Liz Burke, WPRO News
Rhose Island lawmakers are reacting to the ADA violations and the Department of Justice settlement.
“I appreciate the hard work of DOJ, and the leadership of the City and the State to resolve this matter. I hope today’s settlement serves as a first step toward improving services and opportunities for disabled Rhode Islanders,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
“Exploiting disabled students is unconscionable. There was a failure to protect these kids and there must be accountability. While a settlement agreement may have been reached in the Birch school probe, this is a chance to take a broader look at statewide disabilities-employment policy and sheltered workshops. We must strive to do better and ensure there are pathways for disabled students for jobs that pay fair wages and that won’t isolate them from the broader community,” said Senator Jack Reed.
“The revelation of civil rights abuses in Rhode Island twenty three years after passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act is extremely troubling. There is simply no excuse for discrimination or segregation in any form, and we owe it to these children and others like them to ensure treatment like this is not allowed to continue. The settlement announced today appears to be a positive step toward addressing the mistakes of the past and ensuring that people with disabilities have every opportunity to achieve meaningful employment at a fair wage and in the most integrated setting possible,” said Congressman Jim Langevin.
The first-of-its-kind agreement comes after the department’s initial investigation into Training Through Placement. They found that around 90 workers there were not in the most integrated settings and that the students in the sheltered workshop at Birch were at serious risk of unnecessary placement at TTP following their exit from school.
