By Chuk Hamilton, Director, Minnesota State Services for the Blind

(Editor’s Note: This presentation was given at the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota annual convention on October 4, 2008.)

Greetings Federationists!

Thanks so very much to President Dunnam for inviting me to speak to you today. Before I begin, I want to extend a special greeting and warm welcome to Dr. Marc Maurer, national president of the National Federation of the Blind. We are honored to have you here again in Minnesota.

Looking Back

I would first like to take a few minutes to look back and bring you up-to-date on a few matters.

We have just ended the federal year earlier this week, that period of time upon which our statistics are based. I am pleased to report that the number of successful closures in employment has surpassed last year and we will meet the federal standard for that measure. It looks like 94 individuals achieved an employment outcome.

It is too early to calculate other important measures of customer activity within the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program. It is safe to say that we will have served over 3000 persons in our Older Blind Program. I don’t know yet if it was a record number of seniors. I will say a bit more regarding numbers of customers in both programs in a few minutes.

Within the Communication Center, the 21st Century Plan continues to make progress. While all phases of this wonderful project have taken much longer than we ever anticipated, the fruits of the labor are now upon us. We have trained 100 volunteers to record in the DAISY format in our studios, and 40 who record at home. We are producing CD’s with the DAISY format. There are still some bugs in the software, and we are working with the contractor to correct them. Additionally, we have received the pre-production model of the new Radio Talking Book digital radio, and secured temporary storage space available upon their arrival. Staff is also working on other services provided through the Communication Center, such as getting the Rochester newspaper up on NFB-NEWSLINE®, and the Brainerd paper on Dial-In News.

Some other work you may not have heard about includes a project to improve the preparation for employment by persons who are DeafBlind. Over the last several years, SSB has taken a number of steps in this direction, and the most recent holds great promise. There is a common curriculum available in the Workforce Centers called “Creative Job Search,” or CJS. Creative Job Search is a progressive curriculum that teaches the skills needed to conduct a successful job search. It is available through a local workshop or online. The Communication Center has brailled the material for many of our customer’s use. However, for those persons who are culturally deaf and are blind, this has not met their needs. Their learning methods and language have not allowed them to fully participate in traditional programs. Therefore, SSB has contracted with a company who has experience and success with the employment of DeafBlind persons and interpreters and SSB staff to make sure the concepts necessary to fully understand the world of work and the expectations of workers and employers are properly communicated, discussed and understood. SSB has improved our services for DeafBlind persons over the last several years, and this is yet another step in that direction.

Recently SSB was awarded a small grant by the STAR Program (System To Achieve Results) which will add to our collaboration with local teachers of the blind and visually impaired and the Resource Center for the Blind in Faribault. The grant was $3,750. The Minnesota STAR Program is federally funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration in accordance with the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended (P.L. 108-364). STAR had some grant money which was intended for projects that reused or repurposed technology for the benefit of persons with a disability. For a number of years SSB has worked with education to develop both a lending library of common assistive technology devices and provide reused and updates computers for student use in addition to what they were provided in school. It has been a success in terms of convincing local school officials to purchase equipment for the students own use on a long-term basis as well as developing and maintaining basic computer skills.

In addition to this STAR grant, SSB recently purchased ten Victor Streams to be added to the lending library.

Now and into the Future

In July it was brought to our attention that the numbers of tours to adjustment to blindness training centers was alarmingly low, and we were requested to provide specific data in that regard. You may recall that we want customers who are considering half-time or more adjustment to blindness training to tour community rehabilitation programs as part of making an informed choice. Other information such as surveys of customer satisfaction with services is also helpful. We did provide the specific data requested. We found that the number of tours was indeed low, and the impact was across the board for all CRP’s and counselors. Activity picked up but by the end of the year, but there were fewer tours when compared with the last several years.

During this same time period a few leaders of the NFB expressed concern that we were closing cases prematurely, which had other consequences.

I have been holding meetings with the leadership of our Workforce Development Unit and others going over other data for this past year, and previous years. While there is more work to do and data to examine, we see a few trends.

First, the numbers of individuals we work with is decreasing, in spite of an aggressive outreach effort. For example, in 2002 the Workforce Development Unit worked with over 1500 people. This number has dropped regularly since then to less than a thousand in 2007. We are currently looking at other data to understand this trend. Second, we know that Minnesota has a lower rate of successful employment outcomes than a number of other states. While some of this might be due to our preference to do homemaker rehabilitation in our independent living or older blind program, and that we use the category of “post employment services” for some people after they are closed successfully rather than opening a new case, we still need to examine other aspects of our processes. For example, from now on supervisors will be reviewing every case that is closed “failure to cooperate,” or “refused services,” two reasons a number of people are closed unsuccessfully each year.

In broader terms, we will start in the near future adding a question to our ongoing case review process that will look at the depth to which we counseled customers to consider comprehensive adjustment to blindness training.

Moving to the Older Blind program, we know a bit about those demographics too. The statistics are clear. The demographics of vision loss have always been skewed towards the aged, and are becoming more so. In 2005, the number of Minnesotans over the age of 65 with a vision loss is estimated at 110,701. By 2020, that number is expected to increase to 160,775, a 45 % increase. By 2030 it’s projected to rise to a staggering 225,739, a 104% increase over the 2005 figure. We are already experiencing the increases in demand for services.

As I have reported to the State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind before, we have developed an initiative that I hope will be considered during the next legislative session. The initiative, if approved completely, would allow us to serve an additional 1000 seniors per year.

Also looking towards next year, I want to inform you that there are likely to be several leadership changes at SSB. This will provide great opportunities for change and growth.

In closing, you might like to know that Curtis Chong is coming back to town and will be a keynote speaker at SSB’s all-staff meeting on October 21. Most of you know Curtis, but some don’t. Curtis and his family lived here for many years. He was successfully employed locally, a leader in the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, and the Chair of our State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind. He moved to Baltimore to become the Director of the National Federation of the Blind’s International Braille and Technology Center. Currently, he serves as the Program Administrator of Field Operations and Access Technology for the Iowa Department for the Blind.

Curtis will be speaking on, “The Future of Rehabilitation for Individuals Who are Blind and Visually Impaired.” In addition to anything else he’s planned to share with us, we have asked him to touch on the following:

• His perspective from “both sides of the desk”—reflections on working with the NFB and now in the public VR program
• Employment challenges and technological difficulties that he sees now and future challenges
• Today’s challenges of making jobs accessible for blind people, especially when computer systems change and are no longer accessible
• The future of services for the blind

Our staff-training day will end with the film "Farther Than the Eye Can See," a story about Eric Weihenmayer's climb to the top of Mt. Everest that was filmed and funded by Allegra and the NFB.

Thank you again for this opportunity to speak with you. Have a wonderful convention!