Increase in Job Placement for NYS Blind
CBVH press release received from ACBNY-L email list:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York State Office of Children & Family Services
Contact: Edward Borges, Director of Communications 518-473-7793
Dec. 17, 2008NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES ANNOUNCES INCREASE IN JOB PLACEMENTS FOR THE LEGALLY BLIND
Commission for Blind & Visually Handicapped Placed 402 Legally Blind Adults in Competitive Fields; Increasing Placements for Third Year in a Row
New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) Commissioner Gladys Carri?n, Esq., today announced that the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped (CBVH), a division of OCFS, has successfully placed more legally blind adults in competitive jobs than it did last year - reflecting a three-year growth in job placements.
This year, CBVH placed 402 legally blind adults in fields as diverse as law, social work, financial consulting, family divorce mediation, radio, youth services, physical therapy, counseling, teaching, retail, food services, banking and research.
“When only about 37 percent of individuals with disabilities are employed in this country, it is incumbent upon the leaders of our state and nation to ensure that the disabled community is provided full opportunity to contribute in a supportive environment free of discrimination,” said Governor David A. Paterson. “Our work to confront this problem is only beginning, but I am pleased with the growing recognition that individuals with disabilities have the potential to contribute great things to our society. And with New York facing an economic crisis, it is critical that we give those opportunities to all capable individuals who can help make an immediate and positive impact on the future of our economy.”
“We are extremely pleased that with training and adaptive technology our clients can experience the satisfaction of supporting themselves and their families, and contributing their valuable skills and talents to the workplace,” said Commissioner Carri?n.
She added: “I am also grateful to our public and private partners who assist with training, and all those employers who recognize that our consumers, given the opportunity, make significant contributions to the workforce.”
CBVH works with not-for-profit agencies for the blind throughout New York State to provide assessment and technical, training, job placement, and resource assistance to clients to help them achieve economic self-sufficiency and full integration into society.
Michael Godino, a board member of the New York Vision Rehabilitation Association and a former client, said: “I’d like to congratulate CBVH and its partner provider agencies for their great success. Given the quality of service I received, it’s not surprising to me that the number of people placed in competitive jobs is increasing each year. We look forward to greater successes.”
Nancy D. Miller, Executive Director/CEO of VISIONS Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired in New York City, said: “The New York State Commission for the Blind is a leader in providing cost-effective services for blind and visually impaired persons of all ages. The focused interventions and successful collaborations among consumers, providers and CBVH counselors are at the heart of this achievement in employment outcomes.”
In addition to vocational rehabilitation, CBVH assists clients with daily living skills, orientation and mobility training, diagnostic evaluations, obtaining adaptive equipment, job development, job training, and job placement services.
CBVH also operates a Business Enterprise Program, assisting people who are legally blind to own businesses operating newsstands, snack bars and cafeterias in government buildings.
In addition, CBVH provides rehabilitation services to children who are legally blind, including working with and empowering parents, arranging services to supplement educational activities - including providing college scholarships, and ensuring a smooth transition to adult services to maximize their future independence. CBVH also provides children with the opportunity to attend summer camps and year-round recreation programs, which encourage independence and increase self-confidence.
For legally blind individuals who are 55 and older, CBVH has programs to teach the skills necessary to maintain safety and confidence in the home environment.
For more information on services for the blind, call toll free 1-866-871-3000 (TDD 1-866-871-6000) or visit the agency website at www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/cbvh.
Patterson in a Snit Over ‘SNL’ Skit
From the NY Post [original article]:
Gov. Paterson didn’t see the humor in a “Saturday Night Live” bit that mocked his blindness.
During the “Weekend Update” segment of NBC’s irreverent comedy show, actor Fred Armisen played Paterson, imitating his wandering eye, gravelly voice and blunt, self-effacing demeanor.
But Paterson and advocates for the visually impaired didn’t appreciate stock blind jokes that had Armisen pretending to be disoriented and wandering aimlessly.
“I can take a joke,” Paterson told reporters.
But he called the SNL spoof a “third-grade depiction of people and the way they look” that could lead others to believe that “disability goes hand-in-hand with an inability to run a government or business.”
“I run the place I work in, so I don’t have to be worried about being discriminated against,” noted Paterson
Although Paterson is legally blind and has aides help him with some tasks, the governor is rarely out of step with his surroundings and seems comfortable in virtually all settings.
After Armisen’s sketch with “Weekend Update” co-anchor Seth Meyers, the joke continued.
As longtime “SNL” player Amy Poehler was announcing her departure from the show, Armisen’s Paterson started wandering, as if lost, in front of the camera.
“Gov. Paterson . . . you’re in the shot!” a chuckling Poehler said.
The skit could leave viewers with the impression that blind Americans cannot be competent employees, advocates for the disabled said.
“When you have a perception problem like we have, you take these things a little more seriously,” said Chris Danielsen, spokesman for the National Federation of the Blind.
“We have 70 percent unemployment - and it’s not because we can’t work. Obviously, the governor of New York is blind, and he’s doing the job. Whenever you have a portrayal that calls the basic capacity of [blind people] into question, that’s a potential problem.”
Danielsen claims “SNL” has a long history of mocking the blind - going back to Eddie Murphy’s Stevie Wonder impression and, more recently, a “Weekend Update” one-liner that hybrid cars are dangerous to blind people because they can’t hear the engine.
