<html><head><base href="x-msg://397/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">...what an insightful and thought provoking article encompassing the realities and challenges that the blind of KC and elsewhere encounter on a daily basis. Our work is certainly cut out for us if we wish to positively impact those losing their vision as noted with the doubling of numbers in the coming 20 years. Thanks for sharing. Dianne<br><div><div>On Jan 11, 2013, at 12:15 AM, Susan Tabor wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1; "><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Thought this would be of interest on a number of levels.—Susan<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Kansas city business<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The Kansas City Star<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Alphapointe helps when your sight is going but you want to keep working<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">JOHN SLEEZER<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Rochelle Blount, a lead investigator in the call center at Alphapointe, 7501 Prospect, on Thursday, December 13, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo. Blount has Glaucoma, along with Cone Distrophy. Alphapointe provides retraining for workers who lose their vision and also hires employees disabilities. John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">JOHN SLEEZER Joyce Smith, an assistant shift supervisor at Alphapointe, 7501 Prospect, uses a video camera that delivers a magnified picture to her computer so she can see around the office area on Thursday, December 13, 2012, in Kansas City, Mo. Smith has limited vision due to macro degeneration. Alphapointe provides retraining for workers who lose their vision and also hires employees with disabilities. John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">‹ ›<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Visual impairment among Americans<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• 20.5 million age 40 and older have cataracts.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• 5.3 million age 18 and older have diabetic retinopathy.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• 3.4 million age 40 and older are legally blind or visually impaired.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• 2.2 million age 40 and older have glaucoma.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• 1.6 million age 50 and older have macular degeneration.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Source: Centers for Disease Control<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Vocational resources for sight-impaired persons<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Alphapointe<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.alphapointe.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">www.alphapointe.org</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">816-421-5848<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">On the Kansas side of the Kansas City area<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Kansas Department for Children and Families, office of rehabilitation and employment services<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.dcf.ks.gov/services" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">www.dcf.ks.gov/services</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">913-279-7407<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">On the Missouri side of the Kansas City area:<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Missouri Department of Social Services, Family Support Division, office of rehabilitation services for the blind<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://dss.mo.gov/fsd/rsb/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">dss.mo.gov/fsd/rsb/</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">816-889-2677, north of the Missouri River; 816-929-7171, south of the river<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.rehabkc.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">www.rehabkc.org</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">816-751-7700; 800-726-3713 (employment services)<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="https://nfb.org/working" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">https://nfb.org/working</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">410-659-9314<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">More attention needed<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• By 2030, the number of blind and visually impaired people is expected to double.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">• Only half of the estimated 61 million U.S. adults who are at high risk for serious vision loss have visited an eye doctor in the last 12 months.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Source: Centers for Disease Control<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">January 7, 2013<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">By DIANE STAFFORD<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The Kansas City Star<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Joyce Smith and Rochelle Blount were nurses. Health care was a career they loved.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Then glaucoma stole much of Smith’s vision. Glaucoma and cone dystrophy damaged Blount’s sight.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Neither could continue in the jobs they had. Each tried to do some home health nursing, but limited sight and inability to drive to their clients made even that impossible.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">But what could have been the ends of their work lives turned into beginnings.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Blount, 47, now has a lead position in a call center. Smith, 51, is an assistant manager for an office products department.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Both use technology that helps them do responsible desk jobs, thanks to job retraining through Alphapointe, a Kansas City-based agency that provides rehabilitation and occupational services for people with vision loss.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“I tried working at a grocery store,” Blount said. “I tried being a Wal-Mart door greeter. I could do those jobs, but they weren’t stimulating enough for me.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">And that’s a work issue encountered many times over as the big baby boom generation grows older and develops disabilities related to illness or age. Like Smith and Blount, millions more Americans each year are becoming visually impaired or blind.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Many can’t continue to do the same jobs they’ve been doing. Filing for Social Security disability is an option, but not one that many prefer, not for financial or professional fulfillment reasons.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Another option, a sheltered workshop, has long existed for people who are blind or have low vision and have some kind of developmental disability. Newly affected professionals require a different work solution.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">That solution, for many, depends on what kind of job they want to continue — or start — and whether an employer will take a chance on them.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">It’s a big if. Advocates for the sight-impaired say employers too often are reluctant to take that chance.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“Employers don’t always know how relatively inexpensive the adaptive technology, the accommodations, are,” said Clay Berry, Alphapointe’s director of education and rehabilitation.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“They want to know how the person will do the tasks. They ask about safety, coming from the perception that people with visual impairments are more likely to have accidents in the workplace. They want to know about transportation. And even if they don’t typically ask about health and attendance, you can tell it’s on their minds.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The economic reality is that employers want to make sure that people with vision disabilities can keep productive pace with sighted peers. Given doubts, they’re not likely to take a chance.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">David Westbrook, who lost his functional eyesight as a teenager, said the reluctance is unfortunate.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“A desk worker with today’s technology in most cases can continue to process and share information,” he said. “It’s not the absence of technology that’s a problem. Its cost is reasonable, and as long as the corporate culture is respectful, there are few reasons why” accommodating low-vision employees can’t work.