[Ohio-talk] Services for the blind threatened

Fri Feb 7 18:08:26 UTC 2014

Hello Barbara and All,
The only way blind people would be affected is that there may be some people in other groups who are blind.
You can be sure that providing Job Coaches and other services to these populations is a lucrative business.
Hopefully the issue will be resolved and a better handle on the way money is spent will result.
Colleen Roth

----- Original Message -----
From: Barbara Pierce <bpierce at oberlin.net>
To: "'Ationfb of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List'" <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Date: Friday, February 7, 2014 11:04 am
Subject: Re: [Ohio-talk] Services for the blind threatened

>
>
> 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
> 
> 
> If there are images in this attachment, they will not be displayed.
> Download the original attachment
> 
> 
> 
> 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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