Sheltered Workshops History

Sheltered workshops first became known in America over a century ago as an outgrowth of special schools for the blind. In the early 1900’s, society did not believe the graduates of these schools were fit to work. Upon graduation, most were refused employment, and graduates returned to schools looking for help. From that came the idea for sheltered workshops as a place of employment for those in society believed to be unemployable. By definition, a sheltered workshop is a state supported vocational program designed to provide work for people with disabilities.

Benefits Of Sheltered Workshops

The benefits of the sheltered workshop industry are numerous. They allow a person with a disability to earn a paycheck by performing a service for. It gives the individuals a sense of responsibility and a feeling that they are contributing to society. They work in a competitive service industry in jobs that are labor intensive. And for many employees who would otherwise be confined to home, it provides a healthy social atmosphere.

Missouri’s Sheltered Workshops

In Sedalia, Missouri, a campaign by the parent of a disabled child led to the passage of Senate Bill 52 in 1965, which established the first vocational program in Missouri.

Sedalia then established the first sheltered workshop in Missouri that same year. There are now ninety-two workshops in the state of Missouri, employing over 7500 individuals with disabilities.

The Need For Contract Work

Missouri workshops are different from other states in that they depend heavily on contracted work and the revenue from that work to keep their doors open. If anything disrupts the flow of business, such as a customer closing their business or moving, it could mean problems. Workshop sales generally account for 70 to 80% of the workshop revenue. The rest of the revenue is received from government assistance and contributions.

However, some Missouri businesses continue to erroneously believe that workshops can perform work for them at little or no cost to them. Even though the employees’ wages are generally less, the workshops don’t receive the same hourly production rate per person, and because of the need for increased supervision, overhead costs remain high.

Foreign Labor Competition

Another issue relevant to revenue for the shops was brought to our attention in a Kansas City Missouri newspaper. Workshops there struggle to stay alive by producing their own product lines and bidding on government contracts, because much of the old, unskilled “piece work” done by people with disabilities is being outsourced to other countries.

In addition, the general decline in our country’s manufacturing, combined with automation, eliminates some of the need for workshop labor, or at least, causes the shops to have to “lowball” to get the work.

Changes in the economy which will always affect the work outsourced to sheltered workshops, forcing them to continuously change and adapt to new work and better ways to train the employees. There are laws that have helped the shops over the years, and also some current bills in action now. Legislators are aware of the needs for the workshops, but there will always be opponents to what the bills are advocating.