[Ohio-talk] FW: The Blind Working In Securities: Big News From Colleagues In My Firm

Thu Mar 22 19:01:16 UTC 2018

Some of you may have seen this post on other Lists but I asked Kane if I could share it as it is the kind of news that I believe gives us all hope that at least some, try and get it and are willing to put actions with words!

Read on below!

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-----Original Message-----
From: Kane Brolin <kbrolin65 at gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 10:10 AM
To: NFB Employment Committee Private E-mail List <employment-committee at nfbnet.org>
Cc: NFB of Michiana Mailing List <nfbofmichiana at googlegroups.com>; NFB of Indiana Mailing List <nfb-indiana at yahoogroups.com>; NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: The Blind Working In Securities: Big News From Colleagues In My Firm

Greetings.

I find the following rather remarkable--and it involves the place where I make my living.  So I decided to share this.

As some of you know, I am connected professionally with a broker/dealer in the securities and financial planning business whose name is the Commonwealth Financial Network.  Back in 2015 while attending our National Conference in Washington, DC, I found out that one of my Massachusetts-based colleagues is on the board of directors of the Perkins School for the Blind.  So I have kept in touch with this guy periodically ever since.  Late last year, Scott wrote to me and said he is attempting to prepare a young, blind man to be an understudy in his own business.  Were there materials in Braille or another accessible format that this man could use to study for required licensing exams?  I said that, based on my own experience, nothing of this kind exists, because I always had to rely on human reader/recorders both to do the studying and to take these exams.  At the same time, though, I pointed to one or two possible resources and offered that I would do anything I could to help improve industry-wide accommodations in this area, but that I would need some help from folks on the inside to get it done.

Last night, I received the note from my friend which at the top of the message string I reproduce below.  The man named Wayne Bloom whom he references in this message is a co-founder of Commonwealth, and he currently serves as CEO.  And Mr. Bloom personally has gotten behind this initiative, which apparently will result in Kaplan creating study materials for some of these Financial Industry Regulatory Authority exams in Braille.

The remarkable thing is, Commonwealth serves 1,900 advisors and perhaps millions of individual clients nationwide.  I am not exactly a prominent player in this company's affairs, nor am I a particularly high producer or located in a highly populated part of the country.  I am practically the only presence Commonwealth has in Indiana, outside of maybe Indianapolis.  But this company has not only given me an opportunity to represent them as a blind person; they are stepping out, doing research into accessibility, and standing up for a truly diverse workforce and making it easier for the blind to work in the securities industry as a whole even when it does not produce immediate revenue for them.

Yes, I have suggested Commonwealth applies to take part corporately in this summer's NFB Job Fair, a part of National Convention in Orlando the first week of July.

-________________________________
From: Scott Schutte
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 5:01 PM
To: Kane Brolin <kane.k.brolin at brolinwealth.com>
Cc: Christina De Sario <CDeSario at COMMONWEALTH.COM>; Wayne Bloom <waynebloom at commonwealth.com>
Subject: RE: Study Materials request

Kane:

I hope you are well.

Well, I think we may have made history today for the blind and visually impaired individuals. I'm cc'ing Christina in the Commonwealth Licensing Department and Wayne Bloom as they played a role.

I was able to develop a contact at Kaplan, who is working on turning their financial study material, such as the Series 6 & 7 study guides into braille. I believe they will be utilizing the Braille Press in Boston to produce the materials in the future. They are also working with testing centers to help make the process easier and more accommodative when taking the tests for Blind and V.I. As you mentioned in the email below the hurdles should be minimized soon. In fact, I ordered a Series 6 book for my teenaged son today! He's expressed interest in our field. I've also spoken with Wayne Bloom, who said, barring any FINRA rules or hurdles, would be willing to sponsor him in the Series 6 exam, assuming he's an employee with me.
So, I believe this is the first ever financial exam study material in braille and hopefully the testing center will be easier for him than in the past.

Also, Kate Creagh (the head of HR at Commonwealth) attended a ½ day workshop with me in Boston last year to understand the accommodative technology for future employees who are blind and visually impaired.
She was blown away by all the new technology and resources available to blind and V.I. folks in the financial industry. I'm continuing to work with Perkin's School for the Blind and our board helped find jobs for 24 blind college students last year. I'm hoping that with the new study material and easier exam work flow, will make it easier to employ more blind and VI folks in the financial industry in the very near future.

I just wanted to let you know as we spoke about this a few years ago at the Commonwealth National Conference. I look forward to catching up with you in TX this year.

Regards,

Scott

G. Scott Schutte, AIF®
Wealth Management Director
[scott sig]

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Fixed insurance products and services offered through CES Insurance Agency

-________________________________
From: Kane Brolin
Sent: Tuesday, March 6, 2018 2:50 PM
To: Scott Schutte <scott at lightshipwealth.com<mailto:scott at lightshipwealth.com>>
Cc: Christina De Sario
<CDeSario at COMMONWEALTH.COM<mailto:CDeSario at COMMONWEALTH.COM>>
Subject: RE: Study Materials request

Scott and Christina:

Thank you so much for reaching out.  I sometimes feel rather isolated from other folks at CFN between National Conferences; but of course, Scott, I remember you and your work with the Perkins School.  Kudos to you for hiring and doing everything you can to support an employee in your practice who lives with visual impairment.

