[nfbmi-talk] ill arsenal unit teams w blind workers

Sat Oct 15 12:44:57 UTC 2011

Arsenal unit teams with blind workers

Ed Tibbetts and Jennifer DeWitt

The Quad-City Times | Posted: Friday, October 14, 2011 10:48 pm |

Khayyan Wafer, who is visually impaired, uses a magnifying device on her computer to read documents at the Army Contracting Command on the Rock Island Arsenal.

(Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES)

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Arsenal blind workers

Arsenal blind workers

Arsenal blind workers

Arsenal blind workers

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A unique arrangement between a Chicago social service agency and a unit on the Rock Island Arsenal is making a dent in a pair of daunting challenges - the

high rate of unemployment among the blind and a mountain of yet-to-be closed contracts from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army Contracting Command on the Arsenal has hired six legally blind people to help it close out thousands of contracts that are left over from the two

wars.

The Arsenal site expects to deal with more than 120,000 contract files, said Joan F.S. Wysoske of the contracting command's office here.

The volume of work is so heavy it is too much for the existing work force to handle, so the Arsenal sought extra help.

The six workers, as well as a supervisor who isn't visually impaired, come from the Chicago Lighthouse for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired, a

105-year-old social service agency located on the city's west side.

Two veterans who are part of the Wounded Warrior program also are involved in the effort, moving the boxes of contracts that have arrived from a shuttered

contracting site in San Antonio, Texas.

The workers started on the job last month.

Khayyan Wafer, who relocated from Chicago and has a disease similar to macular degeneration, uses a special magnifying glass to enlarge words. As a former

school teacher with bachelor's and master's degrees, she said she's held a number of jobs through the agency.

"I just keep trying my hand at everything," she said.

Adaptive technology is provided by the Chicago Lighthouse to help the workers. Just because someone is legally blind, it does not mean the person can't

see at all, said Terry Longo, the organization's chief operating officer.

Finding work for the blind is hard. And it's particularly hard in a struggling economy, as laid-off workers are filling the entry level jobs that might

normally go to the blind.

Unemployment among the blind is at 75 percent, according to the Chicago Lighthouse, which provides employment and rehabilitation services for the blind,

maintains a school for kids with multiple disabilities and is one of the few remaining clock manufacturing facilities in the country.

"It's tough placing people outside these four walls," Longo said.

What's unusual about these jobs, which for right now are set to last a year, is they're not entry level at all. They pay between $40,000 to $45,000.

They might also be the first step up the career ladder, Longo said.

Ed Price, a closeout specialist from Kewanee, Ill., who is blind in one eye and has limited vision in the other, said he was worried about going to full-time

work.

"This is the first full-time job I've had in 11 years," he said, but added the Chicago nonprofit has smoothed the transition.

All of the workers received additional training before going on the job.

The employment opportunities don't come without help. Federal law and regulations give some priority to people who are blind and with major disabilities

in the provision of selected supplies and services.

A program called Ability One, through agencies such as the Chicago Lighthouse, is the largest federal employer of people who are blind or disabled.

The Defense Department has struggled to close out contracts, according to a Government Accountability Office report from June. And it is transferring the

duties to the Army Contracting Command, which has more than a half-dozen closeout sites.

Closing out a contract is important for at least two reasons: Doing so enables officials to identify improper payments or unspent funds. The Defense Department

identified at least $135 million in unspent funds that could be used for other purposes, the GAO report said.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/arsenal-unit-teams-with-blind-workers/article_cc606f4a-f6e0-11e0-ac37-001cc4c002e0.html