Greetings from the NCIL Employment and Social Security Subcommittee! As we all know, we are in strange, uncharted political waters these days (to say the least). More than ever, it seems, we do not know what the future holds with regards to people with disabilities and the wonderfully diverse, vibrant, cross-cultural, and intersectional community they comprise and represent. Many of the programs we champion and support are in danger of being cut and thus many of our brothers and sisters, family members, community members, etc. are facing great uncertainty if not abject peril.

In these days of “fake news” and distorted facts, we encourage all NCIL activists to be well-versed regarding the President’s proposed budget, especially its designs on cutting Social Security despite assurances this would not happen. We know it is often difficult to make a salient and defensible argument to those who would seek to support these cuts without hard evidence backing up our assertions. The following article from The Hill sheds some great light and provides at least a layperson’s background to speak effectively to this important issue. As is the case with myriad issues we, as purveyors of the Independent Living Movement and all it entails, are often the strongest, most trusted voice when it comes to issues affecting the disability community locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Our Truth is undeniable!

• The Trump Budget Cuts Social Security, Plain and Simple

• Monday, June 26 2017 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. Eastern
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Don’t miss this webinar on Guided Group Discovery: Paving the Way to Employment, in which we will share materials you can use to implement Guided Group Discovery through cross-system partnerships. You also will hear about the many pilot projects in which Guided Group Discovery has been used, and hear from implementers from the public workforce system and their disability partners.  [Read more…]

Earlier today Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), Senator Patty Murray (WA), Congressman Bobby Scott (VA), and Congressman Keith Ellison (MN) introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2017. NCIL supports this legislation and is thankful to its sponsors for taking a step in the right direction toward fair pay for workers, including workers with disabilities.

There are several key provisions in this bill: the minimum wage would be incrementally increased to $15 an hour; tipped minimum wage would be phased out; and the ability of employers to pay employees with disabilities subminimum wage would be sunset. NCIL is very excited to see the inclusion of people with disabilities and the use of 14(c) waivers in this bill.

The use of 14(c) waivers to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage – sometimes just pennies per hour – is a practice NCIL has long opposed. Paying people lower wages on the basis of their disability is discrimination, and this discrimination is one of the factors that has led people with disabilities to experience double the rate of poverty as people without disabilities. This bill takes a practical approach to the issue by providing transition assistance for businesses that have relied on 14(c) certificates to ensure the successful shift to higher wages. Moreover, information on competitive integrated employment will be provided to people with disabilities employed under these programs. These are both important measures that will help to ensure a successful move away from subminimum wages and toward closing the massive wage gap.

People deserve to be paid fairly for their labor, and NCIL applauds the introduction of this legislation. The Raise the Wage Act of 2017 is a step toward eliminating the inequality that low-wage workers face, and a shift toward fair pay for people with disabilities. This bill will benefit workers, but it will also benefit communities, the economy, and the very businesses that employ these workers. The Raise the Wage Act of 2017 is a strong piece of legislation that we hope to see pass in the 115th Congress.

The LEAD Center, in collaboration with the ABLE National Resource Center, will be holding a webinar focused on how individuals with disabilities, and their families, can use ABLE Accounts to increase their financial stability and produce more positive employment outcomes.

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The webinar will take place on April 27 at 3:00-4:30 p.m. EST and aims to demonstrate how provisions in the ABLE Act can enable people with disabilities to achieve competitive integrated employment, begin to save more than $2,000 without fear of loss of SSI and Medicaid eligibility and set longer term goals for financial stability and self-determined and self-directed lives.  [Read more…]

Individuals with disabilities are significantly more likely to be employed if they live in a state that has expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a new study has found. The findings show expansion has allowed individuals with disabilities to increase their employment and not be required to live in total poverty to maintain their Medicaid coverage. Expansion not only enables people with disabilities to work more, which research has shown leads to greater quality of life, but contradicts the argument some have made that Medicaid expansion would “kill jobs” or be prohibitively expensive.

“Our finding has two major health and policy implications. First, in Medicaid expansion states, working-age adults with disabilities no longer will be required to be impoverished and apply for federal disability benefits to be eligible for public health insurance coverage,” the researchers wrote. “Second, to the extent that increased earnings and asset accumulation lead to improved health outcomes and decreased dependence on cash assistance, the shift from means-tested Medicaid coverage to expansion coverage could result in long-term cost savings to state and federal governments.”

Debate about the Affordable Care Act has been intense and discussions of repealing or replacing it have intensified since the election. This article sheds a great deal of light on the importance of the ACA and its impact on Medicaid expansion across the nation, both for states that have opted to expand Medicaid and those still considering this option.

“Medicaid expansion is empowering people with disabilities to go to work, and we would hate to see that rolled back because we could lose those gains.” – Jean Hall  [Read more…]