[Ohio-talk] Services for the blind threatened

Fri Feb 7 16:03:50 UTC 2014

I don't see how services for the blind are threatened, but that is no reason
not to be horrified by this dispute. It does  sound as if the congressional
delegation is on it and that the OOD Commission is trying to get a
reconsideration of the dispute. Thanks for calling it to our attention.

Barbara

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cheryl
Fields
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 10:20 AM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Services for the blind threatened

Hello,
This article appeared yesterday in the Columbus Dispatch, it is disturbing.
There has been no press coverage in Cleveland on this serious issue. If this
is not resolved, services for blind persons will be greatly effected. Please
read, how can we, nfb, become pro active

Best,

Cheryl Fields

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Page 1

Columbus, OH February 6, 2014

Social services

Funding flap threatens programs for disabled

Chris Luzader, who is developmentally disabled,

greets shoppers at the Walmart store in Westerville. Luzader is part of the
state's Bridges to Transition

program, which is in jeopardy because of a funding dispute.

Sometimes the weight of a government dispute falls squarely on the shoulders
of average citizens.

This is one of those times for Chris Luzader, 46, who loves his job as a
greeter at the Walmart on Schrock

Road in Westerville.

Luzader, who suffered permanent neural motor-control damage from a bout with
spinal meningitis when

he was 6 weeks old, knows the program that keeps him employed is in danger,
but he tries not to think

about it.

"If I didn't have this job, I'd be hurting for money," he said. "I hope it
don't come down to that."

Luzader is one of 300 people in the Bridges to Transition program operated
by the Franklin County Board

of Developmental Disabilities that helps disabled adults find and keep jobs.
About $1 million for the local

program comes from the federal government. It's a great deal for local
agencies, which put up $1 for

every $3.69 in federal money.

And there's the problem.

A compliance dispute between the Office of Ohioans with Disabilities, or
OOD, and the U.S. Department

of Education threatens to cut $30 million going to Bridges to Transition and
dozens of other programs for

disabled Ohioans. Local agencies put about

$10 million into the programs overseen by the federal Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative

Services.

The dispute goes back to early 2011 when Kevin Miller, newly appointed as
head of what was then the

Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (now the OOD), wrote to federal
officials about questions

raised in prior reports concerning spending by third-party contractors. The
U.S. Department of Education

indicated that the issues appeared to be resolved, Miller said. The program
also got a green light last year.

Page 2

But a routine audit this year concluded that the state was improperly using
federal funds. That finding

means $30 million going to dozens of agencies -- including the Center of
Vocational Alternatives in

Columbus, Goodwill and the Franklin County Developmental Disabilities Board
-- could be cut off. The

Oct. 18 finding gave the state a month to terminate contracts. There was
also an indication the state might

have to pay back money spent previously.

The federal agency cited several issues, most involving administration
functions performed by some of

the 73 third-party state contractors that regulators said did not benefit
disabled clients. The draft federal

report cited examples including $10,000 spent on financial services, plus
expenses for liability insurance,

an audit fee, chamber of commerce dues and cellphone charges.

"We feel we're in compliance," Miller said. "We believe this is a very rigid
interpretation of what the

federal code says and a misunderstanding of how Ohio's program is
structured."

Jacqueline Romer-Sensky, a commissioner of the disabilities office, said the
cutoff order "may

dramatically disrupt services for 8,500 Ohioans with disabilities currently
receiving assistance to find a

job. ... This we find an outrageous and unconscionable affront to our
consumers and the providers who

partner with them."

Members of Ohio's congressional delegation are preparing a letter asking
U.S. Education Secretary Arne

Duncan to intervene.

Officials from two statewide agencies say cutting off the contracts would
have damaging results.

Cheri Walter, executive director of the Ohio Association of County
Behavioral Health Authorities, said

Recovery to Work projects with agencies throughout the state help recovering
addicts and those with

mental illness return to the workforce.

"For some of our agencies and our clients, this is not just about a job.
It's about life and death," Walter

said. "We just think it's a terrible injustice to the clients we're
serving."

Adam Herman, spokesman for the Ohio Association of County Boards of
Developmental Disabilities,

said the Bridges to Transition program serves about 4,000 people in 55 of 88
Ohio counties.

"It would be a travesty if bureaucratic disagreement between the state and
federal governments were

allowed to get in the way of people with significant disabilities getting
the skills they need to find and

keep a job," Herman said.

"Through no fault of their own, people with developmental disabilities
already face an uphill battle when

seeking a job and trying to live independently. They don't need the
government working against them as

well."

ajohnson at dispatch.com

@ohioaj

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