“I don’t know exactly what, but something within my reach.” “I would like to get a better job with a decent salary,” Shillick said. They said it would be harder to find an “outside job.” John Shillick, 61, said he used to clean motel rooms with the help of a job coach, but he found it difficult to keep pace. Better jobs ‘within my reach’Īt VistAbility some workers said they liked the company of coworkers, the steady tasks and guaranteed weekday hours. “The state is essentially ignoring those people,” he said. But he doubts local businesses and nonprofits will pay more expensive contracts to accommodate higher wages, and he predicted those with the most significant disabilities likely will lose their jobs. John Bolle, VistAbility’s executive director, said when his workshop is required to pay minimum wage, some of the faster workers may be able keep working. The transition toward better pay has exposed a bitter debate within the state’s disability services community: Can everyone with a disability get a job in the broader labor market - and should that be the goal? And for a group of people largely receiving public assistance, what’s the role of a job in their lives? By 2025 “sheltered” disability programs like the one at VistAbility - which together employ about 5,000 Californians statewide - must begin paying the state’s $15.50-an-hour minimum wage or shut down.
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