[nagdu] a blind consumer's Right toChooserehabtraining(federalregs)

Sat Nov 12 21:56:02 UTC 2011

Dave,

Good for you.

How did you pay for the adaptive tools you needed to succeed in college? 
How did you get your textbooks brailled before the beginning of each 
term? How much did that cost you?

Had you have your savings wiped out by your spouse in the years 
preceding your divorce and return to school? If so, how did you fund 
your expenses and buy adaptive tools for yourself for your areas of 
study which the university did not possess.How were you able to work 
your way through school without the tools to continue your profession?

Honestly, I can't figure out where I went wrong to get turned down on 
financial aid just because the joint tax return from the previous year 
included my spouse's income and mine

Oh, and how did you pay for treatment of crushing and twisting injuries 
to your hands and wrists so that you could use your cane and feel your 
fingers to read braille? Did you get Medicare to cover the treatment you 
needed somehow? Or how did you manage that?

Also, can you tell me how I might have been less affected by pain since 
I am drug intolerant and could do nothing to take the edge off? How do 
you deal with that while working and going to school and brailling your 
own books and finding a reader for math because the school does not have 
the tools and the VR agency will not tell you how to even look for them 
or what they are?

Did the math readers the Disability services department at your school 
do okay with that? What about linguistics and computer programming?

Oh, did you miss the court-ordered spousal suport you were not receiving 
at the time? Or were you too independent to need that, too? In what way 
were your responsible for your spouse's refusal to obey a court order? 
How much will it cost you to replace the possessions the court order 
required your spouse to return to you?How did you manage to pay an 
attorney to represent you when your SSD from your prior working life was 
too high for you to qualify for Legal Aid?

Please tell me how I should have done better at manage all those things 
at once during a one year period in my real life. Because I am really 
wondering how I could have done a better job at being responsible for 
the behavior and actions of others while working and going to school. I 
really, really do.

Tami

If I can get those problems licked, I wile find a time machine and go 
back and do it again the way you did!

On 11/11/2011 05:42 PM, David Andrews wrote:
> RJ:
>
> If the unemployment rate for blind persons is 74 percent and you say it
> is rehab's fault, then I say to you that it is in large part the fault
> of individuals for letting it be rehab's fault. First, I don't think it
> is rehab's fault. Certainly there are problems with the rehab system in
> this country, but it isn't all bad, as some of you say or imply.
> Secondly, many blind persons get jobs with little or no help from rehab.
> If someone waits for rehab to get him a job, he will probably wait
> forever. You are your best representative, your best advocate etc., not
> a government employee.
>
> Dave
>
> p.s. As an example, I decided I needed to go to graduate school. I went
> and talked to my Counselor -- and he said he sure wasn't going to pay
> for it, as the agency wouldn't pay for his. So, I regrouped, got
> scholarships, a teaching assistantship, and job in dorm, and actually
> made money going to school. Then, once I got out, I found a job before
> rehab could do all the paperwork, but I am sure they took the 26.
>
>
> DA
>
>
> At 06:18 PM 11/11/2011, you wrote:
>> See that's how it is here in Florida. The councilor's dictate instead
>> of allowing you to make an informed choice. Why is their a 74 percent
>> unemployment rate among the blind? because all the working aged blind
>> are working in a vending stand because councilor knows best! The NFB
>> has been around for almost 75 or more years, but when you really get
>> down to it, what have the blind really accomplished? Not much of
>> anything. Jerigan said its a cycle The agencies for the blind give bad
>> teaching skills, which leads to wrong misconceptions of the blind
>> person to the general public. We have three blindness training
>> centers, but these are not schools. Alot of times, kids are sent to a
>> blindness school, from the time they're five years old, until they
>> graduate, and then when they get out into the world, they don't know
>> how to adjust. So, what should we the blind do? Get them when they're
>> young, so that when they graduate from high school, they won't need to
>> go to the NFB center, because they already have the training. RJ
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brenda" <bjnite at windstream.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 6:47 PM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] a blind consumer'sRight
>> toChooserehabtraining(federalregs)
>>
>>
>>> Hey Tami
>>>
>>> that is what happens in my state. Once they had a Consumer Advisory
>>> Counsel that said some true, uncomplimentary stuff about the
>>> counselors. The counselors were insulted because the counselors had
>>> Masters degrees and who were these ungrateful consumers. I read the
>>> minutes and heard the counselors angry comments because I worked for
>>> the Agency.
>>>
>>> Then as a consumer after I was forced out of the agency due to an
>>> office move, I had a whole slew of problems getting what I knew I
>>> needed. I found out a rehab tech had told the counselor the exact
>>> opposite about what he and I discussed. I protested and had my case
>>> closed in frustration.
>>>
>>> Instead of learning our rights etc., I would just like to know the
>>> States where rehab professionals really help the most consumers and
>>> work with them as a team instead of dictating what the client needs
>>> and giving anyone who asks for choices etc. a hard time.
>>>
>>> When I had my issues, I didn't know of anyone to help me. Even if I
>>> did, it is an exhausting process and i want to enjoy life and not
>>> spend all my time fighting with people. If I had things to do over,
>>> and had access to the internet, I would have moved to the State where
>>> the rehab people are known to be more helpful.
>>> Brenda
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 11/11/2011 6:22 PM, Tami Kinney wrote:
>>>> So what do you do, then, when you do your homework before you make
>>>> your first call and know what your needs are and formulate your
>>>> requests according to that in line with what the law and the
>>>> policies and procedures are and..And get nowhere. For years.
>>>>
>>>> What if you keep hearing that this is what happens to virtually
>>>> everyone you talk to.
>>>>
>>>> What if you learn that there is no recorse, that the agency is not
>>>> following the laws or the rules and regs because they don't actually
>>>> have to? Because there is no one to make them?
>>>>
>>>> Then where are you?And where are all your friends and acquaintances
>>>> and what do you tell them when they ask you what do do?
>>>>
>>>> Tami.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 11/11/2011 12:40 PM, Larry D. Keeler wrote:
>>>>> You don't march in, you ease in and tell your counsellor what you'd
>>>>> like
>>>>> to do and ask them how it can be accomplished.
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "RJ Sandefur"
>>>>> <joltingjacksandefur at gmail.com>
>>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 2:49 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] a blind consumer's Right
>>>>> toChooserehabtraining(federalregs)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> How is a blind consumer suposed to just march into their councilors
>>>>>> office, and tell him or her I want this or that? The councilor's know
>>>>>> these regulations back and forwards... They have excuses for
>>>>>> everything. Really this should be for the rehab councilor list. RJ
>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Criminal Justice Major
>>>>>> Extraordinaire" <orleans24 at comcast.net>
>>>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 2:39 PM
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] a blind consumer's Right to
>>>>>> Chooserehabtraining(federalregs)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi, larry,
>>>>>>> I'll agree with you on this one and leave it alone too.
>>>>>>> Since I don't know that much about those individuals, will leave it
>>>>>>> as that.
>>>>>>> *Smiles*
>>>>>>> Bibi and Odie
>>>>>>> the happy spirited bounty labra wolf
>
>
>
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