[Nfbc-info] Fw: [State-affiliate-leadership-list] rehabilitation concerns

[Mary Willows]

Dear Fellow Federationists,

Please read this message over carefully and reply to me if you believe you 
have any substantive experiences.  I believe California is marginally guilty 
of some of the items mentioned but on the other hand, I think we may be 
ahead of the curve.  Thank you for your considered responses.  I will 
compile the information and forward it on to the sender.


> March 27, 2013
>
> Dear Affiliate Presidents:
>
> We have a disturbing pattern of events occurring in Michigan with
> regard to the education & rehabilitation of blind people. I am
> wondering if these events are just typical of Michigan, or if they are
> occurring around the country. It seems as if the Agency serving blind
> people in our state is ignoring the Rehabilitation act, and the
> Federal Rehabilitation Services Administration is allowing this to
> keep reoccurring. Please take a look at the list below, and let us
> know which, if any of these situations are occurring in your state.
> For clarity, I have listed all of these concerns numerically. When you
> send back a response, please include the item number so that we can
> gather some clear, concise data.
> 1.  Since we lost the residential schools, blind individuals coming
> through the educational system are graduating without basic knowledge.
> They read below grade level; have not learned Braille and read large
> print at dreadfully slow speeds. They lack basic life skills as well.
> This results in a staggering lack of confidence. When I graduated from
> the Michigan school for the Blind, it was  generating individuals who
> were prepared to go on to college or out into the world and work;
> earning a good livelihood.  Now, there are fewer blind individuals
> working in the State.  The attitude and expectation is that
> individuals   will collect Supplemental Security Income, live in
> subsidized housing, and live out their lives . There is little real
> work in helping blind individuals gain and maintain employment. We
> have a work  to welfare attitude for blind people in our state.
> 2. State Plan hearings are not properly publicized and so are not
> well attended by consumers or staff members. The latest State Plan was
> approved by the Rehabilitation Services Administration without being
> signed and approved by the Commission Board that was functioning at
> the time as the  State Rehabilitation Council.
> 3. In education and Rehabilitation, skills of blindness are not
> emphasized. There is a lack of sleep shade training, and a lack of
> emphasis on Braille and cane travel. Students are taught to use sight
> at all costs rather than to be proficient in the skills of blindness.
> The prevailing attitude throughout the Agency emphasizes a hierarchy
> of sight.
> 4. The Business Enterprise Program has many problems. Blind vendors
> are blocked from operating locations which are leased to sighted
> individuals instead. These sighted individuals do not pay set asides
> and other fees. They often do not submit proper reports to the State
> Agency. Rehabilitation dollars are used for the sighted. There are
> rumors that particular legislative buildings will be removed from the
> Randolph Sheppard Program. The Legislature is threatening to remove
> the buildings it controls from the Business Enterprise Program by
> passing laws in the state House and Senate. Blind individuals get
> substandard training and struggle to be successful operators.
> 5. Information is not provided in accessible formats, not even upon
> request.  Staff, clients, and vendors are not provided with reasonable
> accommodations  in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities
> Act.  Any blind person should be able to conduct business with the
> Agency in Braille, large print, or electronic formats, but this is not
> the standard practice.
> 6.  Blind individuals are not being hired by the agency serving the
> blind and they are not being trained or groomed as managers
> 7. When the National Federation of the Blind tries to address
> concerns, government or Agency personnel simply do not listen. They
> tell us to stop complaining.
> 8. There are rumors, or actual plans, to combine the agency serving
> the blind with the general  Agency that serves all other disabilities.
> 9. There is rampant discrimination against blind employees in the
> Agency. More particularly, there is rampant discrimination against
> members of the National Federation of the Blind by the Agency. This
> discrimination has included denial of services, sudden and unwarranted
> case closure, and harassment of employees who are known to be members
> of the organized blind.
> 10. The hierarchy of blindness seems to pervade service delivery.
> Clients with less remaining vision are pressured to select vocational
> goals that are demeaning, sub-standard and inconsistent with their
> abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed  choice.
> 11.  There is a serious lack of training of staff. As far as I know,
> our formalized training for staff has recently been eliminated. We
> know for certain that the 2 week sleep shade component has been
> eliminated. How is agency staff trained in your state? Is it done by a
> third party or by existing staff? How long does it last and where does
> it occur? Is there a sleep shade component?
> 12. The National Federation of the Blind of Michigan has been
> attempting to address many of these concerns. Are they patterns that
> are just emerging in Michigan, or are they typical of the rest of the
> nation as well?
> Thank you for any information that you can give us.
> The public vocational rehabilitation program in this Country has
> never been as good as it could be, but we have seen many of the gains
> achieved by the collective action of the Federation being erased in
> the last decade, and we must reverse this trend.  Our diligence is
> essential if the next generation is to have an opportunity to achieve
> social and economic equality.
>
>