Landmark Agreement…

The first time I stepped into a facility for developmentally disabled adults in Rhode Island to teach a creative writing workshop, I was surprised to find that the facility was, in fact, a jewelry making factory. When I asked the writers in the workshop about their manual labor in the facility, they told me that they took great pride in their work–and enjoyed being around other people. But when they told me how much money they were making, I was shocked–and couldn’t believe that such low wages were legal.

Yesterday, however, all that changed–when the Department of Justice announced a “landmark” agreement with Rhode Island to overhaul all of the state’s facility-based adult day programs for people with developmental disabilities. The DOJ found that the people working in these facilities were earning on average just $2.21 an hour.

According to the settlement agreement, which is intended to serve as a blueprint for the rest of the nation, people with developmental disabilities will be moved from segregated facilities to mainstream work environments, and the state will place them in jobs which pay at least minimum wage. I’m so happy that my old friends in Rhode Island–who taught me a great deal about language and creative expression–will finally be getting the justice and wages they so rightly deserve…