[Cabs-talk] Fwd: [Nfbc-info] [State-affiliate-leadership-list] rehabilitation concerns

[Darian Smith]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Mary Willows" <mwillows at sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: [Nfbc-info] Fw: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] rehabilitation concerns
> Date: March 27, 2013 5:59:17 PM PDT
> To: "NFB of California List" <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
> Reply-To: NFB of California List <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
> 
> Dear Fellow Federationists,
> 
> Please read this message over carefully and reply to me if you believe you have any substantive experiences.  I believe California is marginally guilty of some of the items mentioned but on the other hand, I think we may be ahead of the curve.  Thank you for your considered responses.  I will compile the information and forward it on to the sender.
> 
> 
>> March 27, 2013
>> 
>> Dear Affiliate Presidents:
>> 
>> We have a disturbing pattern of events occurring in Michigan with
>> regard to the education & rehabilitation of blind people. I am
>> wondering if these events are just typical of Michigan, or if they are
>> occurring around the country. It seems as if the Agency serving blind
>> people in our state is ignoring the Rehabilitation act, and the
>> Federal Rehabilitation Services Administration is allowing this to
>> keep reoccurring. Please take a look at the list below, and let us
>> know which, if any of these situations are occurring in your state.
>> For clarity, I have listed all of these concerns numerically. When you
>> send back a response, please include the item number so that we can
>> gather some clear, concise data.
>> 1.  Since we lost the residential schools, blind individuals coming
>> through the educational system are graduating without basic knowledge.
>> They read below grade level; have not learned Braille and read large
>> print at dreadfully slow speeds. They lack basic life skills as well.
>> This results in a staggering lack of confidence. When I graduated from
>> the Michigan school for the Blind, it was  generating individuals who
>> were prepared to go on to college or out into the world and work;
>> earning a good livelihood.  Now, there are fewer blind individuals
>> working in the State.  The attitude and expectation is that
>> individuals   will collect Supplemental Security Income, live in
>> subsidized housing, and live out their lives . There is little real
>> work in helping blind individuals gain and maintain employment. We
>> have a work  to welfare attitude for blind people in our state.
>> 2. State Plan hearings are not properly publicized and so are not
>> well attended by consumers or staff members. The latest State Plan was
>> approved by the Rehabilitation Services Administration without being
>> signed and approved by the Commission Board that was functioning at
>> the time as the  State Rehabilitation Council.
>> 3. In education and Rehabilitation, skills of blindness are not
>> emphasized. There is a lack of sleep shade training, and a lack of
>> emphasis on Braille and cane travel. Students are taught to use sight
>> at all costs rather than to be proficient in the skills of blindness.
>> The prevailing attitude throughout the Agency emphasizes a hierarchy
>> of sight.
>> 4. The Business Enterprise Program has many problems. Blind vendors
>> are blocked from operating locations which are leased to sighted
>> individuals instead. These sighted individuals do not pay set asides
>> and other fees. They often do not submit proper reports to the State
>> Agency. Rehabilitation dollars are used for the sighted. There are
>> rumors that particular legislative buildings will be removed from the
>> Randolph Sheppard Program. The Legislature is threatening to remove
>> the buildings it controls from the Business Enterprise Program by
>> passing laws in the state House and Senate. Blind individuals get
>> substandard training and struggle to be successful operators.
>> 5. Information is not provided in accessible formats, not even upon
>> request.  Staff, clients, and vendors are not provided with reasonable
>> accommodations  in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities
>> Act.  Any blind person should be able to conduct business with the
>> Agency in Braille, large print, or electronic formats, but this is not
>> the standard practice.
>> 6.  Blind individuals are not being hired by the agency serving the
>> blind and they are not being trained or groomed as managers
>> 7. When the National Federation of the Blind tries to address
>> concerns, government or Agency personnel simply do not listen. They
>> tell us to stop complaining.
>> 8. There are rumors, or actual plans, to combine the agency serving
>> the blind with the general  Agency that serves all other disabilities.
>> 9. There is rampant discrimination against blind employees in the
>> Agency. More particularly, there is rampant discrimination against
>> members of the National Federation of the Blind by the Agency. This
>> discrimination has included denial of services, sudden and unwarranted
>> case closure, and harassment of employees who are known to be members
>> of the organized blind.
>> 10. The hierarchy of blindness seems to pervade service delivery.
>> Clients with less remaining vision are pressured to select vocational
>> goals that are demeaning, sub-standard and inconsistent with their
>> abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed  choice.
>> 11.  There is a serious lack of training of staff. As far as I know,
>> our formalized training for staff has recently been eliminated. We
>> know for certain that the 2 week sleep shade component has been
>> eliminated. How is agency staff trained in your state? Is it done by a
>> third party or by existing staff? How long does it last and where does
>> it occur? Is there a sleep shade component?
>> 12. The National Federation of the Blind of Michigan has been
>> attempting to address many of these concerns. Are they patterns that
>> are just emerging in Michigan, or are they typical of the rest of the
>> nation as well?
>> Thank you for any information that you can give us.
>> The public vocational rehabilitation program in this Country has
>> never been as good as it could be, but we have seen many of the gains
>> achieved by the collective action of the Federation being erased in
>> the last decade, and we must reverse this trend.  Our diligence is
>> essential if the next generation is to have an opportunity to achieve
>> social and economic equality.
>> 
> 
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