NDSC Govermental Affairs Newsline

 

We are pleased to report that plans for our NDSC Day on the Hill on July 19th are really coming together! Currently we have over 250 people registered, including more than 60 self-advocates. Thirty-five states and Puerto Rico are currently represented.

 

Our first pre-training conference call, held on April 17th received a fantastic response from attendees and will be available to Hill Day registrants on-line. A mandatory in-person training for Hill Day participants will be held the evening before Hill Day on July 18th.

 

This event provides a great opportunity for advocates to connect with their Congressional representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives, advocate on pressing issues important to people with Down syndrome and establish important relationships with their Washington D.C. representatives.

 

We encourage all those who wish to attend but have not registered to do so soon as spaces are filling up. You may register for Hill Day at this link.

 

In 2011 the National Disability Rights Network issued a report entitled Segregated and Exploited: The Failure of the Disability Service System to Provide Quality Work. This report discusses how federal policies are contributing to the segregation and exploitation of workers with disabilities.

 

A follow up report, Beyond Segregated & Exploited,Update on the Employment of People with Disabilitiesexamines the progress that has been made in some states and activities undertaken to promote policies and funding that lead to real jobs paying real wages.

 

In January, 2012, Disability Rights of Oregon and the Center for Public Representation filed a class action lawsuit against Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and other state officials for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit states that Oregon has segregated more than 2,300 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in sheltered workshops, where those workers have little or no interaction with non-disabled peers. The suit also charges that the people with disabilities are paid far below the state’s minimum wage of $8.80.

The plaintiffs state that Oregon currently spends $30 million a year on people with disabilities in sheltered workshops. The plaintiffs also state that it would be much cheaper to fund programs that promote integrated, supported employment and are asking the federal court to direct the state to provide these services.

 

Last month the U.S. Department of Justice filed a “statement of interest” in the case discussing the “integration mandate of the ADA” and enforcement of the Olmstead decision, a Supreme Court case that called unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities illegal. To read the statement, go to http://www.ada.gov/olmstead/q&a_olmstead.htm.