Do you know what an Australian Disability Enterprise (ADE) is? Formally known as sheltered workshops, they are places of 'supported employment' for disabled people. People are paid as little as $3 an hour, minimum wage laws do not apply

A wage assessment tool is often used which decides what proportion of the wage is paid to the employee, based on the disabled worker's productive output. Disabled people are often employed to do repetitive, high volume tasks in manufacturing, labelling etc.

ADE's are exploitation and akin to prison labour. As @WWDA_AU has said ADE's are in clear breach of several of the international human rights treaties to which Australia is a party. It’s segregation, discrimination & a form of systemic abuse

Businesses, local councils, state and federal government departments all contract ADE's and profit off disabled people's exploitation. It is unfortunately very hard to find which organisations these actually are

From some basic research, it's clear big companies like Telstra, Qantas, Bunnings, Mercedes Benz, Mattel, L'Oreal, Unilever, Australia Post, The Body Shop, Crayola and Natio all use ADE labour

Unsurprisingly, VIC and WA Police also use ADE labour, as well as a very dodgy looking company called 'Ausdesign' which appears to be selling products with rip-off Aboriginal art

Some activists in the community are compiling a database on which organisations are profiting off of disabled people's exploitation. If you are a worker in an ADE or if you work in community services and know of an organisation profiting - my DM's are open!

Importantly, both those in and outside of the disability community need to always acknowledge it is often people with intellectual disability who are the most exploited by ADE’s. Listen to Judy here: https://oursite-easyread.wwda.org.au/real-stories/judy/