<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Dear Fellow Nfb members and supporters,<div>I would just like to add a piece of information that may assist everyone with being involved with this important project as Nathanael has outlined in this previous email. If you already know your state senators name and your state representatives name, their email address is easy. Their first name, then a dot, their last name, then at, CGA.ct.gov. The cga stands for: Connecticut general assembly. Here is an example:</div><div>John.Smith@cga.ct.gov</div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br><div dir="ltr"><div>Sincerely,</div> Deb Reed<div>Central CT Chapter President </div><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">National Federation Of The Blind</span><br><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Phone - 860-973-3679 </span></div><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Cell-860-378-5370</span></div><div>Email - deb.reed57@gmail.com</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Jan 10, 2022, at 5:09 PM, Nathanael T. Wales via CT-NFB <ct-nfb@nfbnet.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">NFB of Connecticut Colleagues:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Following our board meeting Saturday, here are bullet points to use as a starting point when contacting your state assembly representatives and senators regarding our concerns about the Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB). Of course, please add your own personal stories and experiences, especially those related directly to these issues if you are a senior, parent of a blind child, or an advocate for a senior not being served appropriately.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">--<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">[insert your address, if possible, the one at which you are registered to vote]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Dear [insert name of state legislator]:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">I am blind and live in [insert name of town]. I, and fellow members of the National Federation of the Blind throughout Connecticut, are concerned about the inadequate quality of services that we are receiving from the Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB). We ask you to take on oversight at the upcoming session and direct BESB to fix the following problems:<o:p></o:p></p><ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">BESB does not have effective leadership dedicated to blind residents. The last director retired on October 1, 2021, and the commissioner of the Department of Rehabilitation Services (under which BESB is housed) has taken no action to share a proposed job description with advocates for the blind. Without leadership dedicated to the blind specifically, our unique needs—as job seekers, college students, seniors losing vision, and blind children—cannot be effectively met. Best practices in other states, such as New York and New Jersey, is to have a dedicated agency serving the blind; right now, there is no leadership nor even a plan to find it. Please direct the commissioner of DORS to fill this leadership void quickly and communicate her plan to fill it with clients and advocates for them.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">BESB is not effectively serving seniors losing vision who need not return to the workforce. Services are limited, and suggestions from blind seniors, such as for group classroom instruction, have been ignored. We are concerned that BESB is not using Federal dollars specifically earmarked to serve blind seniors. Please ask the commissioner of DORS to account for this failure to use Federal dollars or to spend them appropriately.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Blind children under the age of fourteen are not receiving services from BESB following best practices such as those followed in New Jersey (which starts at infancy). Please ask the commissioner of DORS to report on how its services for blind children align with those in other states.<o:p></o:p></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Information provided by BESB on client satisfaction is shockingly biased. Satisfaction surveys are only taken from clients that have been placed in jobs; in the last survey, this was fifty-six clients, but over eight hundred are on BESB’s books to receive services. Many of my fellow members [insert “and I” if you are a BESB client] are awaiting services, and our opinions were not asked for. This survey cost $19,000. Please demand much greater accountability and accuracy of metrics that you receive from BESB and DORS management.<o:p></o:p></li></ol><p class="MsoListParagraph"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph">Thank youfor your consideration of this priority of mine. [Add any additional closing you like.]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph">[Your signature]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph">--<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph">If you don’t know who your state assembly representative and/or senator are or how to contact them, I and our outreach office (Lucia) can help with a bit of patience.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph">Thank you for helping to advocate for better services from our BESB!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraph"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Nathanael T. Wales, Treasurer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NFB of Connecticut<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Live the Life You Want<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>CT-NFB mailing list</span><br><span>CT-NFB@nfbnet.org</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org</span><br><span>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for CT-NFB:</span><br><span>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/ct-nfb_nfbnet.org/deb.reed57%40gmail.com</span><br></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>