What if I told you there were high-paying government
jobs for the severely disabled? I'd be swamped by
e-mails or called a liar. But it's true - if you have
the right disability.
In 1971, America had an unprecedented number of
disabled veterans returning from Vietnam. Many could not
return to jobs in the private sector because of
prejudices against disabilities, a lack of skills or the
inability to find employment because of psychological
disabilities.
Congress decided to do the right thing and expanded a
little-known program called Javits-Wagner-O'Day. Created
in 1930, it set aside government contracts for the
blind.
President Nixon's chief employment training official
for disabled people, Edward Newman, pushed through
Congress a plan to open the program to veterans with
missing limbs, paralysis or brain damage, plus 12
million working-age adults left unemployed by major
disabilities.
Newman told Congress the expansion would include the
mentally impaired, paraplegics, quadriplegics, deaf
people with severe psychomotor problems and people with
other kinds of neurological impairment such as severe
cerebral palsy or epilepsy.
This was a groundbreaking shift in the drive to
retrain thousands of people with disabilities to enter
mainstream America. But what began as a truly
commendable program has turned into a cash cow for
greedy nonprofit organizations.
According to the Oregonian, "With the
acquiescence of regulators, nonprofits gradually have
expanded the notion of severely disabled to include
ailments never discussed when the law was amended in
1971. The additions include conditions such as
alcoholism or chemical dependency, minor learning
disabilities, limited English, nasal polyps, carpal
tunnel syndrome, allergies, arthritis and speech
impairments. It also has stretched the boundaries of the
program's most fundamental rule: 75 percent of the work
hours logged by contractors must be supplied by blind or
severely disabled workers."
Most of the workers now employed under
Javits-Wagner-O'Day are earning wages well above workers
with severe disabilities. While the average disabled
worker earns minimum wage, under Javits-Wagner-O'Day a
worker with back pain can earn between $20-$25 per hour.
To add insult to injury, some of the executives of
nonprofits receiving contracts under Javits-Wagner-O'Day
are earning record salaries - as high as $500,000. The
larger nonprofits hire lobbyists and trade groups to
secure Javits-Wagner-O'Day contracts.
An investigation into the program seems like a
no-brainer. But since 1999, any attempts to cap
executive salaries or audit employee records have been
squashed.
With so many charities and small nonprofits losing
millions in federal support, this program demands a
thorough, unflinching house cleaning.
Linda Merrill, chief executive at Envision, a Kansas
nonprofit that primarily employs blind workers, told the
Oregonian it's time for "severely disabled" to
be defined more strictly. "We're kind of joking
among ourselves," said Merrill, "that instead
of National Industries for the Severely Handicapped,
it's National Industries for the Severe Hangnail and
Hemorrhoids."
Accountability in government is the joke of the day.
I'm not laughing.
McKee, a wheelchair user, is a freelance writer
and producer. You can e-mail her at chairgrrl@chairgrrl.com.
