Dive Brief:
- Seven leading organizations comprised of Americans with disabilities have announced that they are calling for reform of the AbilityOne Program. They set forth seven principles for overhaul of the program, which affects hundreds of thousands of American workers with disabilities.
- According to the seven organizations involved, the AbilityOne Program must be brought up to contemporary standards of practice for supporting people with disabilities to access competitive integrated employment.
- When the requested reforms are adopted, according to the statement, an inspector general should be appointed to provide rigorous oversight to ensure that the days of exploitation and fraud are brought to an end.
Dive Insight:
"The continued segregation of people with disabilities in employment is unjust, and the payment of subminimum wages is discriminatory and demeaning," said Barb Trader, executive director of TASH, one of the seven groups. "Americans with disabilities must be freed from the overwhelming control of the entities that simultaneously determine their eligibility for services, administer those services, and function as their employers."
In late July, CNN reported that hundreds of protestors marched on marched on Capitol Hill to support the rights of people with disabilities, many calling for an overhaul of the nation's premier program for helping the disabled find jobs. An exclusive CNN investigation found the program is mired in corruption and fraud, according to its sources.
Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "The principles we are setting forth today reflect the hopes and aspirations of all Americans with disabilities. Neither AbilityOne nor any other program that purports to serve us can do so without reference to our own determinations on how to live the lives we want."
