A recent blog on the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) website, extracted from the NFB 2013 Annual Report, discusses fair wages and equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities in the workforce. The blog underlines efforts of the NFB to work for equality and full participation of blind people in every aspect of society, including employment. It further comments on various barriers faced by individuals with disabilities when obtaining adequate employment; including unfair wages and lack of awareness of assistive technology which leads to low expectations and negative attitudes. In closing, the blog addresses the need to end subminimum wages and correct this injustice.

The National Federation of the Blind is, at its core, a grassroots civil rights movement consisting of blind people, our family members, and friends. Our movement is founded on the principles of equality and full participation of blind people in every aspect of society. Although we have made significant strides toward achieving equality of opportunity, many barriers to our full participation as American citizens continue to exist. Most notable are the barriers that blind people face in our efforts to obtain competitive, integrated employment. Although laws prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities in employment are in place, ignorance about the true employment capacity of the blind, lack of awareness about assistive work technologies among employers, the deficiency of proper educational and training opportunities for blind workers, and the overwhelmingly low vocational expectations for the blind held by society all contribute to an unemployment rate of over 70 percent for working age blind adults. Members of the NFB accept the responsibility and welcome the opportunity to play a part in developing strategies to address all of these issues effectively, but our ability to be successful is significantly hindered when we are denied the same fundamental rights as every other American citizen.

You can read the full blog on the NFB website by selecting the link below.

https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fair-wages-workers-disabilities

Last year, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, along with Not Dead Yet and the National Council on Independent Living, held a Day of Mourning for people with disabilities killed by their relatives and caregivers.

Day of Mourning began as a response to the murder of George Hodgins, a 22-year-old autistic man from California, and to the way people were talking about his death. Far too often, when a disabled person is murdered by a caregiver, journalists write as though it is the disabled victim who has perpetrated a crime simply by existing. In discussing the killing, people say that we should feel sorry for the murderer, because they had to live with a disabled relative. When a disabled person is murdered, many people act as though the murder victim’s life, not their death, was a tragedy.

On March 30th, 2012, we held vigils in 18 cities to remember those we have lost, and to remind the world that their lives had value.

On March 31st, 2012, a 4-year-old autistic boy named Daniel Corby was drowned in a bathtub by his mother.

There is so much work to be done to change public perceptions about the worth and the quality of our lives. That is why the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network will be holding Day of Mourning again this year on Friday, March 1st. We need your help to organize vigils across the country.

Join us on March 1st as we will remember our dead and take a stand against the violence facing our community.  If your group is interested in leading a vigil in your area, you begin by finding a good spot for it, making sure you can gather a group of people there, and spreading the word to your local community. If you want to organize a vigil, contact Zoe Gross of ASAN at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for instructions and support.

In response to the gun violence in Connecticut, the White House has charged Vice President Biden with leading a commission to respond to this issue. The National Disability Leadership Alliance has written the Vice President to express our concern that the Commission’s recommendations not support the inaccurate idea that people who have psychiatric or neurological disabilities are prone to violence, because it is inaccurate, perpetuates the stigma associated with these disabilities, discourages people from seeking wanted services and potentially threatens the rights of people with disabilities.  NDLA also urged the Vice President to assure that the rights of people with disabilities are respected and that policy makers directly include people with disabilities in these discussions.

Read the NDLA letter… (PDF)