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Westbrook, senior vice president of strategy and innovation at Children’s Mercy Hospital, said that if workers who are losing their vision can’t stay in the jobs they have, there sometimes is “self segregation” to work environments such as Alphapointe.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">That’s the choice made by Smith and Blount. And they consider it a happy solution, given that the alternative might have been unemployment.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“I used to help ex-offenders find jobs, and I’ll tell you, it was easier to place a pedophile than a blind person,” said Christine McDonald, who formerly worked for an agency that helped people with vision impairments. She said that with a laugh but wasn’t truly joking.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The agency where she worked shut down last year, and McDonald, herself blind, was thrust back into the job market with no illusions about how difficult re-employment would be.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“It’s insanely hard to place the sight-impaired in the private sector,” McDonald said. “Society has crazy preconceived notions about what blind persons can or can’t do. Employers are more inclined to doubt the ability or say, ‘Oh, she’s blind. This has to be a safety hazard, a liability.’ ”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Attacking that reluctance is job one for organizations such as Alphapointe locally and the National Federation of the Blind nationally. Front and center on the federation’s Web page it says:<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of information that exist. If a blind person has proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a physical nuisance.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">McDonald, who had both eyes removed because of a viral disease, said, “There’s an elephant in the room when a sight-impaired person goes on an interview. … People have so many fears, so many questions, but they either can’t ask or are afraid to ask.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Her remedy is to take her laptop computer with its assistive technology along on interviews and say, “I know you’re concerned about my ability to handle the job. Let me show you how I can do it.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">She said she knows not to expect any favors.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“Especially if the economy is iffy, the risk is huge for taking on someone with sight impairment who might not be able to make productivity goals,” McDonald said. “If you want to work in mainstream society, you have to keep up the pace that a sighted person would.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Some of the technology that could make productivity possible can be acquired for free by working through the network of government or foundation-funded rehabilitation services. Individuals, as well as employers, may be eligible for such assistance.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Even if not government-subsidized, the “typical” cost is about $500 to provide devices or job restructuring that helps a person with a disability handle the demands of the job, according to the Job Accommodation Network, a national organization.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Unfortunately, Berry said, agencies such as Alphapointe “don’t typically engage with folks until after it’s too late to save their jobs” by helping with disability accommodations.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“So we’re starting from scratch,” Berry said. “They’ve lost the jobs they had. They walk into our door without an idea of what they want to do. So we go through a process, looking at their skills, interests, personality, and they tend to go toward where their interests and talent align.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Chris Montavon was in the position of not knowing what to do next after he lost his job as a slot attendant at the casino where he’d worked for eight years.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">But Montavon had the good fortune to cash his severance check with a bank teller who told him to call Alphapointe. The chance conversation led him to a new work life after retinitis pigmentosa began to narrow his field of vision.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Today, the 31-year-old man is a quality assurance technician at Alphapointe, where he initially signed up to learn how to navigate the world as someone who is legally blind.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“I didn’t want to wake up with no vision one morning and not be prepared,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">After about six months of training in life and vocational skills, Montavon took a job as a retail clerk, but he was hungry for something more. By his own admission, he pestered Alphapointe to put him on staff.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“This is more challenging, more fulfilling. This is an important job,” Montavon said of the job he now holds in Alphapointe’s manufacturing division.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">His new business card identifies him — in type and Braille — as an advocate in national networks for people with disabilities.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">One of his biggest advocacy projects has been to encourage improved Share-a-Fare service, the “para-transit” transportation used by people with disabilities when city bus routes don’t fit their needs and regular cabs are too expensive.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“Transportation is a disaster,” Berry said of sight-impaired workers’ ability, in general, to get to jobs.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“All the jobs we hear about in Lenexa and Overland Park are not an option if you live in midtown Kansas City. You hear about new jobs at the old Indian Springs shopping mall. You can’t get there. The state line issue is huge. North of the river, south of the river is huge,” Berry said.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“We have folks who are forced to move to get the job they want. So we generally counsel people to live along bus lines. But those schedules are challenges. They don’t fit with overnight call center schedules, for example, so unless you have a friends-and-family network, you can’t get to the job you could do.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">In the Kansas City area there are few organized transportation options, and those that exist are at capacity. In Olathe, for example, there’s a service that provides transportation for Olathe residents to jobs within Olathe, but it’s not accepting any more applications now, its Web site says.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">And, quite frankly, Berry said, there’s another disincentive for re-employment besides transportation difficulties: Blind and low-vision people may get more income staying home than working.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">In Missouri, for example, there’s a blind pension of $707 a month that can be taken on top of other entitlements.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“Vision has higher allowable earnings before you lose your disability benefits than other disabilities,” Berry said. “Folks can work part time, get Social Security and have a blind pension plus have access to the Medicaid program. In some cases, the math is easy to decide what to do.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Still, many workers with sight disabilities, especially those in professions they want to continue to pursue, would like to stay in the game.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">To reach Diane Stafford call 816-234-4359 or send email to<a href="mailto:stafford@kcstar.com" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">stafford@kcstar.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Read more here:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/07/3999153/when-your-sight-is-going-but-you.html?story_link=email_msg#storylink=cpy" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/07/3999153/when-your-sight-is-going-but-you.html?story_link=email_msg#storylink=cpy</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "> <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>Home-on-the-range mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Home-on-the-range@nfbnet.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">Home-on-the-range@nfbnet.org</a><br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/home-on-the-range_nfbnet.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/home-on-the-range_nfbnet.org</a><br>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Home-on-the-range:<br><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/home-on-the-range_nfbnet.org/diannehemphill%40cox.net" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/home-on-the-range_nfbnet.org/diannehemphill%40cox.net</a></div></span></blockquote></div><br></body></html>