This story is significant as California is America's largest state and the
two national blindness groups are working cooperatively on a solution from
which all can benefit.  The piece of information that stood out in the
article was the comparison between California and Texas.  A blind person
in Texas is seven times more likely to get a job than a blind person in
California.

kelly


Sacramento Bee

Special agency for blind sought: Advocacy groups fault Rehabilitation
Department
      By Melanie Payne
      Bee Staff Writer
      (Published Jan. 28, 2001)
      It was a historic moment.
      One night early this year over wine and Chinese food, members of the
      National Federation of the Blind of California and the members of the
      California Council of the Blind set aside some 30 years of bickering
to
      come together for a cause.
      They, along with other advocacy groups for the blind, have formed the
      Blindness Alliance for Rehabilitation Change.
      The alliance is going up against what they say is a multimillion
dollar
      bureaucracy -- the Department of Rehabilitation.
      The alliance says the best way to serve the state's estimated 600,000
      blind and visually impaired people is to stop lumping them in with
other
      disabled people. Instead they recommend establishing a Commission for
the
      Blind, an agency specifically designed to meet the needs of the blind.
      Alliance members say that about 70 percent of working age blind people
are
      out of work despite the booming economy and the estimated $25 million
a
      year that the Department of Rehabilitation spends on services for the
      blind.
      California's unemployment rate now hovers about 3.2 percent.
      The Department of Rehabilitation's mission is to assist those with all
      types of disabilities in gaining employment and becoming independent.
      Critics say, that because the department isn't focused on the needs of
the
      blind, it doesn't adequately help the blind.
      The 38-year-old department "clearly isn't established for blind
people,"
      said Nancy Burns, president of the National Federation of the Blind of
      California and former counselor for the Department of Rehabilitation.
      "There are special needs and training that a blind person needs to be
      independent," Burns said. But the department doesn't understand that,
she
      said, and it isn't giving people the skills they need to be able to
work.
      Erin Treadwell, a department spokeswoman, said the department had no
      position on the commission and declined to comment on it.
      The department's director, Catherine Campesi, who moved into the
position
      last year, was unavailable to comment because of a busy schedule,
      Treadwell said.
      Treadwell did, however, elaborate on the changes under way at the
      Department of Rehabilitation to address some of the blind community's
      concerns.
      In the last six months, Treadwell said, the department hired a new
deputy
      director of specialized service who will oversee services to the blind
and
      deaf.
      It is also reinstituting a requirement that counselors for the blind
and
      deaf exhibit additional competency in order to serve blind and deaf
      clients.
      The department, which has been understaffed, has launched a nationwide
      search for qualified rehabilitation counselors, Treadwell added.
      Critics contend, however, that this is too little, too late.
      Nationwide, an estimated 70 percent of blind people of working age are
      without jobs, a figure that has remained unchanged despite record low
      unemployment levels for the sighted population, according to
statistics
      from the National Foundation for the Blind.
      In fiscal 1999-2000, the Department of Rehabilitation placed in jobs
      roughly 323 people who were blind or visually impaired, including 19
who
      were self-employed. Ten people in the Sacramento district got jobs
with
      the assistance of the Department of Rehabilitation.
      Bryan Bashin, executive director for the Society for the Blind in
      Sacramento, is harshly critical of the job the Department of
      Rehabilitation is doing to help the blind find jobs.
      "California really lags behind," Bashin said. "If you live in Texas
and
      you're blind, you have seven times the chance of getting a job than if
you
      live in California."
      Bashin recognizes that the department has begun to change. Still, he
said,
      the system needs "a fundamental, structural rebuilding."
      The unemployment rate for the blind and what activists see as the
failure
      of the department to adequately address the situation has galvanized
      support for a separate Commission for the Blind.
      The Department of Rehabilitation has "six layers of bureaucracy"
between
      the rehabilitation counselor and the director, said Gil Johnson,
director
      of the National Employment Program for the American Foundation for the
      Blind.
      By its own admission, the Department of Rehabilitation is spending an
      estimated $25 million annually on services for the blind. It
successfully
      meets the rehabilitation goals for 1,240 of the roughly 4,900 clients
who
      use its services each year. Of those 1,240, about 300 are placed in
jobs.
      The department's total budget is $444 million. It spends about $316
      million on vocational rehabilitation.
      According to Johnson, the department has 70 rehabilitation counselors
that
      work with blind clients. Half of those counselors provide job
services,
      the others work with clients on independent living skills.
      That means an average of four to five blind people were placed in
      employment by each of the department's 70 counselors last year,
Johnson
      said. The national average, he said, is 15.
      In addition the average salary of a person placed in a job through the
      Department of Rehabilitation is $350 a week.
      Oregon illustrates the flexibility of a commission for the blind over
an
      all-encompassing Department of Rehabilitation.
      The 55-staff member commission for the blind placed 114 blind people
in
      jobs last year, with an average weekly salary of $423. The blind
      population in Oregon numbers about 70,000 -- about one-tenth
California's
      number of blind and severely visually impaired. But the Oregon
Commission
      for the Blind placed in jobs one-third as many as were placed by the
      Department of Rehabilitation.
      Frank Synoground, assistant director of rehabilitation services for
the
      Oregon Commission for the Blind and a former California resident, said
      that the commission is "more consumer-driven" than a rehabilitation
agency
      that serves all disabilities. Four of the seven commission board
members
      are blind, he said. The administrator of the agency serves "at the
      pleasure of the board," he said, rather than as a political appointee.
      Yet, some critics say a small organization wouldn't be practical in a
      state like California because it would duplicate $25 million in
      administrative services that are already done by the Department of
      Rehabilitation.
      Even if that's true, commission supporters argue, employed blind
people
      would more than make up for the money.
      There are more than 100,000 blind people of working age in the state
who
      aren't paying taxes and are collecting welfare, disability payments
and
      other forms of public assistance, said Bashin said, who estimates
those
      programs cost taxpayers $10,000 a year per person.
      Dan Kysor, director of governmental affairs for the California Council
of
      the Blind, is supporting a bill that would set up a nine-member
commission
      -- including at least five blind or visually impaired members -- for
the
      blind in California.
      He's enlisted the support of state Sen. John Burton, who introduced SB
      105, a bill to establish a Commission for the Blind and Visually
Impaired.
      Burton said the Department of Rehabilitation "grossly underutilized"
the
      services of California's 30 community agencies that serve the blind.
      Although Kysor said he expects the majority of legislators to support
the
      bill, he expects resistance to come from the governor's office.
      A spokesman for the governor had no comment on the commission bill
since
      it was submitted only recently and hadn't been reviewed yet.


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