of relationships with other people. This is as true for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD) as for anyone else. Yet throughout the history of disability services in the United States, supporting people with IDD to work has not been a priority. In fact, people and policies have assumed for decades that individuals with IDD are incapable of working competitively within their communities. For too long, the only options for people with IDD to receive support to work were in segregated centers or group job sites. Often, options paid people below minimum wage.

In the 1980s and 1990s, supported employment began to expand due to the advocacy efforts of people with disabilities and professionals who believed that, with the right supports, people with IDD could work in community jobs The assumption that people with IDD can work and that services should prioritize employment as a primary outcome was supported in federal law with the passing of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) in 2014.

WIOA—which passed with bipartisan support—is a law designed to strengthen the overall U.S. workforce. Still, the provisions concerning people with disabilities have had a profound effect on employment services for people with IDD. This law declared that publicly-funded supports must give people with disabilities opportunities that lead to competitive integrated employment (CIE). CIE is the most inclusive employment outcome and is defined in WIOA as full- or part-time work in which a person is paid the same rate, receives the same benefits, and has the same advancement opportunities as employees without disabilities in similar positions, while also having opportunities to interact with other people without disabilities. CIE means having a regular job in the community that anyone, with or without disabilities, can have.

In addition to promoting CIE, WIOA places restrictions on the payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities. WIOA requires that any person earning less than the federal minimum wage annually receive information and referrals about work options and career counseling. Schools are not allowed to contract for students to work in subminimum wage jobs, disrupting the special education to sheltered workshop pipeline that was common for many youth with IDD. Also, young people aged 24 and under must have documentation that they received certain services, career counseling, and referral to resources assisting with CIE before they can earn subminimum wages.

WIOA matters because people with disabilities need to learn about their options and the opportunities they can have when they make more money. While many people with IDD receive public benefits that help cover the costs of their daily supports and some basic needs, benefits do not cover all expenses. They do not cover the expenses that enhance life, such as going out to dinner with friends or entrance fees to events and activities. Working provides many new opportunities in a person’s life, and people with disabilities shouldn’t limit themselves or be limited by others.