[nfbmi-talk] article about Doug Boone and Christine

[Larry Posont]

National Federation of the Blind of Michigan
7189 Connors Rd.
Munising, MI 49862

December 31, 2013

Dear Michigan Federationists:

     Here is an article to read about Doug Boone and Christine’s new
adventure in Oklahoma. Please make sure to congratulate Doug and
Christine. They work hard to make life for blind people better no
matter where they live. Doug and Christine, we wish we were going with
you.

Sincerely,
Larry Posont
President
 National Federation of the Blind of Michigan
 (313) 727-3546
Email: president.nfb.mi at gmail.com
 Web page: www.nfbmi.org

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Douglas C. Boone, a consultant and state agency leader
from Kalamazoo, Michigan with 30 years’ experience in serving people
who are blind will soon lead Visual Services staff for the Oklahoma
Department of Rehabilitation Services.


“I am excited about coming to Oklahoma, and I look forward to working
with the staff at the Division for Visual Services and Oklahoma DRS,”
Boone said. “I believe that we can most effectively fulfill our
mission, which is really a joint venture between the federal
Vocational Rehabilitation system and the state of Oklahoma, by
developing a partnership between the hardworking professionals within
the agency and the customers who are eligible to receive vocational
rehabilitation and independent living services.”


“Together we will work as a team that can implement the strategies
needed to enable blind Oklahomans to reach their full potential," he
said.


As president of D. Boone Consultants since 1993, he offered customized
consultation to agencies, educational institutions, businesses and
organizations serving people who are blind. The company served more
than 1000 staff in 19 states and Europe with programs targeting
vocational rehabilitation, independent living, program review and
evaluation, strategic planning, reasonable accommodations, employer
outreach, orientation and mobility, industrial education and Americans
with Disabilities Act compliance.


As state director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Blindness and Visual
Services, Boone was responsible for vocational rehabilitation,
employment, independent living and specialized services for blind
adults and children. He also administered a program that provided
opportunities for people who are blind to own and operate food service
businesses on government property under provisions of the federal
Randolph-Sheppard Act.


His career also included employment as director of human resources
staff development for the New Mexico Commission for the Blind,
rehabilitation counselor and rehabilitation teacher at the Oregon
Commission for the Blind, and as an orientation and mobility
instructor and industrial arts instructor for visually impaired adults
and youth.

Boone, who has an orthopedic disability, benefitted from
rehabilitation services as a client of Nebraska Rehabilitation
Services.


Douglas Boone jokes about inheriting a strong desire to travel from
his forefather Squire Boone, Jr., an American pioneer and the brother
of Daniel Boone. The brothers lived in many states.


“The brothers were always looking for a better place and always trying
to improve the places where they were,” he said.


Boone earned a bachelor’s of education degree from Wayne State College
in Wayne, Nebraska. He participated in three segments of the National
Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by the Rehabilitation
Services Administration.


He is a member of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of
the Blind and Visually Impaired and the National Federation of the
Blind.


Boone’s wife Christine is an attorney. Their son Edward is serving in
the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Daughter Kate works as a groundwater
geologist for the state of Nebraska.


DRS annually serves nearly 85,000 Oklahomans with disabilities through
employment, vocational rehabilitation, education and independent
living programs, and the determination of medical eligibility for
disability benefits. For more information, phone 800-845-8476 or visit
www.okdrs.gov .






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