SHELBY, N.C. — More than 1,000 people with disabilities are working in sheltered workshops or Adult Developmental Vocational Program settings across North Carolina, where workers with disabilities are typically separated from nondisabled workers and most are paid far below the minimum wage, according to the group Disability Rights North Carolina.

This year the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services will begin phasing out these programs and instead offer support to get people with disabilities into what it calls competitive integrated employment.

That is when someone with a disability is paid minimum wage or more and receives the same benefits and chances for promotions as nondisabled co-workers.

Special Blendz Cafe in Shelby already practices a competitive integrated employment model.

The sandwich and smoothie shop employs people with and without disabilities, and everyone is paid at least minimum wage. Holly Cantrell is a para-professional partner in the shop.

“It gives them a social life, gives them a way to feel wanted and needed in the community and a way to feel equal to anyone else who wants to go get a job and have their own spending money,” Cantrell said.

Workers being phased out of ADVP or ADVP-like services will receive support from NCDHHS that includes finding a job, working with employers to tailor jobs for success, transportation, and support using technology or additional staff.

NCDHHS will phase out the workshops over five years, including these milestones:

• July 1, 2022 — No new people can get ADVP or ADVP-like services in the workshops
• July 1, 2023 — Everyone working in workshops or who got ADVP or ADVP-like services in a workshop after Jan. 1, 2020, will have an employment assessment. Those who want to work in the community will have a career development plan
• July 1, 2026 — No one can get ADVP or ADVP-like services in segregated settings anymore