Paterson’s spokesman, Errol Cockfield, said, “The governor is sure that ‘Saturday Night Live,’ with all of its talent, can find a way to be funny without being offensive,” Cockfield said.
“Knowing the governor, he might even have some suggestions himself.”
An NBC spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Okay, first I’ll admit it, I actually found the skit pretty darn funny. If that makes you hate me then I’d suggest not reading further because you’re not likely to enjoy what you’ll find.
Fosters Fighting EDF
Thanks to Marion for sharing this article on the NAGDU email list. [Original article here.]
A custody battle is brewing over 25 “service dogs in training” in the Phoenix area.
The future service animals are owned by the Eye Dog Foundation for the Blind, a California-based non-profit group that operates a training center in Phoenix.
But a large group of volunteers, foster families that agreed to help raise the dogs, are refusing to return them.
“I couldn’t feel comfortable handing this dog back to a foundation that is not functioning and feel good about it,” Diana Anderson said.
Anderson and 24 other volunteers entered into agreements with the foundation to provide the dogs a home and bring them to training sessions at the foundation’s facility in South Phoenix.
The goal of the foundation is to train the dogs and then place them with the blind.
But volunteers like Eldon Ploetz say the foundation is in shambles, that dogs are not receiving the necessary training, and they claim not a single dog has been placed with a blind person in more than a year.
Ploetz and his wife have helped raise and foster Kiesha, a German shepherd.
In late September, Ploetz received a letter from the Eye Dog Foundation’s attorney stating, “DEMAND IS HEREBY MADE that you immediately return Kiesha to the Foundation.”
The letter continues, “I understand that you have breached at least two parts of this Agreement. You have not followed the instructions of the staff, and you have not attended all the Training Classes.”
Other volunteers received similar letters.
But the volunteers claim the trainers are not properly certified, and the ones that have been hired have not stayed on with the foundation.
Additionally, they say the Foundation had been shut down for weeks and they have neglected the dogs.
“We understand they cut off the food for the dogs that were in the kennel,” Ploetz said.
Ploetz’s wife said she would rather go to jail than give the Kiesha back to the foundation.
“They are valid concerns,” said Dacoda Whittemore, a former operations manager who worked at the foundation’s training facility for only a week.
Whittemore said the dogs are “absolutely” receiving better care with the foster families, “not just because the management isn’t functioning properly, but there?s no staff qualified on the foundation at this point to be able to take and care for these dogs properly.”
Dexter Morin, a former trainer at the facility agreed with Whittemore, submitting his resignation earlier this month.
Before leaving, Morin turned over several dogs to the foster families rather than leaving them at the training facility alone.
In his resignation letter, Morin wrote, “I contacted the puppy raisers to inform them of my concerns of leaving the dogs on the premises without the guarantee that they would be attended to.”
Morin goes on to state, “I in good conscience turned them over to the puppy raisers for the safe keeping of the dogs.”
The Eye Dog Foundation and its attorney have declined our repeated requests for an on-camera interview.
In a statement to ABC15, the Foundation’s attorney, John D. Clark, wrote, “The contract clearly states that each of the dogs belong to the Foundation, and gives no ownership rights whatsoever to any of the puppy raisers.”
The letter goes on to state that “the Foundation directed each of the puppy raisers in writing to return the Foundation’s puppies to the Foundation within five days. It now appears that the puppy raises are refusing to comply with the Foundation’s directive.”
Department of Justice Proposes Vast Changes in ADA
Recently, the DOJ proposed some rather alarming revisions to Titles II and III of the Americans With Disabilities Act. These changes include:
- A new definition for service animals;
- A significant weakening of the readily achievable barrier removal requirement for public accommodations;
- A significant reduction of elements required to be accessible in state and local government facilities;
- An exemption for all existing facilities from the new recreation and playground rules;
- And many others!
IAADP as an organization has already made an official comment regarding the new service animal definition, emphasizing that the following changes be made:
- Eliminate the phrase “providing minimal protection” from the definition of service animal;
- Eliminate the phrase “do work” from the definition because it is redundant and the example of work given in the NPRM, grounding, undermines the Department’s goal of maintaining a clear distinction between specially trained service animals and those animals whose mere presence can provide emotional support, companionship or therapeutic benefits.
- Limit the use of other species only to animals which can be trained to meet the same standards for behavior and training that assistance dogs must meet to qualify for public access.
- Avoid placing a size or weight limit on common domestic animals such as assistance dogs.
Further information from IAADP can be found here.
These changes in the ADA, especially the service animal definition, heavily impact the disabled community and I urge everyone to please take the time to add your comments to IAADP’s official comments and/or add to the draft comments from Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF).
Please understand that even though these organizations (and others like them) have made comments that is imperative that DOJ receive your individual comments. We want to flood them with comments and we need the individual’s voice just as much as any large, faceless organization.
Cast Your Votes
Members of Guide Dog Users, Inc. may now vote for the proposed changes to the constitution today through next Sunday by calling (866) 548-8160. Remember that you will need your unique member identification number to verify your identity and ability to vote; the telephone system has all the information and will guide you entirely through the voting process. If you don’t have your ID, you’ll need to contact GDUI’s National Office and speak with Jane Sheehan at (866) 799-8436 x1.