(Editor's Note: August 12, 2015 marks the first meeting of the Legislature's Interim Study Committee on Vocational Rehabilitation Services for the Blind. This Resolution passed in our November 2014 Convention was our first statement of resolve to improve the opportunities for blind Coloradans by striving to improve the Vocational Rehabilitation services tasked with assisting us to become integrated in the economic fabric of the state.)
WHEREAS, a robust economy and healthy tax base require the inclusion of all Colorado citizens, who are willing and able to work, to actively participate in civic life, and pay their fair share; and
WHEREAS, the opportunity to take part in the social and economic fabric of our state is no less sought after by people who are blind than any other group of citizens; and
WHEREAS, our unique Colorado culture requires equality of opportunity for all; and
WHEREAS, such a requirement demands a variety of programs and services, which exist to bring appropriate regulation, the fostering of entrepreneurship, education, training and rehabilitation, and job placement to a diverse number of Colorado citizens; and
WHEREAS, people who are blind must have effective training in a discrete and specialized skill set in order to be successfully employed and integrated into the economic fabric of the state and nation; and
WHEREAS, state vocational rehabilitation programs are mandated by Federal and state law, and designated and monitored by the United States Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration to provide such services; and
WHEREAS, effective vocational rehabilitation requires that administrators,
supervisors, and counselors providing these necessary services to the blind absolutely must have a belief in the capacity of the blind, and possess a thorough understanding of the nonvisual and low vision strategies and adaptive technologies necessary for successful rehabilitation of their clients; and
WHEREAS, Colorado's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has only a handful of counselors serving blind clients, and no distinct entity providing services to blind Coloradans nor supervisors specifically charged with providing services to the blind; and
WHEREAS, the extensive services often necessary for blind clients are rarely understood by Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation supervisors and managers despite federal and state requirements for individualized services, leading to pernicious delays and unjust, immoral, and illegal denials of legitimate services, and the exercise of federally mandated Informed Choice; and
WHEREAS, a Division of Vocational Rehabilitation working group recently created new policies in answer to a Legislative Audit recommendation regarding time limits in which services must be provided, but admitted that no consideration was given to clients who are blind or the policy's impact on those blind clients when developing these arbitrary and capricious restrictions; and
WHEREAS, unlike almost every other single state in the nation, the Colorado Department of Human Services, which houses the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has time and time, and time again submitted a budget, which does not allow the state to take full advantage of significant Federal “110” dollars, which can be drawn down in direct support of adjustment, training, and job placement for people who are blind; and
WHEREAS, the blind of Colorado can no longer stand by while inadequate services are delivered through the current administrative structure; and
WHEREAS, there is irrefutable evidence from the many states which have separate identifiable services for the blind that greater outcomes and reduced costs result from a separate state agency model: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado in Convention assembled, this second day of November, 2014, in the City of Lone Tree, Colorado, that this organization calls upon the President of the Colorado Senate and the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives to convene a special interim committee of the General Assembly to consider how best to address the woeful service delivery system of the Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this committee be instructed to give strong consideration to the establishment of a separate, dedicated unit within state government to provide the targeted expertise necessary to enhance quality of life and improve employment outcomes for Colorado’s blind citizens.
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