Regarding Importance of Comprehensive Blindness Training
A2022-01: Regarding Importance of Comprehensive Blindness Training
Adopted In : 2022
Topics : Rehabilitation
WHEREAS, declining participation rates, decreasing employment outcomes, and millions of unutilized federal dollars have brought the national Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program under intense scrutiny, to such a degree that the future of the program may be threatened; and
WHEREAS, Minnesota State Services for the Blind (SSB), a division of the Department of Employment and Economic Development and the primary agency empowered to provide VR services to blind Minnesotans, has often demonstrated leadership in its commitment to high-quality adjustment-to-blindness training for those preparing to enter the workforce; and
WHEREAS, in an attempt to address the nationally recognized problems with VR, SSB is embarking on a major overhaul of its service delivery models, with goals that include making services easier to access and rapid engagement throughout the process; and
WHEREAS, concern remains that SSB may be moving toward smaller, quick-fix training solutions instead of complete programs that bring lasting results;
WHEREAS, research data,[i] along with the lived experience of generations of blind people across the nation, has shown that, in the VR process, an approach to adjustment-to-blindness training that is concentrated and comprehensive yields better employment outcomes than training that is narrowly focused and conducted over multiple shorter segments; now therefore
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota in Convention assembled this 6th day of November, 2022, in the city of Bloomington, Minnesota, that this organization call upon Minnesota State Services for the Blind (SSB) to conduct annual training for vocational rehabilitation counselors, supervisors, and others to ensure that amid the efforts to make their programs easier and faster to navigate, they continue to understand and promote the life-transforming benefits of full-time, focused, and sustained comprehensive adjustment-to-blindness training for SSB customers; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization urge SSB to work with the National Federation of the Blind of Minnesota to develop strategies for helping SSB staff use their understanding to actively encourage customers toward comprehensive adjustment-to-blindness services that will give them strong preparation for a range of employment opportunities.
[i] For example, see Bell, E. C., & Silverman, A. M. (2018). Rehabilitation and employment outcomes for adults who are blind or visually impaired: An updated report. Journal of Blindness Innovation & Research, 7(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.5241/8-148