In a speech focused on supporting job prospects for people with disabilities, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton promised to make colleges and universities more accessible and to eliminate laws that allow employers to pay certain workers below minimum wage.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 be satisfied, not when 60 percent of people with disabilities are not in the
workforce,鈥� Clinton said Wednesday in Orlando, Fla. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to build an inclusive economy that welcomes people with disabilities, values their work, [and] treats them with respect.鈥�
Clinton said that she would fight for people with disabilities to work alongside people without disabilities, for the same salary and benefits. Many youth and adults with intellectual disabilities are employed in segregated settings. (In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice came to a landmark settlement with the Providence, R.I., school district over its use of 鈥渟heltered workshops鈥� for youth with disabilities. Those students are now more fully integrated into school.)
The subminimum wage, which allows employers to pay some workers鈥� salaries as low as a few cents an hour, is a vestige from an 鈥渦gly, ignorant past,鈥� Clinton said.
Clinton also reminded the audience of her proposal, which was released in January as part of a birth-through-adulthood approach to supporting people with autism. Autism Works would include post-graduation transition planning for every student with autism and a public-private partnership with potential employers. (Such transition planning is actually already required for all students with disabilities as part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.)
Though autism does not represent the largest disability category under the IDEA (that is 鈥渟pecific learning disabilities,鈥� such as dyslexia), autism is the fastest-growing.