SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) – October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and advocates are pushing to bar employers from paying workers with a disability less than minimum wage.

They made their voices heard Wednesday, holding a rally at the Illinois State Capitol. They want lawmakers to pass the Dignity in Pay Act. It would eliminate the sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities on July 1, 2027.

“Workers with disabilities, they want to be paid the same minimum wage as folks without disabilities, right. They want to work in integrated environments and they want to be able to make money just like anybody else can,” said disability rights activist Nick Boyle.

Boyle, whose brother is on the autism spectrum, said the fight is about more than equal pay. It’s about how society looks at people with disabilities.

“When kids are little, they’re being told that you won’t amount to anything, and then they’re pushed through at the education system and when they graduate, they’re put into a shelter workshop or they’re kept at home,” he said. “We want to change our thought process on disability completely.”

Not everyone’s on board with the Dignity in Pay Act.

“This bill’s well intentioned but it is not fully cooked and it does have flaws in it,” said Community Link Executive Director John Huelskamp.

Serving Clinton and St. Clair Counties, Community Link offers opportunities, including jobs, for people with developmental disabilities.

He said his organization, and many others that create jobs for people with disabilities, can’t afford to pay the mull minimum wage. The bill, as written, would put the very people it’s supposed to help out of work.

“They don’t have the infrastructure right now currently for community opportunities for employment and as well as opportunities to do employment where they’re at but paid at minimum wage,” Huelskamp said.

He said the sate would need to provide consistent funding to make up the difference for organizations such as Community Link to be able to afford to pay minimum wage. The bill does provide grant opportunities to make up the difference, which he believes is not enough.

Boyle said states that have passed similar legislation have not seen dire consequences to their job markets for people with disabilities.

A University of Massachusetts Boston study also found that only about 120,000 out of the around 3 million workers with disabilities in the U.S. make less than minimum wage. That’s about 4% of workers.

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