[nfbwatlk] Budget And Economy Hurting Blind Oregonians, Oregon Public Broadcasting News, May 19, 2009

[Nightingale, Noel]

Link:
http://news.opb.org/article/5007-budget-and-economy-hurting-blind-oregonians/

Text:
Budget And Economy Hurting Blind Oregonians
BY ROB MANNING
Portland, OR  May 18, 2009

Advocates for blind Oregonians say their potential for independent living is under threat, because of cost-cutting measures directed at institutions they rely on.  Rob Manning reports.

Legislators are moving a bill forward that would close the state's School for the Blind, and sell off the campus. And last week, Governor Ted Kulongoski suggested suspending a few state advisory boards, including the Oregon Commission for the Blind.

This all comes at a time when the economy is hurting the blind.

Art Stevenson, president of the Oregon chapter of the National Federation for the Blind says about seven in ten blind Oregonians are jobless.

Art Stevenson: "The governor's recommendations will make the unemployment rate go up. It won't make it go down."

A spokeswoman for the governor's office says the idea is deliver services more cost-effectively, not eliminate them.

Stevenson argues that short-term savings will cost more, long-term, because blind people won't get the job-training they need, and will end up relying more on state services.

(c) 2009 OPB