Each year National Industries for the Blind coordinates a public policy forum in Washington DC providing agencies, like Wiscraft, throughout the country the opportunity to engage their legislators on topics that impact the lives, specifically employment, of individuals who are blind. As agencies like ours throughout the country are the nation’s largest employers of individuals who are blind, we feel it is important that members of Congress are aware of how decisions made on Capitol Hill affect our employees.
Throughout the two day program, Wiscraft’s President, Jim Kerlin, and HR/Contact Center Manager, Joseph Leonard, met with staff in the office of Senator Kohl, Representative Moore, representative Sensenbrenner, and had the pleasure of sitting down with Senator Ron Johnson in person. Throughout our time on “The Hill” we focused our conversation on the following two issues.
- Getting the Division for Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) to consider employment at organizations like Wiscraft as qualified employment outcomes by having the Workforce Investment Act amended to include “informed consumer choice at an AbilityOne job” in 29 USC 705(11)(c).
- Getting the Social Security Administration (SSA) to change current benefits structures in order to eliminate disincentives that exist for individuals who received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and earn more money than a set limit. The first step in this process is supporting SSA’s BOND program, which is designed to test a new benefit structure which would not penalize individuals for earning more money at their job.
Both of these issues have the ability to significantly improve the lives of current employees who are blind throughout the nation as well as support increased employment among individuals who are blind as a whole. With the national non-employment rate of working aged individuals who are blind at 70%, we at Wiscraft feel it is important that steps be taken to support the many intelligent and hard-working blind Americans in their employment search.