[Ohio-talk] What would you do?

[C Tolle]

You make great points in this note. Thank you for your wisdom and your understanding of this matter.

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 12, 2015, at 5:20 PM, Marianne Denning via Ohio-talk <ohio-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
> 
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