[nfbmi-talk] College Policy Board Correspondence

[Fred Wurtzel]

Here is an email version of my Board correspondence for those who do not do
attachments.  The formatting may be less acceptable than the original.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Fred

 

Fred J. Wurtzel

1212 N. Foster Avenue

Lansing, MI  48912

 

September 10, 2011

 

Dear Commissioners:

I just read, with interest, the agenda for the upcoming Commission meeting.
I was happy to see the college policy on there.  As you may know, the
Commissioners passed the college policy last year and promised to review it
in a year.  Well, a year has passed.  The board is being responsible and
keeping its promise.  I commend you.

 

I cannot comment on all aspects of whether the policy is working as well as
hoped.  I can say, without a doubt, the supplemental financial form portion
of the policy is not working.  I have 2 nearly identical examples of the
extreme and mindless enforcement of this superfluous and unnecessary policy
in my possession.  I am only at liberty to share 1 example, but, this is
more than sufficient to demonstrate the point.  I wish I could say that both
examples were limited to 1 counselor or regional office.  Each was from a
different regional office.  I have also heard a verbal report of yet another
similar case in yet another regional office, though, unlike the other 2, I
do not have written documentation... If these individuals have had the
courage to risk reprisals from -MCB and report these problems, I can only
conjecture there are others who are too intimidated to speak up.  The
intimidation is real, palpable and demonstrated below.

 

As a member of the Consumer Involvement Council, I brought this up in our
meeting this past week.  Leamon Jones came into the meeting to discuss the
issue.  I suggested that the form is not necessary for eligibility or to
determine whether Commission support of a student is otherwise legal.  Mr.
Jones did not disagree with this.  I said that if the Commission wanted such
a form, it is fine; just take the student out of the loop.  The student is
not needed to accomplish the goal of collecting information from the
college.  Also, the student has no control over whether the college
completes the form, accurately completes the form or returns the form in a
format that the Commission deems acceptable, yet as the example below
demonstrates, the student is held responsible for the performance of the
college with possible jeopardy to their ability to make progress toward
their academic goal.

 

Mr. Jones said it is good for students to be responsible for their
relationship with MCB and asked me whether I thought students have a
responsibility in their college endeavors.  I told him that, yes, they do.
I reiterated that this form is unnecessary and thus is not a reasonable
cause to keep a student from attending college. He opined that it is "good
for a student" to be responsible and do things for themselves.  I replied
that this is paternalistic nonsense."

 

If the Commission is going to paternalistically require students to do
things that are "good for them," just because they are good for them, then
students ought to be required to get to bed early, study for exams, turn in
all homework on time, not drink alcohol or at least not in excess, not
smoke, eat a healthy diet, get lots of exercise and so on.  Except for
whether the form is returned on time, this form will not change whether MCB
provides service or not. Further, it asks about Social Security benefits.  I
remind you that MCB may not use Social Security benefits to pay for
rehabilitation services, so it is unclear why such information is included.
Furthermore, this information is provided in the intake process, since SSI
and SSDI clients are automatically eligible for rehabilitation services.

  The FASFA form also provides similar information

 

Here is a small portion of the interchange between the student and her
counselor.  The entire chain of emails is very long and includes the
allegedly incomplete document from the University of Michigan in Dearborn.
I will happily supply the entire document upon request.  It has been
published on the MCB 2020 list and the NFB of Michigan list.  An excerpt is
printed below:

 

". . .>> Hello Mr. Jones, It remains confusing to me that your agency is
even 

>> called the Michigan Commission for the Blind. I have met with 

>> Continual resistance from Mr. Nelson since he has become my counselor 

>> In the spring of 2010.

>> This

>> is the third time that he has told me that I may not attend my next 

>> Semester at the University of Michigan Dearborn. I have continually 

>> asked him if we could work on the same team to obtain my educational 

>> success so that I may become gainfully employed. I am not able to 

>> attend school full-time because of family responsibilities. If he 

>> were to become interested in my education he would find out that I am 

>> scheduled to take Environmental Education this fall. This class is 

>> required for my Environmental studies degree. It will not be offered 

>> Again for two years. I was on track to graduate in the spring of 2013.

>> However, it will now take another year because once a student is a 

>> Senior as I am required classes are not offered each semester and in 

>> my school of study some are offered every two years. I will comply 

>> with his order for me to not attend school this fall. However, I 

>> believe it is not sound financial planning or a good use of Michigan 

>> resources. In conclusion I believe that it would be more accurate to 

>> say that I am a client of the Michigan Commission Against the Blind. 

 

 

> 

>>> Hi Donna,

>>> I nor my secretary cannot open this email to access the information 

>>> I need which is the financial letter )award or denial letter) for 

>>> fall 2011. I must have access to print copy today. Email me copy of 

>>> a printed letter in "word" attached so that I can print it out by 

>>> today. If I do not have it  by 5 p. m. today, I cannot support you 

>>> for the fall 2011 and you Will have to have your letter to me by 

>>> november 1, 2011 for the winter.  I have informed Mr. Leamon Jones 

>>> about this and he is aware of this.  Thank you.

>>. . ."

 

As can be observed, above, the client is very frustrated.  You can also
observe that the Commission was in possession of the financial information
from the college.  You can also tell that Leamon Jones was aware of the
plight of the student.  To me it is inexcusable to put a student through
this for no gain.  Fortunately this student publicized this mistreatment and
through intervention she was, to my knowledge, eventually provided service.

 

I say there is no gain in requiring any student to jump through a hoop of
submitting a form to a college and hoping the college will return the form
on time and, apparently, in a required format for the Commission to show
that the student was being "responsible."  Again, I want to be clear, if MCB
feels this form is beneficial in some way, and they wish to use precious
staff time collecting and processing the information, instead of returning
client's phone calls,  then, have at it.  I call upon you, the Commission
Board, the entity that adopted the policy, to fix this unjust and abusive
portion of the policy and allow students to be responsible for the important
work of getting good grades, graduating and getting a job.

 

In conclusion, aside from eliminating the requirement for the form from the
college policy, I, again, strongly suggest that you, as a board, stop using
your limited meeting time receiving meaningless and self-promoting verbal
reports from the staff.  Such reports may be made in writing.  Instead, I
respectfully suggest you use your time to meet with consumers, staff and MCB
administration to constructively determine how to reform the MCB to
eliminate such paternalistic, bullying and intimidating policies and
practices and to provide staff training that puts customers ahead of
bureaucracy, oh and by the way get jobs for blind people.  

 

An example of the impotent nature of the administration was reflected in
comments from Bob Robertson.  He said in a discussion of the lack of return
phone calls from agency staff that this has been an identified complaint
from consumers for years.  He said no one knows how to get counselors or
others to call customers back within 48 hours.  There is 1 term that will
address this - data-driven, humane expectations of accountability from top
management to include all staff.  This begins with the Commission Board
holding the Director accountable for these issues.  

 

Blind people are citizens, not subjects.  Blind people shall not be bullied
and kept in a submissive and dependent role.  To me, it is clear from the
example above; the MCB has no means beyond bullying and intimidation to
guide its training or administration of programs for blind people.  I truly
hope you can use whatever time you can to develop a clear vision and
philosophy for MCB and implement a serious training program to accomplish
these goals.