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Mon Oct 17 10:52:39 UTC 2011

Kooiker offers support to the blind

Jan Hill Journal correspondent

Rapid City Journal | Posted: Sunday, October 16, 2011 8:00 am |

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Julaine Arient-Rollman, with state Department of Human Services Division Service to the Blind and Visually Impaired, right, speaks to a crowd gathered for

a National Federation of the Blind South Dakota event at Rodeway Inn restaurant on Mount Rushmore Road on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. (Kristina Barker/Journal

staff)

The Ponderosa Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind received two proclamations on Saturday from Rapid City Mayor Sam Kooiker. The mayor proclaimed

October as Meet the Blind Month in Rapid City, and said that changing attitudes about people with disabilities holds special meaning to him for several

reasons.

Kooiker was formerly employed as a vocational rehabilitation counselor during 2004 and 2005, where he met Julaine Arient-Rollman, another voc rehab counselor

and the current president of the Ponderosa Chapter.

"I'm proud to call myself a former co-worker and current friend of Julaine's," said Kooiker, "and one of my dreams as mayor is to continue the efforts to

employ people with disabilities."

One of Kooiker's first official acts as mayor was to hire a permanent receptionist for the front desk of Rapid City's City/School Administration Center

building. Previously, different departments took turns manning the desk, an operation Kooiker called "a very inefficient process." Wayne Erickson, who

is blind, got the job and is now the "face of city hall, and he's doing tremendous job for us," said Kooiker.

Kooiker also discussed his proposed "disability consideration policy" that will be up for consideration at Monday's city council meeting.

"This is not a quota system, and it's nothing new; it's been around for years in other places, and I believe we need it here as well," said Kooiker, who

added that the state of South Dakota passed an identical policy in 1992. "This policy would ensure that people who have a substantial impediment to employment

as certified by a vocational rehabilitation counselor and who meet the minimum qualifications for the job will get an interview -- it does not guarantee

that they will get the job, just that they will get a chance to meet the interviewers. They will have to stand on their own two feet after that."

The second proclamation given by the mayor was the White Cane Safety Day Proclamation. Arient-Rollman, who was born blind and is also hearing impaired,

explained that all cities and states have a white cane law, although some drivers may not have an understanding of what it is for. The white cane law is

to provide for the safety of blind citizens while they are crossing the street.

"A white cane is a device to help us orientate ourselves to our environment so that we can safely cross the street," she said, adding that under the law,

blind people must cross at the corner with the light like everyone else and listen for the traffic to know when to cross. "The white cane notifies the

driver that we are blind or visually impaired," she said. "A white cane and guide dog are essential to our independence."

Kooiker said the purpose of Meet the Blind Month is to raise awareness and change attitudes about blind people in the Rapid City community.

"Blind people are just like anyone else," he said. "We want to make people aware of utilizing the employment skills of our blind citizens."

Kooiker said he was born with cerebral palsy, and through medical treatment, the condition is not an employment impediment to him now, but others are not

so fortunate.

"The (Americans with Disabilities Act) is not just another law, it is civil rights legislation," Kooiker said. "I think we have come a long way in the last

20 years, but there are still a lot of people in our society that other people have a natural bias against. We need to help change that."

Although the American Disabilities Act of 1990, amended in 2009, was enacted to protect people with disabilities from employment discrimination, Kooiker

said unfair treatment and prejudices still occur. Arient-Rollman agreed, adding, "We have an awful lot of education to do. We need to show people that

a disabled person can be a counselor, a mom, a business person, a receptionist at the City/School Administration Center, or wow, even mayor of Rapid City."

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