[Ohio-talk] HOW DO WE GET IT DONE?

[mzavoli at roadrunner.com]

HI Eric and Anyone Who Wants To Weigh In,

In one of your recent messages you challenged us to come up with ideas about changing the ever-present trend of low expectations prevalent among the blind.

I think we need to meet with our state reps to enact legislation compelling the Ohio rehab centers to change their model of service.  There should be a standardized method of training the blind that raises their level of independence to such a degree that once they leave the program, they are confident about their mobility, household skills, Braille and job readiness.  There should not be this revolving-door mentality that gives a blind trainee just enough information and nothing more.  Limited training keeps the blind coming back to these agencies, which is exactly what they want.  Each time someone returns for further gtraining, the agencies get more and more money.  This dependence on the blind to keep the agencies afloat due to poor training helps no one, especially the trainee.  When one exits a training program, he/she should be able to travel confidently, read Braille effectively and with speed, and keep hous.  There should be courses in various vocations such as wood shop, metal shop, and home repair.  For job seekers, more emphasis should be placed on learning MSWord, Excel, Access and PowerPoint.  The training program should be at least nine-months long for it to be effective and residents should live in an apartment setting and commute every weekday on public transportation.  Living in the apartments upstairs from the Sight Center and taking the elevator down to the training facility doesn't give the student a chance to put what he or she is learning into action.
Living in an apartment at a separate location means one learns about paying rent, doing grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and other household management skills.  The standard training period at the Cleveland Sight Center is just four weeks, and is not long enough to learn the skills of blindness.

So, we need to draw up a list of improvements to blindness training and meet with our state reps and Governor Casick, if possible.

By the way, whatever happened to the Governor's taskforce initiative and their recommendations?  What is Governor Casick doing with all these suggestions?

Sorry about my lengthy discourse but I get angry when I see so many people getting short changed by the system.

Milena Zavoli