Essay Sample:The Great Recession's Impact on People with Disabilities

Introduction

The Great Recession of 2008 caused adverse effects on the lives of people with disabilities. The economic recession has major impacts on society, especially on the lives of people living with disabilities. The following are some results of the economic recession. It leads to lower economic activities making firms go out of business (Kaye, 2010). Reduced economic activities can force firms to lay off some or all employees because they do not engage in business activities that can enable them to pay salaries (Kaye, 2010). Lack of employment due to the laying-off of workers is a great blow, especially to people with disabilities because they may not have alternative sources of income to depend on. As a result, there is a sharp fall in income, leading to a rise in the poverty level (Maestas et al., 2018). The rise in the level of poverty affects people with disabilities because they have low living standards. Apart from that, the job prospects of people with disabilities are worsened due to cuts in public services such as Social Security Disability Insurance.

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Sheltered Workshops

Sheltered workshops are organizations or places designed specifically to provide a suitable work environment for people with disabilities.

The benefits of sheltered workshops are as follows. They provide work environments suitable for people with disabilities (Lukas et al., 2018). Sheltered workshops provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities, thereby reducing the rate of unemployment in society. Sheltered workshops provide job-focused training that equips persons with disabilities with the necessary skills and experience for work in industries and other employment opportunities (Lukas et al., 2018). Moreover, sheltered workshops eliminate the problem of wage discrimination that persons with disabilities may face elsewhere.

The sheltered workshops also have negative sides. Sheltered workshops may create segregation of people with disabilities by separating them from those without disabilities (Lukas et al., 2018). Despite being seen as helpful, sheltered workshops do not offer any special advantage more than other normal organizations do for people with disabilities.

Conclusion

My position is that sheltered workshops are highly beneficial to people with disabilities because of the following reasons. First, sheltered workshops provide skills and experience that persons with disabilities might not get elsewhere due to discrimination. Second, they are havens where persons with disabilities can have their dreams fulfilled by having the freedom to explore their skills, interests, and creativity to be whoever they want.

References

Kaye, H. S. (2010). The impact of the 2007–09 recession on workers with disabilities. Monthly Labor Review, 133(10), 19-30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/monthlylaborrev.2010.10.019.pdf?seq=1

Lukas, J. F., Lizasoain, L., Galarreta, J., & Etxeberria, J. (2018). Job satisfaction among disabled people in the sheltered workshop: Differential analysis. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 31(6), 1174-1185. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jar.12492

Maestas, N., Mullen, K. J., & Strand, A. (2018). The effect of economic conditions on the disability insurance program: Evidence from the great recession (No. w25338). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w25338