[il-talk] Pilot Merger of blindness and deaf services

[Brian Sumner]

I don't deal with them anymore since i work full time but, I would oppose
this too and thank you for sharing this.

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 11:11 AM Robert Hansen via IL-Talk <
il-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

>  Thanks for sharing this. Other states have tried and these attempts I
> think of Ben Thornton a lot of instances by both deaf and
>
> Sincerely
> Robert A. Hansen
> hansen.robert70 at gmail.com
> Robert A. Hansen
>
> On Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 9:14 AM Denise Avant via IL-Talk <il-talk at nfbnet.org
> >
> wrote:
>
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > Please forgive the length of this e-mail. But the matter is extremely
> > important, and further action will likely be required by us. So I urge
> you
> > to please read on.
> >
> > Since our May 2018 state board meeting, I have been informing you about a
> > potential merger of the Illinois Bureau of Blind Services and the Bureau
> of
> > Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The National Federation of the
> > Blind of Illinois and the Illinois Council of the Blind have opposed the
> > merger. Over several months, leaders in both groups have attempted to
> > gather
> > information from BBS and from across the country regarding what impact
> such
> > a merger has had on blind people, and what it could mean for the blind
> > people in Illinois. I want to also add that the Blind Services Planning
> > Council voted to oppose the merger. The main reason is because we believe
> > that blind people require specialized services in mobility, technology,
> and
> > daily living skills, and that trained blindness counselors are best
> > equipped
> > to handle our needs. This is the reason that we advocated that Illinois
> > should and has had a separate agency for the blind with its own budget
> for
> > many years now. Second, the discussion about a potential merger did not
> > initially include the consumer groups, and members of the BSPC at its
> April
> > and July meetings were simply told about it. Third, we have been given
> > information that such mergers do not benefit blind people. Once again,
> > plans
> > regarding changes to services to the blind were made about us without us.
> > As
> > a result, the NFBI and The ICB wrote joint letters to first John Gordon,
> > and
> > then to the governor with copies to state rehabilitation officials, and
> to
> > the chairs and vice chairs and Republican leaders of certain Illinois
> House
> > and Senate committees. We also reached out to Mr. Pritzker, who is of
> > course
> > Governor Raunner's opponent in the governors election. We did hear back
> > from
> > Secretary of the Department of Human Services, James Dimas.
> >
> > Recently, we have received notice through the Blind Services Planning
> > Council from Bureau Chief, John Gordon that there will be a pilot merger.
> > In
> > an emergency meeting on September 7, called by Chair Andrew Webb, John
> said
> > he thought the merger between BBS and BSDhh could work well. He shared
> that
> > the primary proponent of the merger is Assistant Bureau Chief Ingrid
> > Halvorsen, who confirmed that she pushed for the merger of services for
> the
> > blind and deaf. Ms. Halvorsen, who has worked with DSdHH for many years
> > stated in the September 7 meeting that she thought the merger would be
> good
> > because both services for the deaf and services for the blind involve
> > sensory disabilities. She thought that services were best combined,
> because
> > counselors for the deaf and counselors for the blind could collaborate.
> The
> > latter would be beneficial to deafblind customers in particular.
> >
> > In any event, There is now a plan in place to launch a temporary merger
> > pilot program involving four of the state's Division of Rehabilitation
> > Services offices (DRS). It is unclear at what point the DRS decided upon
> > this pilot program. The DRS offices in question are Arlington Heights,
> > Humboldt Park, Jacksonville, and Champaign. The project is to be
> completed
> > by December 31, 2018, which means that it should start no later than
> > October
> > 1, 2018.
> >
> > Initially, the discussion regarding the pilot project was to simply merge
> > the BBS and BSDHH offices, where one person would oversee the counselors
> > for
> > the blind and the counselors for the deaf.  However the Bureau of Field
> > Services, which primarily handles other types of disabilities entered the
> > merger picture. The Bureau of Field Services has long been hostile to BBS
> > because BFS has a higher case closure rate, though BBS has its own
> budget,
> > and is separate. It should be noted that handling a blind person's
> > rehabilitation services  case given the true nature of blindness specific
> > rehab services will take longer than someone who might need
> rehabilitation
> > due to other reasons.
> >
> > Once the BFS entered the picture, and given that it is a larger and more
> > powerful agency, The Director of the Division of Rehabilitation Services,
> > Quinetta Wade thought it best to attempt both proposed merger pilots.
> > Therefore, there will be a merger of services between the Arlington
> Heights
> > and Champaign offices, wherein RCB and RCD will merge services, to be
> > jointly overseen by BBS Region I Director Deirdre Parrot. Simultaneously,
> > between the Humboldt Park and Jacksonville offices, BFS counselors will
> > merge services with RCD, with oversight by a BFS official. John does
> > believe
> > that a merger of any services for the blind or for the def under the
> Bureau
> > of Field Services would not be good.
> >
> > As an aside, I think that once it was known that BBS was open to a
> merger,
> > and was willing to give up its independent status, it was only reasonable
> > in
> > state government or government of any kind that the door would be open
> to a
> > grab from a larger and more powerful agency.
> >
> > In any case, we in NFBI and ICB have been told that the reason for a
> merger
> > is to share the State's scarce resources. We have been told that the
> > blindness counselors do not have as much work now that the homemaking
> > portion of their caseloads are gone as a result of federal legislation.
> We
> > have also been told that the deaf counselors do not have the same support
> > as
> > the blindness counselors.
> >
> > Regardless of the justifications that have now been provided to us, we
> > still
> > have many questions, and most of all many concerns about services that we
> > the blind will have going forward.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Denise R. Avant, President
> >
> > National Federation of the Blind of Illinois
> >
> > (773)-991-8050
> >
> > Live the life you want.
> >
> > For more information about NFBI,
> >
> > go to www.nfbofillinois.org.
> >
> >
> >
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