The Current State of DVR: Mark's Story

The Colorado Center for the Blind receives phone calls every day from Coloradans who are in desperate need of blindness skills training. Sadly, the blind of Colorado are thwarted by the agency that is set up to help them succeed.  The prodigious DVR wait list leaves clients stranded with no hope of employment or training services for an indeterminable length of time.  Blind clients will likely be waiting a year or more for services while others with "less significant need" could be left waiting for years.  .

In Mark Lasser's case this could have been a sentence to depression and disheartenment.  Sitting on the couch with no blindness skills is is a surefire way to enforce the stereotypical idea that blindness is an insurmountable barrier to a fulfilling life.  Waiting around with time, fear, anger, sadness, and hopelessness to fuel the mind, makes it easy to succumb to the idea that his days as a self sufficient contributing member of his family and community were over.

Thanks to the Colorado Center for the Blind, Mark will not have to sit around waiting for his turn to come on a seemingly endless list.  Mark has been given a scholarship that is usually reserved for blind students from third world countries. It is disturbing to think that services for the blind of Colorado can be likened to the services one can expect in the developing world.

Check out Mark's story and stay tuned for more on the current state of DVR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRWrmKuMdlI&list=UUN_XTg4bm4j8bz_W8mGZOPA