I agree with your comment wholeheartedly and in its entirety.
With that said, raising the wages of people with special needs to be on par with that of the general minimum wage would generally be bad for people with special needs. Employers are incentivized to hire people with special needs because of the lower rate. Many employers would prefer someone without special needs if the hourly costs were the same.
In addition, many people with special needs are working fewer than 40 hours a week, and I still think they should be able to support their lives, to at least comfortably have their basic needs met.
I think the government should be stepping in to fill in the gap. If the state minimum wage is $12/h, but workers with special needs can be paid $8/h (for example), then maybe the government could be paying the extra $4/h to meet the difference.
…or they could use that money towards providing programs that people with special needs could benefit from.
I agree with your comment wholeheartedly and in its entirety.
With that said, raising the wages of people with special needs to be on par with that of the general minimum wage would generally be bad for people with special needs. Employers are incentivized to hire people with special needs because of the lower rate. Many employers would prefer someone without special needs if the hourly costs were the same.
In addition, many people with special needs are working fewer than 40 hours a week, and I still think they should be able to support their lives, to at least comfortably have their basic needs met.
I think the government should be stepping in to fill in the gap. If the state minimum wage is $12/h, but workers with special needs can be paid $8/h (for example), then maybe the government could be paying the extra $4/h to meet the difference.
…or they could use that money towards providing programs that people with special needs could benefit from.