[nabs-l] Choosing a Center

[Beth]

I went to CCB and thankfully graduted.  The thing about the NFB 
centers is that they may or may not accept people who have more 
than one disability, particularly mental disabilities/illnesses.  
This is because the activities are overwhelming and the work is 
tough.  I'm not sure how I can say this, but it took me going to 
CCB to get my parents to stop breathing down my neck about how 
incapable I was/could have been.
Beth

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:45:25 -0600
Subject: [nabs-l] Choosing a Center

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

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