[Ohio-talk] Michigan Supreme Court Judge

[Deborah Kendrick]

Let me add a bit of info to both topics in this message.  
First, while I applaud his success in the Michigan Election, Mr. Bernstein
is not one of us.  
This is the third year he has spoken in Cincinnati, incidentally.  
He proudly tells audiences that all blind people must have good memories to
succeed because blind people can't read!  He says it like a punchline. 
When I asked him about it at a dinner we shared, he shrugged that he'd
learned braille when young but found it difficult and unwieldy.  
He does not use braille and has no interest in it.
Secondly, the meeting you refer to was one of the 20 or so focus groups held
around the state last summer in preparation for the work done by a special
Work Integration Taskforce.  
We worked from August through December to compile a report on the employment
potential of people who are blind, deaf, or deafblind.  That report, which
was rich with recommendations, was presented to the Governor on January 1.  

You can read it for yourself on NEWSLINE.  

The taskforce, incidentally, included both Dr. JW Smith and me, Deborah
Kendrick.  

Hope this information is helpful..

Deborah


-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-talk [mailto:ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Marianne
Denning via Ohio-talk
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 10:26 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Michigan Supreme Court Judge

In January, the first blind state Supreme Court Justice was sworn into
office and today I and 3 other NFB members went to hear him speak in
Cincinnati.  It was great and he is a strong advocate for disability rights.
He talked about an executive order the governor of Michigan has started.
State agencies must put a priority on hiring people with disabilities.  This
was driven, partly, by private employers telling the state it needed to set
the example by hiring more people with disabilities.  I know we are talking
about some changes in the state in the near future and I hope something like
this will be part of that push.
 BTW, several of us met with people from BSVI last summer because the
governor wanted information on employment of people who are visually or
hearing impaired.  Did anything ever happen from that meeting?

--
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053

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