Tonya Said:

Do you find vocational rehab to be very discriminatory?

We Answered:

You are not alone. This is normal. And entirely legal. People with disabilities do not have any workers rights and "rehab programs" are not required to pay minimum wage.

I had a similar experience--though not nearly as bad. I found ways to make money outside the system (which took time and some ingenuity, but it can be done). while I completed college. If you do that--DON'T tell anyone in the rehab system. They will punish you for trying to help yourself.

The best place to start is probably at your college--there are usually student assistant jobs you can get. some actually pay fairly well, even for undergraduates. Above minimum wage anyway. And it's sure convenient. Plus--you get a work record that proves you can work with your disability--which is a MAJOR help when you graduate!

This kid of abuse and exploitation has a log history--dating back to the early 1900s. When minimum wages were estaplished in 1935, "sheltered wrkshops" for the blind appealed and got exempted from the law.

Now, here's how that works: any so-called "rehabilitation agency" public or private --can open up a business, call it "work rehabilitation" and be exempt from paying minimum wages--and most other laws protecting workers. It's a routine method for so-called non-profit groups to generate revenue. In some of these sweatshops 9which is what they are) the take is millions annually--which all goes to "good purposes"--like the Agency staff's vacations and BMWs.

BTW--sorry--you punched my #1 button--the history of ths is the topic of my Ph.D dissertation (when I'm done I hope/expect to publish it as well!).