Segregated and exploited: The failure of the disability service system to provide quality work

Often, good intentions go wrong. Segregated and sheltered work and paying less than the minimum wage are perfect examples of that axiom. They are programs that were designed to help people with disabilities learn meaningful skills and obtain gainful employment, while protecting them from public judgment, ridicule, and shame. Today, we live in an era of evolving thinking about people with disabilities. Attitudes have changed. So have many laws. But most importantly, what has changed is the quality and quantity of information available illustrating that segregating and sheltering workers with disabilities and paying them less than minimum wage is no longer the best course of action. It is time we value the unique skills and talents of people with disabilities and move toward full workplace integration. Through this report, NDRN casts a spotlight on the problems of segregated work, sheltered environments, and sub-minimum wages. This report identifies the barriers to employment that people with disabilities face and dispels myths about their capability to be fully employed, equally compensated, and an integral member of American workplaces and communities. It illustrates a systemic failure to provide hope and opportunity to young people with disabilities who want to transition into traditional work but instead wind up trapped in a sheltered workshop with little chance for something different.