[NFBMT] Montana in the Braille Monitor

[president at nfbofmt.org]

The following is an article I wrote for the May 2019 Braille Monitor, the
main publication of the National Federation of the Blind.  BTW, the May
Monitor also includes recipes from members of the National Federation of the
Blind of Montana.  The article, Shaking Things Up, is about the role of the
public vocational rehabilitation program in the lives of people with
disabilities.  

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm19/bm1905/bm190512.htm

Shaking Things Up
by Jim Marks
>From the Editor: Jim Marks is a stalwart Federationist of many years. He
currently serves as the president of the National Federation of the Blind of
Montana. Professionally, Jim served as the director of disability services
for students at the University of Montana for twenty-one years and as the
Montana director of vocational rehabilitation for seven years. He currently
owns and operates the firm, The Blind Grizzly/Jim Marks Consulting, and he
is writing an historical fiction novel based on his ancestors’ experiences
in nineteenth-century Montana.
The State of Montana hired me in January 2010 to serve as its director of
vocational rehabilitation in order to shake things up. Here is my story.
Quality vocational rehabilitation changes lives. Most mistakenly believe the
services focus on employment, but the deep story is one of civil rights.
Civil rights always speak to the self-determination of individuals who face
limitations and denials of choice. For people with disabilities, as with
other oppressed groups, the barriers come from outside of ourselves as well
as within. Vocational rehabilitation services primarily address the internal
oppression. When vocational rehabilitation functions as it should, it
achieves success when those it serves believe in themselves. Good services
guide, and clients decide. All people with disabilities want to live the
lives we want, and services grounded in high expectations leverage the
change that leads to employment.
When the public vocational rehabilitation program performs as Congress
intends, its outcomes are stunningly beautiful. Forged in the letter and
spirit of civil rights, vocational rehabilitation empowers people with
disabilities to take control over our own lives and our services. The
Rehabilitation Act and its amendments assert bedrock American values such as
the values of informed choice, competitive integrated employment, and the
priority for those with the most significant disabilities. Underlying the
entire construct is a very simple premise: Believe in yourself and what you
can do.
Here is the thing: such powerful transformative beliefs come from the
National Federation of the Blind. For many decades, the fingerprints of
Federation leaders show up all over our nation’s public vocational
rehabilitation program. No bread is baked without a persuasive philosophy,
and the Federation finds the high marks for what blind people can do.
Federation leadership goes well beyond blindness as it lifts the aspirations
of all people with disabilities. Additionally, the Federation possesses the
grit and know-how to bake the bread for ourselves and others. Time and time
again, the Federation relentlessly brings down barriers and engages
everything necessary to leave our world better off than we found it.
Unfortunately, even the clearest and most compelling of ideas become
obscured in day-to-day struggles. The public vocational rehabilitation
program sometimes loses its way. One distraction comes from the dense set of
written and unwritten rules under which vocational rehabilitation operates.
Many policies and practices cause the program to focus on budgets over
people or to adopt top-down medical models. One can see the negative results
of such follies by examining the employment outcomes. For many decades,
vocational rehabilitation failed to budge negative unemployment and
under-employment rates of those served.
That is why Montana hired me to shake things up. However, the demand for
corrections in the public vocational rehabilitation program erupted
everywhere. It was not about me. Rather, it was about us. Together, we need
to figure out public policies and practices that deliver positive change and
better outcomes.
In 2014 Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act with the passage of the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). As soon as former President
Obama signed the bipartisan bill into law, it launched massive changes. In
fact, the WIOA amended the Rehabilitation Act 100 times. Most of these
amendments were so sweeping, experts declare that the vocational
rehabilitation of today bears only passing resemblance to the program that
led up to the WIOA. 
Just to focus on one of the changes, the WIOA emphasizes services for youth.
The law earmarks significant federal funds solely for brand-new services
designed to prepare young people for transition to post-secondary education
and work. Federationists embrace the concentration on youth because that
kind of attention has long been fundamental to our beliefs and practices.
After all, it is much better to educate young people about their power of
self-determination than to try and repair the ravages of oppression on
adults. Remember, if we can get individuals to believe in themselves, there
are no limits on what can be accomplished.
Before and after the WIOA became reality, I enjoyed a front-row seat. I
served on the Executive Committee of the Council of State Administrators of
Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR). At the time, many in Congress expressed
skepticism about the voice of CSAVR. After all, CSAVR is a membership
organization comprised of directors of the state agencies Congress hoped to
change. CSAVR tried to find allies, but some disability advocacy groups,
particularly independent living center advocates, abandoned vocational
rehabilitation in order to break free and to establish their own authority.
I personally harbor no ill will toward the independent living folks because
they were doing what they felt they had to do to find their own voice.
Still, these were dark days for vocational rehabilitation professionals.
Fortunately, CSAVR linked arms with the Federation and a few other
disability organizations. True to form, the Federation made all the
difference.
CSAVR CEO Steve Wooderson told me once that he felt confident that CSAVR
knew what it was doing and how to work hard and effectively until he had the
pleasure of collaborating with Federation leaders like John Paré and Anil
Lewis. John and Anil led the Federation charge to amend the Rehabilitation
Act under the direction and encouragement of Marc Maurer and Mark Riccobono
as well as the entire Federation membership. 
“Those guys,” Wooderson once told me, “set a bar I didn’t think possible.”
Vocational rehabilitation and Federation leaders enjoy much in common. Both
believe in positive attitudes and quality training and opportunities. Both
are change agents. Together, vocational rehabilitation and the Federation
accomplish much. CSAVR pays attention to the big picture ideals while
defining and developing what it takes to realize those ideals. That’s
exactly what the Federation does. 
For example, CSAVR recently sent a letter to Secretary Betsy DeVos of the US
Department of Education strongly urging her support for competitive
integrated employment services. CSAVR and the Federation speak as one
against segregated subminimum wage employment. We believe all workers with
disabilities can work in our communities for comparable pay and advancement
opportunities. Our opposition harbors low expectations for people with
disabilities, and partnerships forged in the spirit of civil rights convince
everyone, including those who oppose us, to relegate sheltered workshops and
subminimum wages to the history books. The time has come for all workers
with disabilities to be guaranteed competitive integrated employment.
Make no mistake about it. We are engaged in a nationwide revolution that
shakes things up. Yes, we have miles to go before we sleep, but we are
getting there more and more each day.


Jim Marks
President, National Federation of the Blind of Montana
president at nfbofmt.org
(406) 438-1421