Baltimore, Maryland (November 18, 2021): The National Federation of the Blind, the transformative advocacy organization of blind Americans, applauds the introduction of the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act in the United States Senate by Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Steve Daines (R-MT). This legislation gradually eliminates the payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities over a four-year period and prohibits the issuance of new special wage certificates under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The legislation also incentivizes employers to transition away from a segregated workplace model for people with disabilities and toward competitive integrated employment. Companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 2373.

Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “States and federal agencies increasingly recognize that it is time to move away from the antiquated model of segregated, subminimum-wage employment and toward allowing the blind and other disabled Americans to participate in the kind of meaningful, remunerative work that many Americans take for granted. Blindness does not equal lack of capacity to be productive and we applaud Chairman Casey and Senator Daines for rejecting over eighty years of false thinking about our capabilities.”