We didn't get a touchdown, but had to settle for a field goal on Wednesday, September 16. That was at the Colorado General Assembly's Interim Study Committee on Vocational Rehabilitation Services for the Blind's fifth of six allotted meetings.
The outcome of Wednesday's hearing was a vote to have a bill drafted, with fiscal note, to create a division within DVR dedicated to serve blind clients. The motion passed 3-2 on party lines; Rep. Windholtz, a Republican, was excused. Republican Sen. Lundberg, who hadn’t attended any previous hearings, voted no. All three Democrats, including Chairman Jessie Danielson, voted for the motion
We very much wish to thank Reps. Danielson, Primavera, Windholtz and Senator Balmer for their devoted attendance and engaged questioning. Also, Senator Aguilar joined the Committee after the first meeting as a replacement, and we thank her as well.
Our goal was to have a bill drafted to create a separate Vocational Rehabilitation unit to serve blind clients, one that would be parallel to, but not part of DVR's general program. So that's why the football analogy seems the best way to describe things. By coincidence, the next night, a Thursday, came the Denver Broncos remarkable come-from-behind victory in Kansas City. Keep that in mind!
For the past six weeks or so, the Interim Study Committee has been meeting at the Capitol, taking testimony, receiving e-mails, reading policy and documents and more on the matter of DVR's poor performance with respect to serving blind Coloradans.
The Interim Study, of course, came into being because of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, and the bulk of the testimony was provided by us. In the first meeting of the Interim Study Committee, our President Scott LaBarre gave an excellent summary of the present state of services for the blind, along with strong evidence that separate agencies across the U.S. provide consistently better results - all backed by solid research.
Dr. Fred Schroeder, Executive Director of the National Rehabilitation Association and former Commissioner of the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration came to Colorado for the second hearing to present more powerful evidence that separate services produce more and superior employment results than do combined agencies with respect to the blind. Dr. Eddie Bell, Director of Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindnessat Louisiana Tech, was present on September 3 to present Colorado DVR's specific performance with respect to its blind clients. Based on his own research, Dr. Bell presented data drawn from the federal reporting program known as the "911." No surprise to the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, it showed that DVR performs near the bottom of all states in placing blind clients in jobs, and well below the national average.
It should be noted here that DVR was also asked to provide testimony and updates. At the opening hearing on August 12, VR Counselor Laverne Dell, who is the lead person for fellow Counselors serving blind clients, laid the facts out simply and without defensiveness. It turns out that only one counselor in Colorado has a caseload made up entirely of blind clients.
Others providing testimony were Diane McGeorge, Julie Deden, Duncan Larsen on services to blind seniors, Brent Batron with Colorado Dept. of Education's Tanni Anthony on transition of blind high school students, Kevan Worley on BEP and entrepreneurship, James Gashel on assistive technology and its importance for hopeful blind workers and numerous blind Coloradans who have applied or are being served by DVR.
Testimony to the Committee also included e-mails and, when remote testimony from Grand Junction was made available for September 3, two of the three who testified were Nathan Hecker and Steven Davis, our President and Vice-president respectively of the NFB of Colorado's Grand Valley Chapter.
In addition to the request to draft a bill to create a division within DVR to serve blind clients, the Committee also voted 3-2 to draft a bill that would expand opportunities on state sites for the Business Enterprise Program.
Other matters were considered, such as the sorry state of transition of blind high school students, but did not result in specific action.
Though we scored a field goal, the game is far from over. The Committee meets for its final time on October 28 to vote on the drafted bills. We have a lot of work to do to ensure that the draft bills are recommended to the full General Assembly in its 2016 Session, and then we must usher any bills through that body to win the game.
So, get on your game faces and huddle up team!
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