Keep sheltered workshops open

Regarding the July 31 article 'Decision time looms for Options program”:

Sen. Tom Harkin and other disability rights advocates want sheltered workshops, which employ people with the most severe disabilities, closed.

They believe such environments discriminate against people with disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As the author of the ADA, Harkin should know better. Speaking for the majority in the Olmstead ruling, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, 'Nothing in the ADA ...

condones termination of institutional settings for people unable to handle or benefit from community settings.”

In fact, the ruling clearly outlines exceptions under which sheltered workshops and other institutional settings may exist, specifically for those people who either can't handle community settings or for those who freely choose not to.

Why are Harkin and the Obama administration intent on closing sheltered workshops, in direct contradiction of the Olmstead decision they and their acolytes so frequently reference? Doing so in Vermont and Washington has dramatically increased unemployment for those with the most severe disabilities, forcing them into Day Habilitation services against their will and at higher taxpayer cost.

While competitive integrated employment for those with disabilities is a laudable goal, one size doesn't fit all. When community employment is inappropriate or against a person's will, sheltered workshops are the best alternative.

Forced integration, in direct violation of Olmstead and the ADA, violates people's rights and makes them more dependent on government.

Ken Rizer

Marion Township