[Nfb-or] OCB

[Jeff Anderson]

Hi Tamara and fellow NFB members,

I have had mixed feelings regarding the commision for the last couple
of years.  I believe all the counselors had good intentions, they just
lacked the financial resources.  And my experience has led me to
believe that some of the staff lack a certain perspective that only
those with a visual impairment can possess.  In particular, my
counselor referred me to job opportunities culled from various
employment sites on the web.  A good number of them I had discovered
on my own via the Internet.  A majority of these job openings involved
an hour-and-a-half commute each way for a total of 3 hours in transit;
some even required the use of a vehicle (a detail that my counselor
neglected to mention).  I became frustrated with my advocate and
mentioned on a couple of occastions to please focus on jobs that were
within a 1:15 bus ride from my zip code.  This request was considered
too constricting, and even unreasonable.  It became clear to me that
my counselor just needed to place me to improve the commission's stats
and to improve her annual performance review.

Does this suggests that the OCB culture, their incentive structure, is
in need of an overhaul?

In my opinion, the OCB can better serve their clients if the clients
themselves play a more interactive and constructive role with the OCB.
 The OCB may be more effective if the counselors were actually sight
impaired; perhaps an advisory committee consisting of visually
impaired people would benefit the commission.

I also believe that the commission could be more proactive in their
efforts to cultivate relationships with employers.  They need to
establish more enduring relationships with corporate recruiters.

Food for thought,
Jeff Anderson