[nabs-l] Choosing a Center

[Joshua Lester]

Arielle, this post was very helpful, because I have a meeting with my
Rehab counselor this Friday.
Thanks, Joshua

On 7/17/12, Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/jlester8462%40students.pccua.edu
>