[blindkid] Keep blind workers working?!!?

[Carrie Gilmer]

Dear Marie,
You have come upon, or rather have had come up to you, a very old and very
wide mess. Namely, sheltered employment for the blind. "Walking Alone,
Marching Together" which can be found in publications and literature through
the NFB web site has important historical information to help in
understanding the remnants that you experienced, how much progress we have
actually made, and how far we have yet to go. (Perhaps Peter or Robert have
at the ready a link they can post to it from the tenBroek library as well).
I am unsure how many print copies are left, last I knew they were less
expensive to buy than ship. It is a huge read, but well, well worth it. I
also recommend searching the topic "Sheltered Workshops" in the search
engine of the NFB site for articles on the topic.

There truly is not space here to give the scope its due, however I can
assure you that the "businesses" do not have trouble with their products or
profits because as you mention..."blind workers cannot produce a product".
It is my view that the blind generally would be best served by proper and
full training and if such were to reach the reality we seek, sheltered
workshops and businesses would die and never resurrect. To me it can be
summed largely: The sheltered shops were built on benevolence, and very low
expectations, and very old myths for and about the blind and kept running
because the sighted people who ran them depended on the income.

Let me say too that "sheltered" employment is different from "supported" and
that while both have had HUGE problems, "supported" employment has its place
for the good for those who for OTHER disabilities~namely, mostly cognitive
in nature~also need "supported" or assisted living all through out their
life.

Again yesterday, as is nearly my experience daily, I learned of another
failure of the education system and the parents to raise a, at least,
average intelligence blind youth to normal independence. A young man, blind
from birth, attended and educated in the state school, ZERO cane skills,
went to college (yes you can graduate "successfully" with supported
disability services through college and have absolutely NO employment or
life readiness skills), fighting to keep a job at a fast food establishment
that he had gotten through supportive employment and had given him a very
narrow ONE job at the place (filling drinks). He does not know what else he
can do. If this state had a sheltered workshop I am sure the rehab counselor
would get him in it (I see this all the time in other states, yes in 2010
still). As it is he is placed by the rehab counselor in this supported
employment, a college educated young man. When asked about his own
assessment of his skills and how blindness limits him, he responds, "I can
cook with a microwave, I can go in FAMILIAR places WITH MY GUIDE DOG. I have
my own apartment. I can take care of my own hygiene." "I can not drive, I
can not go to unfamiliar places." Will the state rehab counselor recommend
further training? No. Who filled out all his paper work and drives him and
helps him care for his apartment and supplements his microwave cooking? Mom.

That is our problem in a nutshell.

Sincerely,
Carrie Gilmer



-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Marie
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 3:22 PM
To: 'NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)'
Subject: [blindkid] Keep blind workers working?!!?

Have any of you gotten a phone call from someone who claims to represent an
"association for the blind" that has some workshop in which they have blind
workers who make trash bags and other miscellaneous items? Apparently their
products aren't selling well enough to keep the workshop going so they are
calling people asking them to buy the products so the workshop can keep
employing blind people?!!? 
I am outraged and offended by the idea that blind workers cannot produce a
product that can be marketed and stand on its own merits without mention of
the fact that people who produce them are blind. 
Any other thoughts?

Marie (mother of Jack, 4 yrs old with Apert Syndrome)
http://www.allaccesspasstojack.blogspot.com
Learn more about Apert Syndrome
http://www.thecraniofacialcenter.org/apert.html
Get information and support at Teeter's page
http://www.apert.org


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