Brooke Canham is no stranger to hard work. For two years, Canham worked in a role that promised her \u201copportunities\u201d and a better future: she washed cars, packed pamphlets, and filled show bags. For this tiring, monotonous work, Canham was paid just $3\u00a0an hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me feel so upset,\u201d she tells The Saturday Paper. \u201cIt was unfair that people got more money than me for doing the same job. This would get me so mad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canham has an intellectual disability, and it\u2019s her disability that justified her former employer, an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE), paying her a small fraction of the national minimum wage. Under the Supported Employment Services Award, ADEs pay workers based on their productivity, as determined by a \u201cwork assessment\u201d that measures physical and intellectual capabilities. It was Canham\u2019s former employer who valued her work at $3\u00a0an\u00a0hour.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Inclusion Australia reported that more than 20,000 people with disability, most with intellectual disabilities, were employed by about 600 Australian ADEs. Within ADEs, disabled staff provide a range of essential services, including food preparation, recycling, laundering and landscaping. Many of these workplaces, like warehouses and factories, are not visible to the public, and are sometimes referred to as \u201csheltered workshops\u201d.<\/p>\n
As well as ADEs, other businesses can apply to employ disabled staff under the Supported Employment Services Award. Ange\u00a0McArthur, an autistic National Disability Insurance Scheme support coordinator, says third-party NDIS service providers also prey on disabled people and the supported wage system. \u201cNew businesses keep popping up to take advantage of us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
McArthur explains that while NDIS participants often work for supported wages doing dog walking or car washing, third-party providers provide \u201csupport\u201d. Providers, who earn many times the disabled person\u2019s hourly wage, bill the participant\u2019s NDIS plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blatant breach of basic human rights and the way the system operates has almost killed my drive to help people,\u201d McArthur says.<\/p>\n
Although the government states that \u201cmost\u201d supported employees also receive the Disability Support Pension, which has a current maximum fortnightly payment of $1200.90, for many the DSP does not cover basic living costs, let alone the cost of\u00a0disability.<\/p>\n
As Brooke Canham explains, being disabled is expensive. Canham says she spends much of her income on medication, specialist appointments and, because she can\u2019t drive, transport. A 2020 study quantified these disability costs in Australia, finding that disabled people need 50 per cent more disposable income to achieve the same standard of living as those without a disability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me feel so upset. It was unfair that people got more money than me for\u00a0doing the same job. This would get me so mad.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, the employment rate for disabled people is declining, and the disability wage gap is increasing. National figures from 2022 show the median weekly income for a disabled person was $575, compared with $1055 for people without disability. This weekly income gap of $480 is\u00a0up from $370 in 2015.<\/p>\n
A key problem with disability-segregated employment is therefore obvious: being paid less than everyone else while enduring additional expenses results in significant financial stress.<\/p>\n
As of July 1, the national minimum wage is $26.44 an hour. The minimum supported wage is still only $8.32 an hour.<\/p>\n
Research shows being underpaid damages the health and wellbeing of disabled people. The disability royal commission heard evidence that disability-segregated employment can also \u201cheighten the risk of exposure to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Professor Linda Steele, a socio-legal researcher at the University of Technology Sydney, says disability-segregated employment can also be seen as a form of labour exploitation under modern slavery law. The United Nations recognises that disabled people are disproportionately subjected to abuse, neglect and financial exploitation, including modern slavery.<\/p>\n
Steele explains that modern slavery includes \u201csituations in which people are working but have limited control over the conditions of their work, such as where they work, what kind of work they do, and how much they earn\u201d.<\/p>\n
For disabled people like Brooke Canham, particularly those in regional and rural areas, there are often few options for employment outside ADEs. \u201cI feel like I had to do the job in the ADE because I wanted the independence to earn and spend my own money,\u201d Canham says.<\/p>\n
Steele says low wages for disabled workers in ADEs, such as those paid to Canham, are \u201cprimarily justified by the ableist assumption that disabled people are less productive\u201d, with \u201cunjust\u201d productivity tests used to quantify this difference. \u201cI can\u2019t think of any other situation where productivity tests determine someone\u2019s wage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The paradox, Steele says, is that although the supported wage system is based on the idea that disabled people\u2019s work is worth less, businesses profit because of their workers\u2019 disabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a significant source of financial benefit associated with employing disabled people, on top of the financial benefit derived from the goods and services produced through their low-cost labour,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
While businesses pay disabled people significantly reduced wages, they simultaneously market disabled people\u2019s work as contributing to disability empowerment and inclusion. In this \u201cperverse form of \u2018inclusion washing\u2019\u2009\u201d, Steele explains, ADE cafes, for example, profit from disabled baristas because of the \u201csentimental narrative of buying a coffee to make a difference\u201d.<\/p>\n
Still, the government maintains that ADEs \u201chave the same working conditions as other employers\u201d and \u201cempower people living with disability to contribute to their communities\u201d.<\/p>\n
Brooke Canham\u2019s former employer told her a similar story. \u201cWhen I said something about it being unfair that I get paid less than other people, they said it wasn\u2019t about the money and that I was there to build skills and make friends,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Canham managed to find her way out of the supported wage system, finding open employment as a policy officer with Inclusion Australia.<\/p>\n
For others, this transition proves impossible. As one man, Jamie, who lives with an acquired brain injury and vision impairment, told the disability royal commission, experience working at an ADE does not guarantee future open employment. Despite having an undergraduate degree, two master\u2019s degrees and more than 20 years of volunteering experience, Jamie could not secure open employment and was forced to work for an ADE, earning $3.51 an hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lifetime of unemployment and underemployment has ruined my life and left me welfare dependent,\u201d he told the commissioners.<\/p>\n
In response to testimony such as Jamie\u2019s, the royal commission recommended phasing out segregated employment by 2034. Groups including the Centre for Inclusive Employment, Inclusion Australia, People with Disability Australia, and Women With Disabilities Australia have urged the government to transition all supported wage workers to full wages. Despite this, the government remains invested in the supported wage system.<\/p>\n
In May, Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek announced the development of a \u201croad map\u201d for the future of supported employment. Consultations are expected to conclude by the end of this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some people, open employment with the right supports will be the right answer,\u201d Plibersek said at the time. \u201cFor others, supported employment needs to remain in place, in some form, and as minister I want to ensure it does.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, states that \u201csegregated employment, sub-minimum wages and productivity-based assessments are inconsistent with Australia\u2019s human rights obligations\u201d, specifically Article 27 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disability (CRPD).<\/p>\n
When The Saturday Paper contacted Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth for comment, a spokesperson said the \u201cresponsibility for setting award wages sits with the independent Fair Work Commission\u201d.<\/p>\n
For Brooke Canham, her successful move to open employment and full wages means she can afford to socialise and have hobbies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like going out with family and friends for dinner, and also spend my money on dance costumes,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aware of the barriers people must overcome to secure open employment, Canham remains hopeful for other people with disability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many ways you can work in open employment and have a good job,\u201d she says. \u201cAsk the people you trust to support you. People need to respect you and let you be the person you are. Everyone should be paid the same.\u00a0I am not a charity worker.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Jenny McAllister, was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooke Canham is no stranger to hard work. For two years, Canham worked in a role that promised…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-806302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}