[nfbmi-talk] Fantastic Point About Department of Labor vs.Department of Education

Fri Feb 7 02:16:27 UTC 2014

So well stated Christine.  Ignorance and indifference are much bigger
barriers for we persons with disabilities, especially we the blind, because
of the fear that the word blindness evokes.  Also, as pointed out, our
number of votes, if we could have effective accessible voting, simply are
not a large enough voting block, to elicit attention, let alone action, on
our behalf by the movers and shakers in the political and public
administration arena.  We simply do not possess the clout and financial
resource groups of special-interest have to engage in the lobby process.  In
addition, Internal Revenue Service law prohibits not-for-profit
organizations, like NFB, from lobbying activities, and we are limited to
education as our means to an end result through sensible persuasion.

Speaking of education, as Christine points out, any placement of
rehabilitation service programs in executive agencies other than education,
simply do not possess the necessary person-centered focus and expertise in
rehabilitation issues and administration, to effectively meet the needs and
challenges of preparing and achieving effective successful, and long-term
employment placement of persons with disabilities.

 As frequently discussed and espoused within the business and political
arenas, with regard      to the goal and attempts to achieve effective full
employment of the adult population in general; education, training and
retraining, are the number one focus and use of financial resources,
including tax incentives and credits to the business community, to pursue
and achieve maximum employment of adults.  This focus begins at the
pre-elementary school age, including early-on programs for children, as
exhibited by the investment in early-on programs, as advocated and outlined
in the governor's state-of-the-state address and proposed budget, past and
present, to emphasis and budget increases in higher education, to retraining
the current and displaced workforce; the focus is and has been the focus and
action for person-centered knowledge and skill acquisition by individuals,
for full employment for the adult population within the general workforce.
If it is good for the general adult population, business, communities, and
the economic well-being of society in general, then the question and answer
must be addressed:  why is the same value, emphasis, and focus not true for
the population of persons with disabilities?  Are we not part of the adult
general population?  Are not school-age youth,college-age young adults, and
unemployed and displaced workers with a disability part of the education and
rretraining population, community, and system?    

As with the general population, if success is to be achieved for the
education, skill acquisition and retraining, to attain the goal of full
employment among persons with disabilities, the focus and resources must be
shifted to the person-centered  education, retraining of youth and adults
alike, with the added component of educating employers, the general public,
public policy-mmakers and administrators, politicians, like Senator Harkin,
who has been traditionally sensitive to and supportive of positive action
causes for persons with disabilities, and yes, even education of
professionals within the rehabilitation system; and rehabilitation
professional acertainly are not synonomous with rehabilitation
administrators and policy-makers, must all be informed and educated to the
fact that which is true to achieve successful full employment of the general
population, also holds true for the population of persons with disabilities.
Education and skill acquisition is key.

While the Department of Education, like any executive agency, national or
state, has a broad mission and often multiple focus, at least the education
community has the fundamental philosophy and attitude toward an individual
focused mission.  I base this observation on my experience as an public
administration intern at both the U.S.  Department of Education and a state
department of education.Therefore, the basic philosophy and attitude within
Education is one less challenge we as collectively organized persons with
disabilities must contend with a bureaucratic structure.  By being within
the national or state education structure and system, we can and must
espouse and educate governmental stakeholders that, like the general
population, education and skill acquisition is vitally important as the key
to achieving rehabilitation and employment mission goals for and within the
persons with disabilities population.

I know, I have heard stories whereby certain segments of the education
administration community have not been particularly friendly and supportive
of certain issues advocated by the blind community and NFB in the past here
in Michigan, however, I submit that past performance does not predict or
equal future performance.  For example, if any one of us or one of our
children get a failing result in an academic course, does that equal or
translate to failure upon repeating a course?  Would we advocate to our
child that repeating the failed course work was not of value and worth the
effort of trying again?  As with the circumstances and timing of having
taken a certain academic course and getting a failing result, so is the same
logical answer to the questions posed immediately above.  Like the academic
failure, we must analyze the situation, issues, environment and climate into
which we shall enter, and take every reasonable strategy and approach to
achieve a different and acceptable result the second or more times around.
I know from having to repeat a college algebra course more than once, yes I
said repeat it more than once, that things can change, much is to be learned
from a failure, and with the correct attitude, dedication, persistence, and
tools and resources, a second or more time around can be a charm, having
overcome a failure in the past.  Failure can meet with failure, or worse
yet, failure can meet with paralysis, or failure may meet with learning and
success in the future.     

