[nfbmi-talk] regarding bigger issues surrounding college policy

Sun Jun 27 19:05:05 UTC 2010

Elizabeth and Lydia,

You 2 are so right.  Elizabeth, your comments show a depth of understanding
of the Rehab act that was clearly absent among the Commission staff on
Monday.  These 2 posts, together are almost all that needs to be said about
a quality college policy.  Thanks to both of you.

Warmest Regards,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Elizabeth
Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2010 12:39 AM
To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] regarding bigger issues surrounding college policy

Lydia,

Thank you for your kind words. While I do not know much about autism, I
agree whole-heartedly with what you said about providing individualized
services to individuals. In fact, I do not agree that the training center
program should be the only way to measure a student's ability to take part
in college courses. While I understand the need for the student assessments,
I do not believe they should be the sole factor in determining whether or
not a student possesses the ability to succeed in college. Sometimes the
best way for someone to learn something is to learn through their mistakes,
but it seems as though this process has been taken out of our education
system.

In addition, I believe mandating that all students must receive this
assessment at the training center is in violation of the student's right to
make an informed choice as set forth in the federal Rehabilitation Act as
amended. If the agency denies this right to a student when they choose
another entity to provide the assessment service based on their individual
needs, then I would believe they would not only be failing to provide
individualized services, but would be violating the student's right to
informed choice as well.

I also do not see why a student would have to demonstrate their ability to
successfully participate in college courses if they have already
demonstrated this ability by attending college on their own without the
support of the Michigan Commission for the Blind. There seems to be a trend
right now where many college students, especially at the community college
level, where older students are going back to school as a way to polish up
their resumes while collecting unemployment. If an older student came to the
Michigan Commission for the Blind, and they have been a student in the past,
or have even successfully managed a household, then I do not believe they
should have to go through the scrutiny of attending the assessment program
at the training center. I think real world experience should qualify as an
assessment tool.

I believe the Michigan Commission for the Blind should realize that not
every student is the same. As a result, I believe that a good college policy
should allow for exceptions without even calling them exceptions. Everything
should be based on the client counselor relationship. There appears to be
nothing in the Michigan Rehabilitation Services college policy about
appealing to the services administrator for every little exception to their
policy, so why exactly should it be included as part of the college policy
for the Michigan Commission for the Blind?

So anyways, I guess these are just more thoughts to add to the whole college
policy debate.

Elizabeth

> From: laschuck at juno.com
> Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2010 15:53:42 +0000
> To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] regarding bigger issues surrounding college policy
> 
> Hello list,
> First I want to commend Elizabeth. I have known her for a number of years,
and want to say how exciting it has been to see her step up to this task
that is so discouraging at times. Great job, Elizabeth!
> My main issue has been with the need to have a policy that shows trust of
both the commission staff and consumers. Our policy toward anything in any
area of disability should have a sense of trust in the consumer to want the
best for themselves. Why would a blind student or any other student
deliberately drag out their education just to bother the commission?
> That trust needs to extend to people who have developmental and cognitive
disabilities in addition to blindness. This includes my daughter, Anna, but
she is not my reason for pushing this. My reason has to do with the many
blind kids I know from camp, and the youth I know in the autism community
who need an individualized approach to their futures. As autism hits the
adult rehab services setting in ever larger numbers, something is going to
have to change, so that agencies can and will do what they are supposed to
do to serve consumers.
> I have focussed on the time issue because it is such an obvious factor,
but there are all kinds of things that will have to be considered. Is a high
functioning autistic blind teen required to stay at the training center to
do the summer college-readiness program, or to do the 2 week college
assessment? I believe residence at the training center is required for one
of those programs, or maybe both. Why does that have to be? Does a student
with cognitive disabilities have to pass the college assessment in order to
be part of a post-secondary experience made specially for students with
cognitive disabilities? Does a student who wants to be a freelance writer
have to go into a full college program just so he can take every course at
the community college that relates to American History? If a student can
succeed with a part time course load, but not full time, why should the
commission take issue with part-time studies?
> What about food? No one would make a training center student with
allergies eat foods that make him sick. Yet a training center student could
be forced to live in a building with offensive noises, even just the
flourescent lighting, because everybody has to live in the training center
building. 
> I am arguing for a degree of individualization in everything that is not
related to skills of blindness or academics. Some people could handle
classes in a building with lights that make noise, but not if there is
vacuuming in the hall or mowing during class hours. Those are just part of
autism. People need other supports to succeed, and part of that support
might be living off of the training center campus, or working by
correspondence, or other creative solutions.
> I am not going on any longer here, but just want to say that I am not
going to college meetings in part because I think this battle for truly
individual approaches to rehab is going to come up and bite us again before
too long, regarding every policy that is made...so I am saving my energy for
a bit!! Lydia
> 
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