Wall Street Journal reports on impact of economy on Lott Industry workers
Curtsy to Mad Anthony for pointing out this article written by the Wall Street Journal, Haven for Disabled Workers Feels Job Market’s Sting. It’s one I highly recommend reading, and I’m glad the Wall Street Journal is pointing this type of information out, part of what’s shared in what I feel is a well done article by Clare Ansberry:
Now, Lott and its 1,200 workers are in danger of becoming another casualty of recession. Seven major contracts vanished in late 2007, representing 80% of its business, when Ford Motor Co. closed a nearby stamping plant. Next, in 2008, went the General Motors contract for truck transmission parts. Earlier this year, business with a Honda parts supplier dropped off. Cleaning and other nonautomotive work also dried up as companies brought those functions back in-house to keep their own employees busy.
Lott’s struggles show how an economic pall can be particularly tough on the disabled, a group that suffers from chronically low employment. As early as the 1940s, the government launched “Hire the Handicapped” campaigns, urging companies to recruit disabled veterans — many of them missing limbs — in a show of patriotism and goodwill. While industry supported the idea in theory, preconceptions about worker limitations often damped opportunities.Progress has been particularly difficult for developmentally challenged adults — those who have lifelong impairments such as autism, brain injury or Down syndrome. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 barred employers from discriminating against workers with disabilities and forced them to make reasonable accommodations — such as wheelchair ramps — so that qualified disabled people wouldn’t be shut out from jobs. But the act didn’t do anything to compel companies to hire employees with more severe mental and physical limitations. Unemployment within the nation’s developmentally challenged population hovers around 80%.
The article goes beyond the numbers aspect and shares some of the stories of those who work at Lott…
Some people that are mentally, mentally
challenged, or physically handicapped
besides working part-time or make
below a cerain amount of money and a
physician states that they are unable
to work can apply and still qualify for
SSDI or SSI.
Many of these people were guided and
November 28th, 2009 at 8:22 pmencouraged to go to work at least
part time if at all possible.
Nothing from the daily paper on this story. I guess they’re too busy with Tom Skeldon to cover it.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pmRealistically, this is not about “making money” for these individuals. This is about MRDD clients functioning in our society, like you and me. Getting out of the house or group home, feeling responsible and having adult decisions. After all, for most of these individuals, this is the only social outlet they have. They deserve to be as functional as possible. It is unfortunate our economy has fallen so low to affect the little amount of monies it requires to provide this opportunity in these lives!
November 30th, 2009 at 8:26 pmWell, then, if it is just primarily for MRDD functioning and being in society
November 30th, 2009 at 8:39 pmwhy didn’t they or don’t have a Lott
Industries for the mentally ill consumers who are left in apartments
alone with no transportation, family that helps them,
social contacts hardly at all?