New state law aims to provide better jobs and pay for Colorado workers with disabilities.
Mitch Routon has an intellectual disability, but, he says over the phone, he considers himself fortunate. Unlike many people with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) he has a job he enjoys and an income that makes him happy. Routon works at arc Thrift in Colorado Springs where he takes care of the jewelry and collectible cases, helping customers and “whatever else they need me to do.” He enjoys “talking to all the different people,” he says.
He’s had this job for about two years but he formerly worked at a supermarket where he was paid less than minimum wage. “It was tough,” he says. “I could never get a leg up or make the same amount as everyone else.” His former employer was able to pay Routon subminimum wages under federal and state laws because he is disabled. But Colorado state legislators abolished that practice as of July 1, joining seven other states that have enacted similar laws.
Read this story in the Boulder Weekly.