[Nfbc-info] request for affiliate's assistance... response to Bryan's letter

Tue Jan 17 06:29:14 UTC 2017

Hello Bryan and all others, 

Thank you for posting your very informative response to this list serve.
Below you and others will find my responses to your recommendations.
Additionally, I have summarized the points I shared during my
micro-presentation to the San Diego Regional Behavioral Health Advisory
Board. I will end my letter with an explanation of why I believe that it is
paramount for our affiliate to collaborate and ensure the underpinnings of
local change are grounded with a positive attitude toward blindness and to
embed high expectations which benefits blind persons receiving services and
future blind local public mental health employees. Today'scollaborative
efforts will lay the foundation for other counties and ultimately other
states. (California is known for trend-setting changes).   

Next, I will address your recommendation to start from the top. To begin
with, I addressed the board in the capacity as the local NFBC Chapter
President. Here is some information about the board. the San Diego Regional
Behavioral Health Advisory Board, (BEHAB), is lead by the  Behavioral Health
Services, (BHS), Regional Director. This person oversees all thingsBHS
public mental health in our region.  In addition, he heads up this board
which is comprised of  deputy directors, some  agency representatives  and
community members. It is my understanding that the BEHAB oversees public
mental health organizations and impacts services and trends. 

Now, I will provide a bird's-eye view of my micro-presentation.  My topic
was, "Barriers to Public Mental Health Services, Information and Resources
Experienced by San Diego's Blind and Visually Impaired Persons Living with a
Mental Health Challenge". My introduction capsulated the work of the
Federation and I mentioned that I work in mental health.(To avoid a conflict
of interest I said nothing about my current position or my employer). Then,
I listed four points; Barriers to online and hardcopy information,  barriers
to classroom education materials, barriers to third-party Online
registration for locally sponsored workshops and locally sponsored mental
health conferences. Additionally, I included concerns about some barriers to
employment collectively faced by the nation's blind. I concluded by
applauding our County's HHSA BHS trend-setting services, and encouraged
identifying solutions through multi-organizational collaboration.I am
pleased to report the Regional Director wants to collaborate.  

It merits mentioning, Bryan, I invited you to be a part of the collaborative
because of your former work for the RSA and your expertise as the CEO of a
flagship game-changing organization of and for the blind. Another reason why
I invited you, aside from the fact that I don't know who else to approach,
is this; matching rank with rank to create policy-change seems logical.
Moreover, that is why I continue to reach out to the Federation. 

Notwithstanding, it goes without saying that the NFB continues to excel in
these and other areas: expertise in knowledge and application of adaptive
technology. The NFB continuously raises the bar for increased gainful
employment of qualified blind candidates. Among employed blind persons are
mental health counselors and social workers. I surmise our organization
includes professionals familiar with developing policies. Furthermore, the
NFB of California is experienced when working with the State Department of
Rehabilitation Blindness Field Services which includes DOR employment
services. (I urged the BHS Director to invite the DOR BFS  District Manager
and or the local DOR BFS supervisor to the table). 

Therefore, I implore our leadership to join me, via teleconference, the
local Department of Rehabilitation and major players in our public mental
health community. With, "love, hope and determination" the NFB continues to
change what it means to be blind. 

Thank you in advance for your support. I look forward to our collaboration.

Thoughtfully, 

Lisa Irving, Chapter President

NFBC, S. D. Chapter

Original Message-----
From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bryan
Bashin via NFBC-Info
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2017 4:08 PM
To: 'NFB of California List' <nfbc-info at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Bryan Bashin <bashin at calweb.com>
Subject: Re: [Nfbc-info] Reaching out to leaders and social workers within
the NFB: assistance with education and advocacy efforts.

