What does employment mean to all of us that are Differently Abled? It means we want to find meaningful jobs. We want employment rights, we want to get paid fairly and we want benefits for self-employment or entrepreneurs. We want the TIME Act and subminimum wage to end.
When we work, we want to get paid at least minimum wage not $1.00 or 50 cents. The TIME Act will remove barriers for us and remove 14(c). The notion of 14(c) does not allow us to obtain the appropriate skills and benefits we should receive.
#DSWORKS® is an employment program that the National Down Syndrome Society has. It encourages businesses to hire individuals with Down syndrome to work in competitive and meaningful jobs. It makes us feel great and feel so important. Working makes we feel useful as a member of society like everyone else.
Look at some examples of people with Down syndrome that are successful like John Cronin. He owns a multi-million-dollar sock company that does extremely well! John and his dad Mark currently employ 33 individuals of which 15 have a differing ability. He has over 1,200 awesome socks and just recently George H. W. Bush wore them and was seen all over the media. How cool is that!
Blake Pyron is another entrepreneur and he sells snow cones. These are prime examples of what we can do. I am the first registered lobbyist with Down syndrome. There are so many more of us that are successful out there.
Employment is huge for us!!