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This is great! If only one of our people could’ve been involved in putting together this article, they would’ve had commentary about the issues with the VR policies not being made public. Too bad the reporters didn’t contact us.<br>
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<div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone
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<div>Justin Mark Hideaki Salisbury</div>
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<div>Mobile: 808.797.8606</div>
<div>Email: 808salisbury@gmail.com </div>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">ResearchGate: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury">https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Salisbury</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury"><span lang="EN">https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury</span></a> </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.</span></p>
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<blockquote type="cite">On Apr 2, 2023, at 9:01 PM, sharawinton@gmail.com wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Good Evening Friends, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center">As many of you know, relations between the current MCB Commissioner and the blindness community, have been turbulent over the past few years. If you are in agreement with the sentiments that will be expressed
at this Wednesday’s event, organized by one of the MCB employee’s unions (v<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">SEIU 509),
</span></b>at the State House, I urge you to attend and let everyone know how we, the blind people of Massachusetts feel. .
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center">I have also added an article, that was on the front page of the Boston Globe, today April 2, 2023. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center"><b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Community speak-out for the future of
</span></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<b><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Mass. Commission for the Blind</span></i></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="margin:0in;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">As workers, consumers, and community leaders we are deeply invested in the future of MCB. Over the last several years, the agency has faced challenges that have
impacted working conditions for staff and the quality and accessibility of services for residents across the Commonwealth. We have come together as labor and community organizations to identify key issues within the agency and are fighting to make sure they
are addressed. We envision a future that includes accountability from leadership and prioritizing the well-being and needs of our communities.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Join SEIU 509 MCB members and community organizations</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">at a speak-out for the future of MCB!</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Wednesday, April 5</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p align="center" style="margin:0in;text-align:center;-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto">
<b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">12 pm - 1 pm</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">State House Steps (24 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02133)</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="margin:0in;line-height:21.0pt"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif"><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/partners/globesports/widgets/smartbar/bruins.html?p1=BGHeader_SmartBar_Scores_NHL"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">Inside
the state commission for the blind: alleged verbal abuse, shrinking services, questionable spending</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></h1>
<h2 style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt">
<span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;font-weight:normal"><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/partners/globesports/widgets/smartbar/bruins.html?p1=BGHeader_SmartBar_Scores_NHL"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">The agency’s labor
union and the state’s largest advocacy group have called for the ouster of Commissioner David D’Arcangelo</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/partners/globesports/widgets/smartbar/bruins.html?p1=BGHeader_SmartBar_Scores_NHL"><span class="label"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;text-decoration:none">By</span></b></span></a><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/about/staff-list/staff/elizabeth-koh/?p1=Article_Byline" target="_tab"><span class="bold"><b><span style="color:#005DC7;text-decoration:none"> Elizabeth
Koh</span></b></span></a></span><span class="affiliation"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#767676"> Globe Staff,</span></span><span class="date"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#767676">
Updated April 1, 2023, </span></span><span class="time"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#9E1511">38 minutes ago</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><image001.jpg><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="caption"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">The union representing a majority of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind's employees last month passed a no-confidence vote against commissioner David D'Arcangelo (pictured).</span></span><span class="credit"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;text-transform:uppercase">MASS.GOV</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">For more than 25,000 blind and visually impaired people across the state, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind is a critical lifeline: providing training, accessible
technology, and many other services.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">It’s also, by many accounts, a state agency in distress.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Workers have filed a litany of complaints in recent years against Commissioner David D’Arcangelo, alleging verbal abuse and inappropriate comments, with some of those investigations
still ongoing, a Globe investigation found. Five current employees, and six former members of the agency, told the Globe that D’Arcangelo has slashed resources and services while pursuing costly and quixotic projects such as a television studio in Boston and
a <a href="https://www.mass.gov/doc/mcb-pre-ets-best-practice-guide-the-quest-for-independence/download" target="_self"><span style="color:#005DC7;letter-spacing:.4pt">comic book</span></a> that’s unavailable in Braille and nearly unusable on the screen readers
used by many blind people.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;max-width:100%">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">These conflicts led last month to a call for his ouster and a vote of no-confidence in D’Arcangelo by the union representing a majority of the agency’s 130 employees.
