According to DOL.gov : “Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act authorizes employers, after receiving a certificate from the Wage and Hour Division, to pay special minimum wages — wages less than the Federal minimum wage — to workers who have disabilities for the work being performed.”

Disabled people deserve the same wages and opportunities to make a real living as anyone else. Instead of these certificates reminiscent of indentured servitude, the government should focus on cracking down on eliminating ableist bias in hiring practices. An employer has no clue what it is like inside my body, so they should not have the right to decide my income based on how hard I am perceived to be working. I am not seeking a job for fun, I am seeking a job so I can live, just as anyone else is. It’s infantilizing and frankly insulting to assume otherwise.

Disabled people deserve the dignity to earn a proper living.