Today’s focus is Disability and Different Abilities. This is the reality for almost 250,000 Americans with disabilities. They are paid below the minimum wage, simply because they have a disability.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 and good progress has been made. However, it has not reached its full potential of assuring equal opportunities to people with disabilities. For example, individuals with disabilities are still more than twice as likely to live in poverty as those without disabilities. Only 32% of working-age people with disabilities are employed, and over 250,000 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities are paid below minimum wage through 14(c) waivers that allow businesses to legally pay people with some disabilities an average of $2 per hour.

People with disabilities still experience many barriers that limit full integration into the community, which create health inequities. They are two times more likely to smoke and are more likely to have had heart disease, stroke, cancer, or diabetes than those without disabilities.