And, on March 20, the board of the state’s largest advocacy group for blind and visually impaired people wrote to Governor Maura Healey’s office saying D’Arcangelo, who has led the agency since 2018, needed to go.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“He’s an inept and destructive leader,” said Amy Ruell, a former member of the commission’s statutory advisory board. “I’ve never seen the agency deteriorate as
much as it has under him.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">According to a letter sent by the union to the governor’s office in March, D’Arcangelo’s outbursts have resulted in multiple human resources complaints, some filed
internally and some made to the state’s human resources division. At least six of those complaints were still open in early March, the union’s letter says.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">In a response to questions from the Globe, Olivia James, a spokesperson from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said, “Our administration takes
all allegations of misconduct seriously.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;max-width:100%">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“We are reviewing these reports,” she said in a released statement.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">D’Arcangelo did not respond to several questions and, through the spokesperson, declined a request for an interview. Healey’s office, which oversees Health and
Human Services, also declined to comment.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The controversy surrounding D’Arcangelo — a former Malden city councilor and onetime Republican candidate for secretary of state who was appointed as commissioner
in 2018 under Governor Charlie Baker — has been brewing for years. The Globe reviewed more than half a dozen letters sent to the Baker and Healey administrations dating back to late 2020, outlining concerns about his leadership and behavior and calling for
more oversight.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">One employee in 2020 described “the worst morale that I have seen in over 20 years” at the agency. An advocate for the blind in 2021 warned of an increasing “lack
of transparency” from the commissioner. The agency’s previous commissioner, Paul Saner — D’Arcangelo’s predecessor — also wrote to then governor-elect Healey’s office with several concerns, including that services have been “greatly compromised” and that D’Arcangelo
“has no financial acumen.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">But their concerns, some letter writers said, went unheeded.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“When we have filed charges, when we have made complaints, when his behavior has been outlandish, they have done nothing about it,” said Carolyn Ovesen, vice president
of the Service Employees International Union Local 509′s chapter representing commission employees.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Baker is now the head of the NCAA. A spokesman for Baker, Jim Conroy, said that “any concerns raised by employees would have been dealt with through normal human
resources processes.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;max-width:100%">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">”The Governor and Lt. Governor are grateful for David D’Arcangelo’s service and advocacy on behalf of the community to which he belongs,” he added in an e-mail.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Consumers of commission services and advocates told the Globe that certain services, such as the issuance of legal “certificates of blindness” or grants from the
commission’s private emergency fund, have slowed to a crawl or stopped entirely. Meanwhile, wait times for mobility training and supplies have grown, they added.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Money is not the issue. The agency’s funding from the state budget has steadily grown from fiscal year 2017 to 2022, from $22 million to $28 million, records show.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">State leaders may be hamstrung in addressing the issues raised about D’Arcangelo’s leadership. Unlike with most other agencies, state law allows for each MCB commissioner
to serve a term of at least five years<b> </b>— without exceptions. D’Arcangelo’s five-year term ends in August.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The commission, with a roughly $36 million annual budget drawn from a mix of state and federal funds, has a long, storied history. Since its creation in 1906 by
a small group of people, including Helen Keller, it has been one of 22 state-level agencies in the United States that remain dedicated to people who are blind and visually impaired. That specialization, advocates say, is critical to providing such services.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">When someone in the state is declared legally blind, eye care providers are required to send their information to the agency so the patient can be registered and
the commission can offer its services.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;max-width:100%">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">D’Arcangelo, who is legally blind, was little known among advocates in the blindness community when he became commissioner in 2018. Aside from a stint leading the
state’s Office on Disability, D’Arcangelo spent time largely in Republican political circles as a local councilor and communications consultant.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">In 2014, he was the party’s nominee for secretary of state alongside Baker. Shortly after Baker’s election, the governor tapped D’Arcangelo to lead the state disability
office. At the end of Baker’s first term, D’Arcangelo was appointed to run the commission.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Multiple current and former employees said D’Arcangelo has a pattern of making disparaging or demeaning remarks and raising his voice in public and private meetings.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">In a labor management meeting in 2021, D’Arcangelo berated two employees and called people on the Zoom call “disgusting” before hanging up, said James Badger, the