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your note here and the voicemails you left at my office last
week.  You're right -- public mental health organizations have an  absolute
requirements to comply with all the legal requirements that government in
general does.  In practice, as you know, this often breaks down especially
when organizations do nonstandard operations like one-day conferences,
events and the like.  The ADA protections and other legal protections apply
not only for normal operations but also for events, emergencies,
construction and the myriad of operations of governmental entities that
happen.

Resolving the many affronts to access is an ongoing battle; each resolution
requires much effort -- communications, meetings, ongoing relationships,
needs assessments, and sometimes a legal process that can take years.
You've mentioned in your post several issues of immediate  concern to you.
In general I like to solve  individual issues one-on-one, face-to-face; it's
far quicker and much more efficient.  If you have that ability, as it
appears you have, go for it.  If you don't and you need to deal with an
institution or organization try to start as high up in the organization as
possible.  Most government organizations are required to designate an ADA
officer; find that person and dialog with them.  The problem you solve
organization-wide will help far more people than just you.

I personally have no useful professional ADA people in the San Diego area.
I often find it useful to enlist a local attorney if you can find one.
Often law schools and other law-oriented nonprofits do such pro bono work
and they may be intrigued with the issues you highlight and may help free
of charge.  And the Federation will benefit by connecting more such legal
people into our movement and issues.

We'll need these resources.  Our experience in the bay area is that there
are thousands of legitimate legal issues at any time, and each requires an
advocate on the  ground and occasionally an attorney.  And since even a
single day of such time could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 or more
you can easily see how important advocates and our local chapters are in
waging each of these fights.  A well informed Federationist asking to meet
face-to-face is a very powerful force indeed.  

-----Original Message-----

From: NFBC-Info [mailto:nfbc-info-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisa
Irving via NFBC-Info

Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2017 3:52 PM

To: NFB LIST SERVE

Cc: Lisa Irving

Subject: [Nfbc-info] Reaching out to leaders and social workers within the
NFB: assistance with education and advocacy efforts.

Hello,

I am reaching out to our state president, Tim Elder and Brian Bashon as well
as Blind mental health social workers in California. 

Within the past year I have made inroads with in San Diego's public mental
health system. That is I have spoken to a health and human services contract
operations representative, some employment specialist and more recently the
director of all things that are behavioral health in San Diego as well as
his deputy directors. Last week I had the opportunity to address the
behavioral health advisory board. In the capacity as the local NFB chapter
president I covered the topic, barriers to information and resources
experienced by blind and visually impaired persons living with a mental
health challenge who are seeking services and resources through the public
behavioral health community. I addressed for components. Some of these
components including barriers to employment due to web access barriers. I
address the need for cross disability supported employment services. I also
address the need to ensure that classes one day trainings and conferences
are inclusive of all individuals including blind and visually impaired
person large mental health organizations and conference planners often use
third party platforms that have nominal or no excess ability. One of these
registration platforms is event bright. One of the third party platforms for
submitting applications and resumes is I recruiter. .. 

At the end of my presentation the director of all things behavioral health
and San Diego stated that he learned about things that he did not know and
he welcomed a conversation with me so did his deputy directors. I am a big
proponent of offering solutions. One solution I offered was to bring
organizations including state department of rehabilitation Andy NFB to the
table to Identify various solutions. I was very well received.

Now, it is time to build a team of individuals within the NFB who are
equipped to come to the table to help bring up solutions. Our meetings will
not be adversarial or demanding. Although it is essential I must say I am
not excited about bringing the department of rehabilitation flying field
services representatives to this meeting. That is because as a whole local
Blind Department of rehab clients expressed concerns about low expectations
and mediocre services. Additionally, in order to create best practices for
the inclusion of blind individuals who happened to live with a mental health
challenge it is paramount to include Blind social workers who have this
knowledge. 

On a separate note, I stated previously in and NFB post that I am having
challenges with voiceover. On that note, I sincerely apologize for odd
sentences and strange wording. Please contact me off list.

Thoughtfully,

Lisa Irving, Chapter president Sent from my iPhone

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