[Ncabs] NFB of NC Position on Closing GMS

[Gary H. Ray]

Fellow Federationists:

Inserted below and attached, you will find the NFB of NC position on the
consolidation of the deaf and blind residential schools in North Carolina.
Use this to frame all of your comments on the matter if you would.

Please spread this position and enlist all to work with us to defeat this
Special Provision.

I posted the wording of the Special Provision last night, so you should
already know what this is about.

We need to barrage the members of the House Appropriations Committee with
our howls of outrage about this proposal.

I will post the info on the members of the House Appropriations Committee to
my next email.

Salute!

Gary Ray
President

*********
National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina
18 Sandon Drive
Asheville, NC  28804
(828) 505-0299
Gary Ray, President

June 2009 

Protect the Quality of Separate Education Services for the Blind and
Visually impaired of North Carolina

The National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina (consisting of ten
chapters and 600 members) strongly opposes the consolidation of the
residential schools for the deaf and the blind. The consolidation of
residential schools for the deaf and blind is not a practical educational
model and there is reason to question the actual savings that would be
realized.

1. The school for the deaf and the school for the blind serve two totally
different populations.  These populations have very different needs and
require different approaches and infrastructure that are not conducive to
consolidation. For example, communication for the deaf is primarily through
vision and for the blind it is through hearing. This would create a huge
barrier for communication between two groups that would have to co-exist on
a single campus.

2. Consolidation would dilute services and force the two population groups
to compete for limited resources on the same campus.  This competition could
become a deterrent to a healthy educational environment.

3. The specialized techniques and methods of teaching are quite different
for the deaf and the blind. The blind receive information through touch and
hearing, while the deaf receive much of what they learn through observation
and sign language.

4. The Governor Morehead School campus is well suited to the education of
the blind. Presently it offers educational services to preschoolers and
adults. Its infrastructure was designed to serve the blind.

5. There are many auxiliary services on and near the GMS campus that equip
Governor Morehead as a center to educate and train blind students.

6. In Raleigh there is the capability to utilize urban mobility lessons and
other educational opportunities, e.g., university travel, Rehab Center for
the Blind, tall buildings for elevator/escalator travel, well-developed bus
system, taxi system and urban living skills. 

7. The Governor Morehead School is centrally located and accessible to blind
students across the state. 
 
8. Consolidation is proposed as a money saving measure. We question the
actual long-term savings that some say might be realized from forced
consolidation. Until the details are disclosed, no one can accurately or
reliably evaluate the situation.   Such an evaluation would require time to
put together a plan that involves parents, professionals and consumers.
Without such a plan we only have a projection or a guess about how much
actual money might be saved. Any assessment would surely need to account for
the impact on the students, parents and professionals.

Honesty demands that we acknowledge that deaf and blind students occupying
the same campus is not true consolidation or merger. These young children
should not be the ones to pay such an extreme price for the economic
difficulties we face.

The National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina will not quietly
accept a plan that has no facts relative to the way "consolidation" would be
accomplished. What other segment of the population is being asked to give up
such a huge portion of its state budget???  There is no justification to
disproportionately balance the state budget at the expense of these young
deaf and blind children.

We say the only reasonable and fair approach is to reject consolidation.
 
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