union chapter’s acting president. The union subsequently filed a labor relations charge, prompting the commissioner to offer an apology, Badger said.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Amid the internal squabbles, colleagues and critics, including the commission’s former leader, have questioned D’Arcangelo’s financial oversight. Since taking office,
the commission has left hundreds of thousands of dollars unspent in its budget annually, despite rising caseloads and a shrinking workforce, according to annual budget reports and current and former employees.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">At the same time, D’Arcangelo pushed several initiatives that have raised the blindness community’s ire. He directed more than a million dollars in state and federal
funding toward surveys and marketing that some advocates say are unnecessary and misguided.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;max-width:100%">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Some of the questionnaires included questions about sexual orientation and gender identity, multiple consumers said. Another inquired about immigration status,
which is not a prerequisite to receiving services from the commission.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“How does this ever translate into what is really important, which is services for the blind?” said Saner, the former commissioner, who began receiving services
from the commission after he was declared legally blind at age 36. “I’m not sure that it does.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">For the last two years, advocates have gone to lawmakers on Beacon Hill to lobby for earmarks to be tied to the agency’s spending to ensure it went to services,
Saner said.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“The fact those earmarks have emerged over the last four years is a financial indication of lack of trust in the commissioner,” he added.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The agency’s spending has also included an increased effort to promote the agency online and on social media, though many of the commission’s consumers are older
and use technology infrequently.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">In 2020, the agency <a href="https://www.commbuys.com/bso/external/bidDetail.sdo?docId=BD-21-1065-MCB1-1-53127&external=true&parentUrl=close" target="_blank"><span style="color:#005DC7;letter-spacing:.4pt">put
out a $200,000 bid</span></a> to reimagine its marketing materials and guide to pre-employment transition services, meant to connect blind and visually impaired students with resources to help them find work.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The project culminated in a 40-plus page comic book featuring a commission employee as an “undercover superhero” sending two teenage characters on a “quest for
independence” — a storyline several employees told the Globe felt condescending and rude.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Formats for the comic book do not include Braille, according to the agency’s website. The PDF version online, which is advertised as accessible with screen-reading
software, is also rife with typos.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“It really is one of the worst things you could do for the blind,” said Ruell, the former board member who has been legally blind since childhood and long benefitted
from MCB services.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Though the union’s contract caps caseloads at 70 clients, most workers now routinely manage many more, said Badger, the union leader. “Very few people are at the
caseload they should have — it’s not atypical to see 120 at a time,” he said — a 70 percent increase.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">In October 2020, the agency also announced it would shutter two offices in Worcester and New Bedford at the end of the year — a surprise to consumers and advocates
in part because D’Arcangelo had denied planning to downsize the agency’s footprint in public board meetings.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Closing the offices stranded consumers in more ways than one.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Nona Haroyan, an advocacy committee co-chair of the Bay State Council of the Blind, said she got calls from consumers asking how to get in touch with their caseworkers
because their old phone numbers no longer worked.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">More broadly, advocates and consumers said, services from the commission have deteriorated, leading to months-long waits for trainings and equipment that in other
eras might have taken just days to arrange. In some cases, they said, it’s taken more than a year to confirm someone’s been registered with the commission at all.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Maureen Foley, 82, of Jamaica Plain, said after she was declared legally blind in 2019, finding resources “was like being dropped in the middle of a rotary and
told to find my way to the sidewalk.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">And asking for help from the commission, she said, has been a carousel of frustration. Calls have been regularly ignored. It took her eight months to receive a
talking blood pressure cuff and she is still waiting for a talking thermometer she requested half a year ago, she added.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Foley says the agency’s services have gotten worse and leadership is part of the problem.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="paragraph" style="mso-margin-top-alt:15.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span class="html-render"><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">“I feel like I’m fighting for everything,” she said.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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