Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Sheltered Workshops, DOJ & Olmstead

Leslie Winkler stacks nozzle mechanisms for spray bottles in a box. Six per box, just so, over and over again. At other times she might be putting labels on bags of coffee. All day.
Winkler does this three days a week in a warehouse in an industrial park in eastern Independence.Barb Winkler of Lee’s Summit is grateful that her 33-year-old daughter, who has Down syndrome, has a place to go and be productive, even if she earns only $1.85 an hour at the JobOne sheltered workshop.“You want them to optimize their potential and do everything they’re capable of doing,” Winkler said of people with disabilities.The question is whether this warehouse is the best way to do that.The future of such places — sheltered workshops that pay subminimum wage to workers with various disabilities — is uncertain in light of a new Medicaid rule and a new law signed last month. Based on a 1999 Supreme Court decision, the two actions confirm the government’s commitment to integrate people with disabilities into the larger community as much as possible.




Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article1297132.html#storylink=cpy

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