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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Dear Leaders,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Last night President Payne and I was invited to a meeting by the Advocacy and Policy Department at the Jernigan Institute. We are at a crucial time, and I am sharing what was provided.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>President Riccobono, and John Pare explained the RIF at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will <b>Decimate In-State Services for People with Disabilities.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>So, they are asking that Ohio send two members to speak to Senator, Husted and Senator, Moreno. David Perry and Chris Sabine have accepted the charge. They will be traveling soon.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Now, what can the Ohio Affiliate do in this regard?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>We have been asked to schedule virtual or in-person local meetings with our Congressional leaders by November 4<sup>th urging them not to dismantle these programs</sup>. Because these legislative contacts are of the essence, we need Chapter and Division President; along with those who attended the Columbus and Washington Seminars to step up.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Tonight, Monday, October 27, 2025, we will hold a meeting to discuss the how and when. We will meet in the zoom room at 7:00PM. EST. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Read the factsheet below. If this pass, special education vocational rehab and other programs that we rely on will be gone.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>How this will impact us, by:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Disrupting funding and eliminating meaningful practices and institutional knowledge for special education and related services for children with disabilities, including funding for teachers, speech therapists, psychologists, and other support personnel. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Disrupting funding and eliminating meaningful practices and institutional knowledge for preschool programs for children with disabilities. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Disrupting funding for competitive grants for training, technical assistance, and technology to improve services for students with disabilities. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>The RIF will Decimate Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Programs in Every State by:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Disrupting federal match funding and eliminating meaningful practices and institutional knowledge for state vocational rehabilitation programs, making these programs unsustainable, which will in turn mean that:<o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=circle><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>American adults with disabilities will not be able to receive employment training.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>American youth with disabilities will not be able to receive transition to employment or transition to college training. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Employers will be unable to seek assistance in finding qualified disabled employees.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>State-level employees who administer these programs will be furloughed or lose their jobs entirely. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l2 level1 lfo2'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Disrupting funding and eliminating meaningful practices and institutional knowledge for the Independent Living Services for Older Individuals who are Blind program will mean that older blind Americans may be forced into nursing homes.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>The RIF will Decimate the Randolph-Sheppard Program, Affecting the Employment of Blind Entrepreneurs in Nearly Every State, by:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l3 level1 lfo4'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Eliminating positions critical to approving requests that allow states to purchase needed equipment for Randolph-Sheppard Program vendors. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l3 level1 lfo4'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Eliminating positions critical to approving changes in state rules, policies, or programs concerning the implementation of Randolph-Sheppard in states. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l3 level1 lfo4'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Eliminating technical assistance programs for state licensing agencies or elected committees.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l3 level1 lfo4'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Eliminating positions critical to processing state arbitration complaints.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l3 level1 lfo4'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Eliminating positions that could help with agency issues, which will in turn lead to more arbitration cases.<o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l3 level1 lfo4'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Eliminating positions that would help modernize the program. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>The RIF will Decimate Office for Civil Rights Enforcement of Disability Rights Laws in Every State by:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><ul style='margin-top:0in' type=disc><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Discontinuing operations at twelve field offices across the country which employ hundreds of people who process over twenty thousand complaints each year. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Severely reducing the capacity to investigate and enforce the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in federally funded educational institutions, including requiring effective communication, the provision of Braille, large print, and audio, and reasonable accommodations in K-12 and higher education. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li><li class=MsoNormal style='mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Severely reducing the capacity to investigate and enforce Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in state and local educational and other programs, including effective communication, the provision of Braille, large print, and audio, and reasonable accommodations. <o:p></o:p></span></b></li></ul><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Reduction or elimination of the services provided by any of these programs will be catastrophic to the blind across the country. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Below are a few testimonies from real blind Americans who have greatly benefitted from each of the above programs. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>“I attended public school in Durant, Iowa – a very rural school district. I was incredibly blessed to begin learning Braille and how to use accessible technology tools to access a computer at a young age. As a result of my terrific elementary school education, I thrived in high school and was able to go to college, where I earned dual degrees in English and Theatre. I am now employed and can proudly share that I pay both federal and FICA taxes.”</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'> – Elizabeth, from Durant, Iowa <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>“I was able to go to a training center in Ruston, Louisiana, where I learned independent living skills and how to be a productive citizen. Because of my training, I have been a small business owner in the tech sector for more than thirty years.”</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'> – Karl, a blind business owner in Taylorsville, Utah<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>“For twenty-one years, I have owned and operated a successful dining food facility and housekeeping service at the US Coast Guard Aviation Training Center because of the Randolph-Sheppard program. My business helps employ twenty employees while providing our Coast Guard personnel with the food and accommodations they need to defend our nation.”</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'> – Barbara, a blind business owner in Mobile, Alabama<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Ensure that these critical programs for Americans with disabilities in all fifty states will be able to operate by rescinding the reduction in force at the Department of Education!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Suzanne M. Hartfield Turner</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, Vice President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Ohio Legislative Director<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>Cleveland Chapter, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:24.0pt'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The National Federation of the Blind advances the lives of its members and all blind people in the United States. We know that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. Our collective power, determination, and diversity achieve the aspirations of all blind people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:12.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>P: (216) 990-6199<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>W: NFBOhio.ORG<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ohiosblind/photos/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>https://www.facebook.com/ohiosblind/photos/</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>