25 Years Ago...

 if I'd written about states ending sub-minimum wage it would have been very different, both because disability writing occasioned in me a sense of queasy obligation, and because, twenty-six years ago, I boarded paratransit with a resume that was barely a thought clutched in one hand and "What Color Is Your Parachute?" clutched my in my other, exceptional hand. I told the driver, who was black and probably had his own problems that I was "sort of" on a job search and what a trial it had been...I told him more than I needed to because I didn't need to be a success for him and prove that my education had been worthwhile. He thought he was helping when he suggested Local Workshop Provider, but I was a little offended. You know, I went to school,  I was the only crip in the room for a reason. Just ask me, I'd tell you how unusual I was. I didn't take him up on that whole piecework thing, and I moved away, and I thought I'd forgot most of the cravings of my "Suzie Mainstream" period like all the pink sweaters I wore back then.

Although, today I might say that the faith in workshops for disabled people and the mainstream's faith in "Parachute" might come from two sides of the same delusion about the power of individual intangibles like "work ethic" to be the one ingredient that separates the successful from the also-ran.(as opposed to luck of the draw, social class or whether this blog is ever sweet enough to get hyped on "The Ellen Show? Not usually.)

I'm not especially informed on the payment issue, but I do think if these people are workers their work matters they should get paid more for it, however, my experience makes me ask different questions Like, why is "a sense of dignity and purpose" tied up with a job anyway(Let alone with a job that many companies kind of present as them providing a service to the community that's not strictly essential.)

Why can't these co-workers just hang out together without pretending they have to be in the same workspace at 9:03 Monday-Friday if that's what they really care about?(Although, yes, it's probably easier to find transportation to one regulating box than any number of locations, but that's wrong, too and needs to be addressed.)

Are disabled people ever allowed to do anything that's not Improving?(asking for millions of friends)

Is any American who is not taking a phallic substitute in space allowed?