Let's educate, get educated, and change the education, rehabilitation, and
workforce environment for the better, and doing so, change what it means to
be blind and employed.  Finally, if our focus is on that which does not work
and is a failure, we are bound to not make progress, however, if we focus on
and advocate for that  which works and is possible best practice, then
reform and advancement shall be the result.  Positive energy is equally
powerful as the negative energy.  I dsire to choose to direct my energy
toward positive change, rather than using available energy dwelling on that
which is a failure.  In other words, I desire to be part of the proposed and
achieve solution, rather than a part of the failure focus problem.

I
-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Christine Boone
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 1:53 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] Fantastic Point About Department of Labor
vs.Department of Education

Kane, 
I want to take a minute to address your question about how it is that
Senator Harkin could have sponsored this legislation.  As you know, Tom
Harkin has long championed the rights of persons with disabilities.  I
honestly believe he may be unaware of the pitfalls that lie within a
transfer of the public VR program to the Department of Labor.  On the
surface it looks like a grand idea right?  After all, vocational
rehabilitation is all about putting people with disabilities to work.  It
made sense to me.  For the first 20 years of my work in the field of VR, I
really thought that we would make huge progress in understanding and
response time if only our programs could be in the DOL.  Then came the
Workforce Investment Act in 1998, mandating that all state VR agencies were
to partner with one-stops and develop positive working relationships inside
the Workforce Investment cadre which was headed by the Labor Department.  In
fact, the VR agencies were supposed to have a seat at the table as part of
each State Workforce Investment Board.  
Time is indeed a teacher, and as time passed we discovered that the DOL saw
the vocational rehabilitation system as a burden to be borne and nothing
more.  This was our experience despite the fact that I was in Pennsylvania
at the time, where the blindness agency had recently been moved from Public
Welfare to Labor with largely positive results.  The bottom line is that our
numbers are simply too small, and the ratio of staff to customers is too
great within the one-stop system.  People with disabilities, and especially
those of us who are blind, just disappear.  Many readers of this list
already know what happens to them if they present at an unemployment office
seeking assistance in getting a job.  If they are lucky they get sent to the
VR agency, which probably sent them to the unemployment office in the first
place.  If they are not so lucky they are shuffled from person to person
only to find that yes there may be an accessible computer in the office, but
either no one knows which one it is, or someone else is using it, or the
access software has been disabled and so on.  

Sorry for the ramble, I really just wanted to say that I can understand why
Senator Harkin and others could think that moving VR to Labor could have
positive results for the bottom line of successful outcomes.  Logically it
should work; but the past 15 years have clearly demonstrated that it does
not.  This is why I think it could be powerful for you to reach out to him,
as a former resident of the HawkEye state.  Thank him for all that he has
done for this population in the past, and provide some education about what
really happened when rehab and labor consummated their arranged marriage in
1998.  

Thanks for listening.  
Warmly,
Christine

On Feb 5, 2014, at 5:02 PM, Kane Brolin <kbrolin65 at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 2/5/14, Christine Boone <christineboone2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ...  I think that our first priority needs to be asking [Congress] Not to
transfer
>> Rehabilitation out of the Department of Education. We have a great deal
to
>> lose. One of our primary obstacles here in Michigan lies in the fact that
>> our rehabilitation agency is in a department that is part of the labor
>> system. Sadly they have no understanding of vocational rehabilitation
>> programs and worse yet, they do not desire to have any.  ...  We may not
have a > whole lot now, but we will have less if Senator Harkin's amendment
transferring
>> RSA to Labor goes through. That same
>> amendment strips away all of the professional requirements for direct
>> program staff. In other words, any DOL staff person could work in
delivery
>> of vocational rehabilitation services.
> 
> Amazing, Christine.  I had no idea of the scope--just how nefarious
> this next edition of the Workforce Investment Act actually is.  As
> someone who grew up in Senator Harkin's home state, I am flabbergasted
> that he is this ignorant--or this underhanded--and that he would want
> to leave office this year with this as his legacy for disabled
> Americans.  Makes me wonder what he is getting out of it in terms of
> quid pro quo.
> 
> This is why I am grateful to be on the Michigan NFB listserv, even
> though I am no longer a Michigan resident.  It seems that many active
> Federationists up there are extremely passionate, knowledgeable, and
> active in speaking truth to power.  Makes me wish I had been active
> during the 4-½ years I lived there back in the '90s.  Thank you for
> taking time to share.
> 
> -Kane
> 
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