Work-Wage Relationships and Individuals with Disabilities
By Cindy Higgins, RIIL (Research Information for Independent Living)
Of the many issues related to low levels of employment among people with disabilities in the U.S., one area of consistent concern is the extremely low number of public school students with disabilities who are not prepared to join the workforce after leaving school.
In a recent article appearing in the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, authors Brown, Farrington, Suomi, and Ziegler cite a number of reasons for this breakdown in the school-to-work transition, including inadequate or inappropriate public school preparatory experiences, counterproductive service delivery models, inadequate or time-limited extra supports, poor job matching, meager incentives for employers, negative attitudes and expectations, sporadic availability of state-of-the-art services, poorly trained support professionals, and absence of real wages. The authors believe that far too many students with disabilities who were fully included in regular education classes now sit at home on waiting lists for daytime support systems because they did not learn what they needed to lead a productive adult life. Regular education also confined students to school grounds and did not allow opportunity for instruction in community living. Sstudy findings were cited which show that more than 800,000 individuals with intellectual and related disabilities are in segregated workshops. More than 218,000 individuals with intellectual disabilities are on waiting lists for vocational and other support services; some have been on lists for 18 years.
The emphasis on academics, not jobs, wrote the authors, counters what those in the field and family know, specifically that ". . .if individuals with disabilities do not have jobs when they exit school, chances are overwhelming that they will be unemployed indefinitely." They believe that a diploma has little meaning to employers who want other indications of achievement and likely success at the workplace.
The authors suggest that one solution is a work-wage social contract and rethinking of wages. They explain that a work-wage social contract:
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Makes arrangements for the short- and long-term interest of the worker, and it recognizes that wages are one of many benefits of work.
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Maintains that individualized arrangements have better outcomes than if they were not in place, and it works with existing laws, rules, and regulations.
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Promotes the section in the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1998 that requires individuals with the most significant disabilities to get services before others if resources are limited.
Regarding wages, the authors believe that many workers with disabilities are productive enough to earn non-subsidized wages their first day in the workplace. Other workers with disabilities are not as capable and must be allowed access to an integrated work environment to learn to produce real work. Their goal should be to work for non-subsidized wages. Subsidized wages then would come from tax dollars, family donations, grants, agencies, foundations, charities, and trusts.
The authors suggest four reasons why a person might receive subsidized wages. For one, unless money is used in the teaching process, the new employee will not learn that work produces money. Another is that laws require workers to get paid. Third, some feel uncomfortable if an individual is working but not receiving money. Subsidized wages provide relief and help to keep that discomfort away from the worker. The last reason is that subsidized pay is part of long-term wage strategy and allows a worker time to learn. Then, productivity standards can be negotiated and non-subsidized wages substituted.
They cite as an example the case of Darin: 58 years old, lived 47 years in a state institution before moving to a supported apartment. He could not talk, read, or write, and he used a wheel chair. He went to work in an office to open envelopes, stamp dates on mail, collate, and staple. His employer decided he was not productive enough to receive non-subsidized wages, but others in his life thought he should keep working for subsidized dollars because there was much else that the job gave him, especially support from coworkers. After three years, his employer decided that Darin was productive enough to earn non-subsidized wages.
Regarding the question as to whether or not there should there be a time limit to the amount of time a worker can be employed in an integrated work environment with subsidized wages, the authors think not. Wrote the authors: "If a work setting can be found that is safe, accessible, socially enhancing, enjoyed, close, a worker should be allowed to function in it indefinitely without nonsubsidized wages. Tragically, far too many individuals with disabilities are required to produce in kinds and amounts that warrant nonsubsidized wages in short periods of time and are given only one or two chances. If they do not succeed, they are referred to segregated workshops, required to sit at home on waiting lists, considered unemployable, etc."
Regarding the notion that a disabled individual do volunteer work and give services without pay, the authors observe that individuals with disabilities rarely volunteer. Those who do are almost always influenced by others in their lives. If a worker who is disabled chooses to produce real work without pay, that is fine. Working productively without wages under some conditions is acceptable if an employee is doing it of his or her own free will and is not being exploited.
The citation for obtaining a copy of the complete report is Brown, L., Farrington, K., Suomi, J., & Ziegler, M. (1999). Work-wage relationships and individuals with disabilities. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 13(1).
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