[nabs-l] Choosing a Center

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi all,
Many VR agencies will tell clients that they can only send them to
in-state or "in-contract" centers for training. However, this is only
partially true. VR agencies prefer to send clients to centers with
which they have established contracts, which are usually in-state
centers. But by law VR agencies are required to support a client's
choice of center if that choice is justified, even if the center is
out-of-state or out-of-contract. I don't know the legal specifics but
several Federation leaders can provide assistance with this, including
Jim Omvig, Amy Phelps, Fred Schroeder and Edward Bell. If you are
having problems getting a VR counselor to respect your informed
choice, talk with your state president and try to get connected with
one of these people.
I have experience with this process because I was in the odd situation
of trying to get my state to send me to LCB for training instead of
CCB. They were willing to send me to CCB (where they had a contract)
but not LCB. I wanted to go to LCB because I had been offered a chance
to do some work with the blindness research institute at Louisiana
Tech and I felt this opportunity was critical to my career development
(and it turned out to be quite helpful after all). I had to make that
case to my VR agency and though my counselor supported my decision,
his supervisors did not and it took quite a lot of discussion and
letters from Dr. Bell and from my state president, but they finally
complied and I went to LCB. For most of you who are wanting to go to
any NFB center rather than an in-state one (and not choosing between
NFB centers like I did), there are many reasons you can give for the
superiority of NFB centers: off-campus living, comprehensive training,
blind mentors/instructors, use of sleepshades if you have partial
sight, and probably others I am forgetting.
Arielle