In December, NDSS Director of Government Relations, Ashley Helsing, and I were invited to a Disability Stakeholder meeting with the Biden-Harris transition team. The main topics focused on sub-minimum wage and COVID-19.
I was very excited to be able to present to the presidential transition team. I spoke about COVID 19 in relation to the Down syndrome community and how hard we have been hit by this pandemic. I said that we wanted to be on the forefront of their minds when it comes to the first 100 hundred days in addressing this particular issue.
Additionally, I reiterated how awful sub-minimum wage is and how the team can make a difference in the lives of individuals who are still getting paid cents per hour. Others on the meeting that spoke before me also mentioned that we must close the front door on this old and antiquated law. I feel strongly that these issues need to be addressed, and I hope I helped the transition team to make ending sub-minimum wage a top priority.
It felt very important that I was able to make my voice heard on this call and explain the current situation that we are still facing. I certainly look forward to having more discussions with the new administration to help our Down syndrome community. It’s important to meet with the administration team even before they get into office to let them know how we feel about issues our community is facing, like subminimum wages and COVD- 19, so they can start looking at the documents and strategizing on how to approach them and put them on the President’s desk.