Earning One Shekel An Hour
A friend of mine told me that his mid-twenties son, is working full time on a production line in a workshop, where he earns just 1 NIS per hour. His son is one of over 600,000 Israelis who live with physical, mental, and/or emotional disabilities. Israel has comprehensive disability rights legislation (apparently modeled on the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act), the Equal Rights Law for People with Disabilities, of 1998. However, over ten years later, disabled citizens still routinely suffering the effects of discrimination – disproportionate unemployment, poverty and isolation. For example, around 80% of Israel's blind population is unemployed. The system of National Insurance Disability Allowances is often unfairly and minimalistically implemented – with no NGO's watch-dogging over them. Even when they do work, as in the case of my friend's son, the salary is direct contravention with the Equal Rights Law and with the labor legislation guarant...