Disability Thinking Weekday: 12/5/24

Ending sub-minimum wage, and some "Wicked" followup

Your three disability-related links for Thursday, December 5, 2024.

1. U.S. Moves to End a Minimum Wage Waiver for Disabled Workers

Danielle Kaye, New York Times - December 3, 2024

“The statute, enacted as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, has let employers obtain certificates from the Labor Department that authorize them to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour. The department began a “comprehensive review” of the program last year, and on Tuesday it proposed a rule that would bar new certificates and phase out current ones over three years.”

This article does a pretty good job of explaining the Labor Department’s recommendation to phase out “sub-minimum wage” for workers with disabilities, summarizing the main arguments for and against the practice, and identifying the hurdles that remain before the recommendation can be implemented. It’s still going to be a fight. But we are a major step closer to this very long-standing issue in U.S. disability policy being resolved.

2. Companies Can Pay Disabled People Below Minimum Wage. The Department of Labor Wants to Change That.

Julia Métreaux, Mother Jones - December 3, 2024

“This proposed rule has been in the works for a long time. In 2014, an advisory committee was put together, which included advocates with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The committee concluded that “current widespread practice of paying workers subminimum wages, based on assumptions that individuals with disabilities cannot work in typical jobs…[is] antithetical to the intent of modern federal policy and law.” … Of course, the elephant in the rule is whether the incoming Trump administration will support an end to this type of subminimum wage. Donald Trump has not previously voiced his opposition or support of the certificate program; likewise, Project 2025 has not weighed in on this certificate program either.”

One of the many advantages of there being a lot more coverage of disability issues than there used to be is that it’s now fairly easy to read more than one article on an important disability policy event like this one. Here, Mother Jones doesn’t in any way contradict or correct the New York Times’ piece, but adds some emphasis, context, and other voices to the discussion. It’s worth noting too that both articles include comments from prominent disabled activists. Again, that’s something that happened a lot less in the press 20 or more years ago.

3. Wicked’s Marissa Bode Calls Out Internet Trolls Using Disability as a Punchline

Esme Mazzeo, New Mobility - December 4, 2024

“‘This goes so far beyond me … just needing to ignore comments on the internet. These comments do not exist in a vacuum,’ she said, explaining that similar comments force disabled creators offline. ‘Rather than dismissing one another and claiming an experience can’t be true because you personally don’t feel that way about a joke that wouldn’t have affected your demographic [anyway], listen to the people or the person that it is affecting and how it makes them feel.’”

I still haven’t seen “Wicked,” so I won’t comment on how tasteless or offensive jokes about the character Nessarose or the actor Marissa Bode might related to the actual movie. But it’s important for someone in Bode’s position to engage this way with “jokes” about people’s disabilities. There is a real tension, even among disabled people, between calling out disability-based jokes and wisecracks, and just letting them go. Frankly, it can be easier, in the short term, for a disabled person to be accepted socially we don’t show that we are disappointed or hurt by disability jokes. And in some circles, it’s seen as a sign of weakness, or over-sensitivity to show that we care about these things. On the other hand, wrong is wrong. And weak, cliche humor is going to be ridiculed wherever it appears, especially on the internet. Plus, laughing along with childish disability cracks almost inevitably leads to more serious, hurtful comments later on. It’s better to deal with it right away, and draw our boundaries clearly and decisively as Marissa Bode seems to be doing here.

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