As pressure has grown across the nation to close sheltered workshops, there has been some push back from some providers and family members leading to the past month, when a Republican Member of Congress from Wisconsin, Rep. Glenn Grothman, brought this issue to the Congress in the form of a proposed bill entitled "The Workplace Choice and Flexibility for Individuals with Disabilities Act."
Grothman's legislation seeks to amend WIOA to modify the definition of Integrated Community Employment thus allowing vocational programs and workshops to be allowed under
WIOA. The Congressman explains his legislation suggesting that
WIOA regulations created in 2015
"in effect, limits the menu of jobs a vocational rehabilitation agency can refer individuals with disabilities to, often removing jobs that have equipment designed to help them perform to the best of their ability. As a result, our young people are too-often retired to the couch or worse, rather than being placed in a job that provides them with financial compensation, workforce experience, and a sense of dignity and respect that can only be derived from an honest day’s work."
PAR and ANCOR are monitoring the progress of this legislation.