[Ohio-talk] What would you do?

[Marianne Denning]

Eric, in general, the counselors don't understand the importance of
blindness skills.  They think if a blind person can get a job that is
all that matters.  Someone else can take care of them outside of the
job.  I am going to express some thoughts here and I hope people will
understand what I am trying to say.

When agencies began serving blind people it was a social model.  That
was well over 100 years ago.  After WWI and WWII rehabilitation for
people with other disabilities were developed and it was a medical
model.  At this time services for the blind has continued to be a
social model.  Since this is the situation, we are dependent on the
good graces of not-for-profit agencies and state agencies to provide
the services they think we need.  If someone is a paraplegic they can
go to any number of rehabilitation facilities to get the services they
need.  Someone who is blind must get funding to pay for similar
services.  I am not promoting a medical model but requiring a similar
level of services is not out of the question. Unfortunately, as state
and federal moneys are split into smaller and smaller pieces many of
the services that were funded in the past are no longer funded.

I am going to make one more suggestion here.  In all of my counseling
and education courses I never had a history of blindness course.  I
think it is hard for educators and counselors to know where to go
since they don't know where we have been.  They have no idea of the
struggles of the past and how hard people have worked to get us where
we are today.  They also don't truly understand the issues of
blindness.

Okay, I know I am preaching to the choir so I am done.

On 5/12/15, Eric Duffy via Ohio-talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I am a little tired of the NFB Centers thread at this point. Perhaps some
> education has taken place around this topic.
>
> I think it is safe to say, that most of us on this list would say that,
> rehabilitation services for the blind are in need of significant improvement
> in this state. What would you do? Where would you start? As my friend Cheryl
> Fields said in another message, “it takes a village.” So, as president of
> the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio, the elected leader of this
> village, what would you do? Where would you start if you were in my
> position?
>
> I don’t ask these questions to create a debate. I want carefully thought out
> and reasoned advice!
>
> If you don’t want to put it on this list, and I remind you that it is a
> public list, then email me privately.
>
> peduffy63 at gmail.com <mailto:peduffy63 at gmail.com>
>
> Don’t give me simple answers however. If the answers were easy and simple,
> we would have solved many of the problems a long time ago.
>
> Tell me where you think we should start and what we should first accomplish,
> and how we should do it.
>
> We have the right to say the system is broken. We have the right to demand
> that blind Ohioans receive services that are second to none in the country.
> Along with those rights we have the responsibility to take meaningful and
> constructive actions to bring about what we are asking for.
>
> I look forward to your suggestions.
>
> Eric
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-- 
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053