Scott, I think I know of a way to solve the problem of inaccessible Series testing, but so far no one has listened to me or followed up with me.  Perhaps you through your unique points of contact there in the East could help out in this respect.  Unfortunately, I have no ready answer for you relative to any plug-and-play solution already in existence to make FINRA Series study materials accessible.  I have voiced concerns about this in the past, but have received no answer from anybody on that.  I did just today reach out to a lady named Monica Victorino at Wells Fargo.  Monica has participated actively on behalf of her company to help recruit blind employees, and I am somewhat familiar with her through the side work I do as a member of the Employment Committee in the National Federation of the Blind.  So far she has not responded in any way, but I just sent my introductory query to her about an hour ago.

My own experience with the Series 7 and Series 66 came clear back in the year 2000.  There were 0 accessible study materials, even in audible form, available in Y2K when I had to pass those exams.  I had to work with fellow employees at American Express Financial Advisors who were preparing at the same time and who would read practice questions to me orally from the study CDs.  My mother-in-law tape-recorded much of the material in the book we used as source material.  And the exam itself, I took with the aid of a human reader/recorder who was hired by Prometric to perform those functions.
This is still how securities exams are administered, and it was even how I had to take the CFP Board exam back in 2005.

Just so you know, this issue has been on my mind for years, and I think I know of a company that has the wherewithal to produce accessible exam and exam prep material for this industry, if FINRA
were forward-looking enough to contract with them to do this.   I sent
a message to Derek Anderson, who at least then served as our director of compliance at Commonwealth, back in 2016.  In early July, I attended the 2016 National Convention of the National Federation of the Blind<https://nfb.org/>
   in Orlando, Florida.  While there, I spoke with a gentleman who represents a textbook publishing company known as VitalSource<https://get.vitalsource.com/accessibility>.  What sets this company apart is that they cut deals with specific publishers to produce educational materials that are in formats accessible to those persons who have print disabilities.  Among other things, VitalSource has an application called Bookshelf<https://support.vitalsource.com/hc/en-us>, which makes this content usable on a variety of different platforms, including Android and iOs.

When speaking with that individual at Convention, I flashed back to my own predicament back in 2000 when I was studying for Series 7 and Series 66 licenses, recalling what a struggle it was as a totally blind person not having any access to either the exams themselves or the study materials related to them, except with the help of a hired human reader.  I asked Derek for a contact I could make at FINRA to open the doors of communication about this, since it was and still is my goal to open up opportunity for more persons who have print disabilities to work in financial services, and I contend that making FINRA-approved textbooks, practice examinations, and real licensing examinations accessible to us would be quite helpful in this regard.
He never responded to my query, so I still know no one at FINRA to whom I could refer a VitalSource account rep.

So, Scott and Christina,  if you or any colleagues in our Compliance area at Waltham or San Diego could deliver any guidance to help me make appropriate contacts, I would greatly appreciate that.  I would take the ball and run with it.

Let's keep talking about this.

Kind regards,

-Kane

________________________________
Kane Brolin, CFP® ChSNC® MBA | Registered Representative CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(tm) Practitioner CHARTERED SPECIAL NEEDS CONSULTANT(tm)
113 Lincolnway West, Ste. 100
Mishawaka,  IN  46544
574-254-7180 | 574-400-0964 (fax)

Kane.K.Brolin at brolinwealth.com<mailto:Kane.K.Brolin at brolinwealth.com>
www.brolinwealth.com<http://www.brolinwealth.com/>

Securities and Advisory Services offered through Commonwealth Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Advisor.

Fixed Insurance products and services offered by Brolin Wealth Management or CES Insurance Agency.

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This e-mail and any attachments are intended only for the addressee.
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-________________________________
From: Christina De Sario [mailto:CDeSario at COMMONWEALTH.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2018 11:10 AM
To: Kane Brolin
<kane.k.brolin at brolinwealth.com<mailto:kane.k.brolin at brolinwealth.com>>
Subject: Study Materials request

Hi Kane,

I hope this email finds you well!

I was speaking with one of our advisors Scott Schutte who says he's spoken with you at conferences and requested that I reach out to you.
He let me know that he has an employee who is studying to take his S6 who is vision impaired and reads Braille, and he was wondering if you would have any advice as to where he would be able to get study materials. I've reached out to some of our vendors and I'm still waiting to hear back, but I thought I should reach out to you as well.

If you have any recommendations or advice for Scott, his email is scott at lightshipwealth.com<mailto:scott at lightshipwealth.com> and his office phone number is 617-581-6100. I would also like to know if you've got any ideas, in case a similar situation were to arise in the future.

Thank you for your help!

Best,

Christina De Sario
Licensing Specialist
800.251.0080 x7255 | 781.398.9953 fax |
CDeSario at commonwealth.com<mailto:CDeSario at commonwealth.com>

Commonwealth Financial Network®
29 Sawyer Road, Waltham, MA 02453-3483 | www.commonwealth.com<http://www.commonwealth.com/>

This e-mail and any attachments are intended only for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, please permanently delete this message immediately and do not use, copy, distribute or forward any part of this message, as it may contain proprietary, confidential, or privileged information. Also, please let me know of the error by return e-mail. Thank you.

Commonwealth Financial Network® does not provide legal or tax advice.