[nfbmi-talk] no information to be informed consumers

[joe harcz Comcast]

September 17, 2010

 

Open Letter Re: MRS “Mystery Shopper Report”

 

Colleagues,

 

In 2007 the Michigan Rehabilitation Council which is the equivalent of the Michigan Commission for the Blind’s “sister agency” Michigan Rehabilitation Services conducted a “mystery shopper” survey”. Basically they set up people with a “profile” and then called or visited various V.R. offices here in Michigan to see how the service delivery and intake was. They found several problems like we face, and like those brought up by Richard Clay, and others with advocates for the blind. In generating the final report they also reviewed literature and I’ll quote the following section which identifies this literature and studies:

 

“VIII.   DOCUMENT REVIEW

Prior to formulating the MSA recommendations to the Bureau, the MRC staff reviewed a plethora of literature in an attempt to inform the recommendations. The document review included:  911 Data Analysis Report; RSA’s Annual Review Report of Michigan Fiscal Year (FY) 2005; MRS FY 2007 Action Plan and FY 2006 Final Progress Report; Culture of Poverty documents as authored by Ruby Payne; MRS Customer Satisfaction Reports; MRS Performance Indicators; Strategies to Address Poverty as authored by MRS staff Tom Jones; MRC Orientation Project Report; Multicultural Counseling Competency Study; historic State Plan Attachment 4.2 recommendations as authored by the MRC; A New Paradigm for Vocational Evaluation: Empowering the VR Customer through Vocational Information authored by the 30th Institute on Rehabilitation Issues; MRC MCTI Focus Group Report; customer input received from a variety of Town Hall and/or Focus Group experiences; and the 2006 Comprehensive Needs Assessment of MRS and Michigan Commission for the Blind.  

 

There were a number of common factors found in the above literature with regard to the value of an informative, culturally sensitive, timely initial point of contact by customers entering a bureaucratic system, such as MRS.  In the Comprehensive Needs Assessment of June 2006, key informants identified “Improved Staffing Practices” and “Service systems too bureaucratic”, as the most noted barriers encountered.  Customer focus groups also reported that “there was too much bureaucracy in the process.”  The writings of Ruby Payne echo this sentiment by reinforcing the importance of the initial point of contact by customers as greatly influencing the individual’s ability to engage and benefit in the service process.  The combination of document review and the MSA findings resulted in the formulation of the recommendations.”

 

 

Now not only do commissioners on the Michigan Commission for the Blind not get this type of literature pro forma, let alone examine it, but advocates such as myself do not get it from MCB even after continued requests. This points to the very fact that the MCB is in its activities violating the intent of the Rehabilitation Act on several counts and compounds that with multiple violations of the ADA. The point here is that this agency rather than being a point of inclusion and empowerment for people who are blind is the exact opposite under the regime of Patrick D. Cannon.

 

It is an old story for tyrants of all types try to keep the public ignorant. Evil doers in the past burned books for a reason. But, this is why the alternate format issue is so important, for with out access to information upon demand we, the blind, are indeed kept ignorant about those affairs that impact us on every front. This goes to everything from text books, to the type of information listed above, to a simple room number.

 

We are not dumb, but are kept ignorant by design. For if we ever really knew what really was going on I think we would all rise up in revolt.

Sincerely,

 

Joe Harcz