History of subminimum wage employment for people with disabilities

Before we can talk about modern-day services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (or I/DD), it’s important to put things in context by highlighting some brief history. In the late 19th century until the mid 20th century it was common for people with all kinds of disabilities to be housed in various settings or institutions designed to provide care for people that were deemed unable to care for themselves. These often included large state-run hospitals or homes that segregated and isolated people with disabilities away from the rest of society. Much of this history was due to misconceptions of or lack of understanding about disabilities.

In the 1960s there was an increased recognition of the poor living conditions in these institutional settings, as well as the prevalence of neglect and abuse experienced by people living in them. During this time, new ideas were emerging about how to treat with people with dignity and more personalized care, while allowing access to family and the larger community. There were videos and pictures that were shared with the public, that showed disturbing images, which were instrumental in changing the public’s perspective about these settings (some of which we’ve included in our resource section for this module) and this began a period of history known as deinstitutionalization. The goal became to improve the overall quality of life for people with disabilities as well as promote community inclusion and integration. This meant that new models of support had to be created in order to replace institutions. What came out of this period of time in the 70s and 80s we call community-based service models. This included opportunities for children and adults with disabilities to have access to things like homes, education, community life and even work, in ways that had not typically been possible before. But, as we’ll see this was just the beginning of the evolution of service delivery which is still underway today.

During the early years of deinstitutionalization there emerged new models of support in the community one of which was the growth of traditional day training centers or day programs. People with IDD often went to segregated centers during the day and engaged in various activities and may have included things like learning basic tasks, completing crafts and recreational activities. There was less of a focus on individualized preferences or community involvement at that time, however, there also was a growing understanding that people with disabilities wanted to work and would benefit from having opportunities to work and earn money and we see the emergence of sheltered workshops. Like day centers, these workshops were separated from typical workplaces, and included jobs that often involved repetitive tasks, like assembly or packaging wors. These tasks were often chosen based on the assumption of a person’s limitations, as opposed to their potential. Wages earned in workshops were generally lower than minimum wage, which led to a misconception that people with disabilities were not capable of contributing at the same level as other. These early community models provided limited opportunities for meaningful career exploration and an unintended consequence was that the structure of workshops often limited the amount of autonomy and control people had over their work and their lives outside of the workshop. Staff were often seen as caregivers and the models tended to reinforce stereotypes about people with disabilities and their abilities. Overtime, people with disabilities, their families and others began advocating for shifts in these models of support which ultimately paved the way for models focused on, and designed to support, competitive integrated employment, where people with disabilities could work alongside others in regular workplaces, receive fair wages and contribute meaningfully to the workplace and the community.