Thanks for this. The Sheltered Workshop piece you linked to was interesting, I recall visiting such a business years ago (the employees' task was filling and gluing together jello boxes, something which I'm sure could have been automated). More recently, I've heard in the UK that the increased minimum wage (and removal of special classification for sheltered workshops) just put disabled workers out of employment altogether.
It's all so sad. Work gives people dignity and purpose. But I keep hearing from social workers and other professionals that it's harder and harder to place disabled people in jobs. During COVID, all those opportunities closed down, because jobs didn't want "unnecessary" people in their workplaces, and many of those opportunities never returned. The unions aren't happy about having sub-minimum wage workers competed for their jobs. Understandable. And now it's almost impossible to hire low-wage job coach to support the workers.
Because I have a flexible work life, I sometimes go for a run mid-morning in the town park. There are so many disabled people there just walking back and forth because they have nothing else to do, no place to go.
Thanks for this. The Sheltered Workshop piece you linked to was interesting, I recall visiting such a business years ago (the employees' task was filling and gluing together jello boxes, something which I'm sure could have been automated). More recently, I've heard in the UK that the increased minimum wage (and removal of special classification for sheltered workshops) just put disabled workers out of employment altogether.
It's all so sad. Work gives people dignity and purpose. But I keep hearing from social workers and other professionals that it's harder and harder to place disabled people in jobs. During COVID, all those opportunities closed down, because jobs didn't want "unnecessary" people in their workplaces, and many of those opportunities never returned. The unions aren't happy about having sub-minimum wage workers competed for their jobs. Understandable. And now it's almost impossible to hire low-wage job coach to support the workers.
Because I have a flexible work life, I sometimes go for a run mid-morning in the town park. There are so many disabled people there just walking back and forth because they have nothing else to do, no place to go.