[nfb-talk] nfb-talk] Proposal and predictions

[Alex]

DVR in most states has been in a financial crisis for several years.
I asked an RSA (Rehabilitation Services Administration) rep a few
years ago when we would get the funding we needed to serve those we
were designed to serve, she told me bluntly that there certainly would
not be any more money until we were no longer at war.  That meeting
took place even a couple of years before the economic crisis began.
In the meetings I attend now, there is a push to not see multiple
cases opened on the same person and only train for the most entry
level positions.  The equipment DVR purchased for me is no longer
useful to me because I have lost considerably more vision since then
and because I work, I am not economically eligible to have equipment
purchased for me through DVR.  and, before those on this list think I
am defending DVR's too much,... DVR is not all that great at assisting
people in finding jobs.  Sure we can pay for training, but when it
comes down to delivering on the job search assistance front, we just
aren't all that great.  Now, to my point, I believe that we should not
rely on DVR's to provide equipment; we should do it ourselves through
our own programs, which would help to maintain our independence.  It
does take one person at a time being successful to change the
employment rate but we also have to believe in ourselves.  We have to
believe that we can be successful; we can work outside the home; we
can do the same job a sighted person can do and just as well; and we
can bring a purspective to the employer that would certainly not be
there without us.  I wish I had known other blind people when I was
making career choices because I don't think I would have chosen to
major in psychology and end up working as a DVR counselor.  I'm not
saying that my job has not been rewarding and provided a paycheck.  It
has, but I wonder if I had known a someone who was blind who was
working as a teacher or medical researcher or promotions manager or
whatever where I would be now.   Strengthening the peer mintoring
programs might also help to reduce the unemployment rate.  Not that I
like to think about it, but I certainly can invision a world without
DVR and other resources for those with disabilities.  also, as I am
trying to further my career, demonstrating the technology I use during
an interview would be beneficial because that person who can't imagine
how he/she could perform a job without sight would not have to imagine
or even try to abstractly conceptualize the unthinkable; thus, having
my own technology even now after a 10 year work history would help.