[nabs-l] Choosing a Center

[RJ Sandefur]

Any blindness center can say that they offer comprehensive
 training. Any center can make you stay there for nine months I personally 
don't see any difference between an NFB center, and a state ran one. RJ
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Beth" <thebluesisloose at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Choosing a Center


>I went to CCB and thankfully graduted.  The thing about the NFB centers is 
>that they may or may not accept people who have more than one disability, 
>particularly mental disabilities/illnesses.  This is because the activities 
>are overwhelming and the work is tough.  I'm not sure how I can say this, 
>but it took me going to CCB to get my parents to stop breathing down my 
>neck about how incapable I was/could have been.
> Beth
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:45:25 -0600
> Subject: [nabs-l] Choosing a Center
>
> Hi all,
> Many VR agencies will tell clients that they can only send them to
> in-state or "in-contract" centers for training. However, this is only
> partially true. VR agencies prefer to send clients to centers with
> which they have established contracts, which are usually in-state
> centers. But by law VR agencies are required to support a client's
> choice of center if that choice is justified, even if the center is
> out-of-state or out-of-contract. I don't know the legal specifics but
> several Federation leaders can provide assistance with this, including
> Jim Omvig, Amy Phelps, Fred Schroeder and Edward Bell. If you are
> having problems getting a VR counselor to respect your informed
> choice, talk with your state president and try to get connected with
> one of these people.
> I have experience with this process because I was in the odd situation
> of trying to get my state to send me to LCB for training instead of
> CCB. They were willing to send me to CCB (where they had a contract)
> but not LCB. I wanted to go to LCB because I had been offered a chance
> to do some work with the blindness research institute at Louisiana
> Tech and I felt this opportunity was critical to my career development
> (and it turned out to be quite helpful after all). I had to make that
> case to my VR agency and though my counselor supported my decision,
> his supervisors did not and it took quite a lot of discussion and
> letters from Dr. Bell and from my state president, but they finally
> complied and I went to LCB. For most of you who are wanting to go to
> any NFB center rather than an in-state one (and not choosing between
> NFB centers like I did), there are many reasons you can give for the
> superiority of NFB centers: off-campus living, comprehensive training,
> blind mentors/instructors, use of sleepshades if you have partial
> sight, and probably others I am forgetting.
> Arielle
>
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