[Ohio-talk] Pertinent Recommendations from the OOD CSNA Final Report

Thu Nov 29 23:29:51 UTC 2018

Thanks for keeping us informed JW.

I have a small question please. I know you guys are experts in this matter
since you have been serving in this Committee for years.  Is there anything
like OOD in other states that is successful and blind individuals are happy
with? If yes, it would be a good idea to contact them and see what they are
doing and how they are doing it.

The other thing is that OOD has all the statistics and ratios, do we have
our own statistics/measurements to agree/disagree  with OOD. Can we build
our own data?

I will keep reading and get back to you if I'll find anything worth
mentioning. 

Again, thanks a lot for all your time and efforts.

Ali

-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio-Talk <ohio-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Smith, JW via
Ohio-Talk
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2018 3:57 PM
To: NFB of Ohio Announcement and Discussion List (ohio-talk at nfbnet.org)
<ohio-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Smith, JW <smithj at ohio.edu>
Subject: [Ohio-talk] Pertinent Recommendations from the OOD CSNA Final
Report

Dear NFB of Ohio Family, Friends, and Colleagues,

I know this is a holiday time for us, but I want to draw your attention to
three of the recommendations from the OOD CSNA Final Report. We had a
presentation about this report and these recommendations at our November
14th SRC meeting, and I just thought that the three that I am listing here
are most important to us. As you might expect, it was admitted to us in the
presentation on November 14th, that the population that OOD felt presented
them with the most challenges to date was the Blind and Visually Impaired
community. The acting BSVI Director admitted that this was a concern and
that in the future he hoped to address it. I am listing the first three
recommendations from the report itself, but please pay special attention to
the first one.

1.       Increase outreach to individuals with hearing and visual
impairments to increase services to these populations. As a result of
recommendations made my Governor Kasich's Workforce Integration Taskforce,
OOD has implemented a number of programs to expand services to individuals
with hearing and visual impairments in the last three years. However,
service rate: need ratios and balance ratios still highlight the need for
additional engagement with these populations. OOD should engage the
Community Centers for the Deaf, Sigh Centers, and other organizations
focused on serving individuals with hearing and visual impairments to
identify additional opportunities in this regard.

2.       Explore opportunities to expand access to assistive technology
resources to support individuals with disabilities to be more independent.
OOD should consider allocation of resources for assistive technology
resources for individuals with disabilities, particularly those disabilities
with a lower service rate: need ratio (e.g. hearing, visual, and physical
impairments). This could include expansion of BlindSquare installations at
appropriate locations throughout the state and other resource allocations to
support Ohio's Technology First Initiative.

3.       Explore the potential causes of service deficits in counties with
low balance ratios to identify strategies that might provide greater service
delivery rates in those areas. The balance ratio analysis highlighted a
number of counties with very low balance ratios, particularly with regard to
services for individuals with communicative, hearing, physical, and visual
impairments. OOD should explore the causes behind these service deficits and
devise strategies to enhance service delivery where needed.
I want to further point out that I served on that Governor Kasich Taskforce
and we keep coming up with these recommendations and I know you join me in
hoping that OOD will not only take them seriously, but will continue to find
effective ways to address many of our concerns .I could not help but to ask
the presenter what was meant by the word "engage" as listed in
recommendation #1. I still do not know what that means, but I DO know that
we have got to make more positive progress in the area of service delivery
to blind and visually impaired Ohioans. I am not expecting you to read the
entire 130+ pages of the report (which can be found at
https://ood.ohio.gov/BVR-BSVI/Comprehensive-Statewide-Needs-Assessment-2018/
Section-I-Introduction/Content-of-the-Needs-Assessment-Report), but I do
think we need to pay close attention to these three recommendations from the
report. Finally, I believe that this only makes it even clearer why we need
to be on the council and present at the table for these reports and
conversations.

jw

Dr. jw Smith
School of Communication Studies
Scripps College of Communication
Ohio University
Schoonover Center
20 E. Union St,
Athens, OH 45701
smithj at ohio.edu<mailto:smithj at ohio.edu>
T: 740-593-4838

One way to deal with the past is to change what you can...and can what you
can't.

My Bio<https://www.ohiocommstudies.com/people/smith/>

Check out some of my music here<https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/JWSmith1>
and here<https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jwsmith22>

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