[NFBMT] NFB Newsline

[president at nfbofmt.org]

FYI here is the e-mail I sent Sheila Hogan, DPHHS Director, regarding NFB
Newsline.  Director Hogan is the one who cut the funding.

Jim Marks
president at nfbofmt.org


-----Original Message-----
From: president at nfbofmt.org [mailto:president at nfbofmt.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2019 12:11 PM
To: 'sheilahogan at mt.gov' <sheilahogan at mt.gov>
Subject: NFB Newsline

Dear Sheila,

October 31, 2019 was the last day NFB Newsline was available to qualified
Montanans with disabilities.  The next day was the first in many decades in
which blind and other Montanans with disabilities that limit access to print
information could rely on alternatives to mainstream information services.
In fact, no alternatives exist, and nearly 400 Montanans find ourselves
isolated and segregated from what everyone else takes for granted in the way
of reading newspapers, emergency weather alerts, and other critical
information.

In your July 3, 2019 letter to Joy Breslauer, Advocacy and Public Policy
Committee Chairperson of the National Federation of the Blind of Montana,
you said that federal rules do not permit Montana Vocational Rehabilitation
and Blind Services (VRBS) to continue funding NFB Newsline.  This is an
incorrect interpretation of federal rules.  We checked with the
Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) of the US Department of
Education, and RSA verified the following:  There is nothing in the
Rehabilitation Act or the VR program regulations prohibiting services to
groups while an agency is on an order of selection.  NFB Newsline was part
of the 2015 State Plan, but it was not specifically mentioned in the current
State Plan because that was the first combined state plan under the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, of which the Rehabilitation Act is
a part.  The addition of multiple state partners in a combined state plan
necessitated leaving off some details from the combined plan, but VRBS was
still operating NFB Newsline as a Services to Groups project even though
funding for the project for a short while came from the Montana
Telecommunications Access Program.  When the Governor's Committee on
Telecommunications Access decided not to continue funding NFB Newsline, we
asked for a relatively small and reasonable amount of funding from VRBS to
continue assuring that Montanans with disabilities can access information
services.  Funding NFB Newsline, according to RSA, is an option to be
decided by the Designated State Unit, which, in Montana, is VRBS.
Essentially, you cut the funding and ceased critical disability services
based on incorrect interpretations of federal rules.  We would like you to
reconsider the decision.

Yes, funding NFB Newsline is an option for VRBS.  The choice is to either
continue including several hundred Montanans in our communities or to
exclude us from the same.  Montana ought not be isolating and segregating so
many from the fundamental human right to stay informed and engaged in our
communities.  Print media are not accessible to or usable by people with
disabilities that interfere with reading of print.  Online media sometimes
work for people with disabilities, but not consistently.  Advertisements,
pay walls, poorly designed web sites and apps, and other barriers routinely
block people with disabilities from using online media.  Additionally, use
of online media requires highly developed and sophisticated mastery of
technology, and many Montanans just do not have the technical abilities or
resources to use online media effectively.  Alternative media other than NFB
Newsline are not available in Montana.  You may recall that the former
Montana Radio Reading Services closed its doors years ago.  Bottom line is
that Montanans with print disabilities are shut out from all media
currently.  We know that you have received lots of information about what
NFB Newsline does and how the service is so important to those who have
nowhere else to turn for accessible information services.  The epitaph of
your administration ought to read that you stood by Montanans with
disabilities, not that it eliminated essential services.  The choice is
yours.

Sheila, please reconsider and direct VRBS to continue funding NFB Newsline.
In the big scheme of things, we are talking about so little money for so
much benefit.  You can do the right thing, and we certainly hope you do.

Sincerely,

Jim Marks
President
National Federation of the Blind of Montana president at nfbofmt.org
www.nfbofmt.org