The Department of Justice announced the consent agreement and the 10-year plan that arises from it at a news conference this morning at the U.S. Attorney’s office. The plan borrows from other states, but, for the first time, lays the pieces out in a comprehensive manner, officials said.
“Today’s agreement will make Rhode Island a national leader in the movement to bring people with disabilities out of segregated work settings and into typical jobs in the community at a competitive pay,” said acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.
The plan aims to gradually move the intellectually and developmentally disabled from meaningless tasks — unwrapping bars of soap and capping lotion bottles for $2.21 an hour — to jobs matched with their interests and abilities, even for the profoundly disabled.
It seeks to move these citizens away from coloring and watching television at institutional-like day programs, to the kinds of activities that the average person enjoys, such as going to a museum or working out at the gym.
The agreement, affecting 3,250 people, followed a DOJ investigation last year that found a system that violated the civil rights of Rhode Islanders with disabilities by shunting them to restrictive settings. It was filed in federal court Tuesday.
